Why this ride
From Nishifukuma it runs 184 km to Nishifukuma; allow about 3 h 51 of riding. The stops in between: Onga river Pumping Station, Hetsu-miya, The Imperial Steel Works and back through Hetsu-miya. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Koyajima and The Imperial Steel Works
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 184 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 51
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Okitsu-miya Yohaisho
Some holy places are meant to be seen from a distance. Off the coast of Munakata, in Fukuoka Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, the island of Okinoshima rises from the Genkai Sea about sixty kilometres offshore. It is a sacred island where rituals were performed from the fourth to the ninth century, and tens of thousands of offerings, including mirrors, jewels and gold rings, were left on its rocks. Ordinary visitors are not allowed to land, so on the island of Oshima, closer to the mainland, stands the Okitsu-miya Yohaisho, a hall from which worshippers can pray towards Okinoshima across the sea.
Read the complete Okitsu-miya Yohaisho write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Okitsu-miya Yohaisho comes up about 0 km into the recorded legs. Next is Onga river Pumping Station.
2. Onga river Pumping Station
Steel needs water, a great deal of it, and in the early twentieth century the new Imperial Steel Works at Yawata in northern Kyushu needed more than the local streams could provide. The answer was this pumping station on the Onga river at Nakama, built in 1910, which drew water from the river and sent it through pipelines to the steel works. Remarkably, it is still in operation more than a century later. The red brick building with its tall windows is part of the UNESCO listing of Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution, alongside shipyards, coal mines and iron works that tell the story of Japan's dramatic transformation into an industrial power.
Read the complete Onga river Pumping Station write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 38 km into the recorded legs you reach Onga river Pumping Station. Next is Hetsu-miya.
3. Hetsu-miya
Hetsu-miya is the third of the Munakata shrines, and the only one you can drive to. Munakata Taisha honours three goddesses, the daughters of the sun goddess Amaterasu in the old myths, and each lives in a different place along the sea lane between Japan and Korea: one on the remote island of Okinoshima, one on Ōshima and one here on the mainland, at Tashima, beside a calm pine grove close to the shore. The grounds are plain, with a simple wooden hall and an air of sea and pine, and in autumn a festival draws crowds and boats.
Read the complete Hetsu-miya write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hetsu-miya, about halfway. Next is The Imperial Steel Works.
4. The Imperial Steel Works
Japan's modern industry has a birthday, and in Kitakyushu they celebrate it with a rusting blast furnace. The Imperial Steel Works at Yawata began producing iron in 1901, a state-run enterprise financed with money from the war indemnity that China paid after the First Sino-Japanese War, and it was built to give a country that had just opened to the world its own supply of steel. German engineers advised on the early design. The works grew into the heart of the northern Kyushu industrial belt, and Yawata became a city that smelled of coke and smoke for most of a century.
Read the complete The Imperial Steel Works write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Imperial Steel Works sits at 160 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hetsu-miya.
5. back through Hetsu-miya
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hetsu-miya write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Hetsu-miya comes up about 125 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Onga river Pumping Station.
6. back through Onga river Pumping Station
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Onga river Pumping Station write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 146 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Onga river Pumping Station. Next is back through Okitsu-miya Yohaisho.
7. back through Okitsu-miya Yohaisho
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Okitsu-miya Yohaisho write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Okitsu-miya Yohaisho, late in the day. Next is Koyajima.
Leg by leg
Okitsu-miya Yohaisho to Onga river Pumping Station
Okitsu-miya Yohaisho → Onga river Pumping Station is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Onga river Pumping Station to Hetsu-miya
Onga river Pumping Station → Hetsu-miya is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hetsu-miya to The Imperial Steel Works
Hetsu-miya → The Imperial Steel Works is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Imperial Steel Works to back through Hetsu-miya
The Imperial Steel Works → back through Hetsu-miya is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hetsu-miya to back through Onga river Pumping Station
back through Hetsu-miya → back through Onga river Pumping Station is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Onga river Pumping Station to back through Okitsu-miya Yohaisho
back through Onga river Pumping Station → back through Okitsu-miya Yohaisho is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.