CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
From Fujinomiya it runs 267 km to Fujinomiya; allow about 4 h 29 of riding. The stops in between: Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine, Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine, Nirayama Reverbatory Furnaces and back through Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Murayama Sengen-jinja is the quieter ancestor of the Fuji pilgrimage. Long before the climbers of Edo came in crowds, ascetic mountain priests of Shugendō trained at Murayama on the southern slope of Mount Fuji, and the shrine stood at the beginning of a trail up the mountain. The old name for the place is a reminder that this was a monastery as much as a shrine, a base of mountain monks who practised purification and climbed in rigorous seasons. Large cedars shade the grounds, and a stone path leads between moss-covered stones and old wooden buildings, so the place feels more like a forest sanctuary than a tourist stop.
Read the complete Murayama Sengen-jinja Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Murayama Sengen-jinja Shrine is where the day begins. Next is Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine.
On the eastern side of Mount Fuji, in the village of Subashiri, a shrine has stood at the start of the pilgrims' path for more than a thousand years. The Fuji Sengen shrine, often called Higashiguchi Hongū, the eastern main shrine, marks the beginning of the Subashiri trail to the summit, and pilgrims traditionally prayed here before starting their climb. The shrine is set in a forest of tall cedars and old trees, with a red gate, wooden halls and a quiet, spiritual atmosphere, and it is one of the components of the Fujisan UNESCO site, recognised as part of the mountain's cultural and religious landscape.
Read the complete Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine.
There is a good argument that this is the most atmospheric shrine at the foot of Mount Fuji, and it has nothing to do with the view. Omuro Sengen-jinja stands in a grove of huge old cedars on the northern side, close to the lake town of Kawaguchiko, and the trees are so tall and so quiet that the sound of the road disappears within a few steps of the torii. The shrine is attached to the cult of Fuji itself, the idea that the mountain is a goddess to be placated, and it is part of the World Heritage listing for Fujisan as a sacred place and not simply a pretty one.
Read the complete Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 61 km into the recorded legs you reach Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine. Next is Nirayama Reverbatory Furnaces.
Two pairs of tall brick chimneys stand in a quiet suburb at the base of the Izu Peninsula, looking strangely European against the green hills. They belong to the Nirayama reverberatory furnace, built in the 1850s to melt iron for casting cannons, at a time when Japan felt threatened by Western warships arriving in its waters. The project was led by Egawa Hidetatsu, the local magistrate, a forward-thinking official who studied Western military technology from Dutch books. He died before it was completed, and his son finished the work. It is the only surviving reverberatory furnace of its era in Japan that was actually used for casting, and since 2015 it has been part of the UNESCO site of the Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution.
Read the complete Nirayama Reverbatory Furnaces write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Nirayama Reverbatory Furnaces, about halfway. Next is back through Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine sits at 175 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine comes up about 229 km into the recorded legs. Next is Murayama Sengen-jinja Shrine.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Murayama Sengen-jinja Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Murayama Sengen-jinja Shrine closes the day.
Murayama Sengen-jinja Shrine → Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine → Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine → Nirayama Reverbatory Furnaces is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Nirayama Reverbatory Furnaces → back through Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine → back through Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine → Murayama Sengen-jinja Shrine is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.