CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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.
319 km from Izunokuni to Izunokuni, about 5 h 35 of riding. On the way it passes Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine, “Oshi” Lodging House, Shiraito no Taki waterfalls and Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,000 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 35 km this is Hakone Turnpike and Skyline, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine.
On the southern flank of Mount Fuji, above the town of Susono, a quiet shrine stands among tall cedar trees at the start of one of the oldest climbing routes on the mountain. The Suyama Sengen-jinja is dedicated to the goddess of Fuji and marks the beginning of the Suyama trail, used by pilgrims for centuries before falling into disuse in the twentieth century and being partly revived in recent years. It is one of the component sites of Fujisan, Sacred Place and Source of Artistic Inspiration, listed by UNESCO in 2013.
Read the complete Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine comes up 35 km in. Next is “Oshi” Lodging House.
Mount Fuji has been a place of pilgrimage for a thousand years, and the lodging houses in Fujiyoshida are what the pilgrims used. Believers in the Fuji cult, called the Fuji-kō, travelled in confraternities from Edo and farther away, and when they reached the foot of the mountain they stayed with an oshi, a guide and priest who arranged their prayers, their meals and their climb. The streets of old Kamiyoshida still have a few of these houses, with deep entrances, long rooms and a small shrine inside, designed for groups to eat, sleep and prepare. UNESCO lists one of them as part of the Fujisan cultural landscape.
Read the complete “Oshi” Lodging House write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
70 km in you reach “Oshi” Lodging House. Next is Shiraito no Taki waterfalls.
The water that falls at Shiraito has spent a long time underground. Rain and snowmelt seep into the porous volcanic rock of Mount Fuji, travel through the layers for years, and emerge from a cliff face southwest of the mountain as hundreds of thin streams, pouring over a curved wall about twenty metres high and some one hundred and fifty metres wide. The name means white threads, and the effect is just that: a curtain of silvery strands falling into a clear pool, with the Fuji-ko pilgrims once performing purification rituals here. The falls are part of the Fujisan World Heritage Site, and the neighbouring Otodome falls, a single powerful cascade, roar a short walk away.
Read the complete Shiraito no Taki waterfalls write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Shiraito no Taki waterfalls, about halfway. 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 sits at 139 km, about halfway. Next is back through Shiraito no Taki waterfalls.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shiraito no Taki waterfalls write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Shiraito no Taki waterfalls comes up 174 km in. Next is back through “Oshi” Lodging House.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete “Oshi” Lodging House write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
209 km in you reach back through “Oshi” Lodging House. Next is back through Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine, late in the day. Next is Nirayama Reverbatory Furnaces.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nirayama Reverbatory Furnaces write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 319 km.
Nirayama Reverbatory Furnaces → Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine → “Oshi” Lodging House is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
“Oshi” Lodging House → Shiraito no Taki waterfalls is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Shiraito no Taki waterfalls → Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine → back through Shiraito no Taki waterfalls is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Shiraito no Taki waterfalls → back through “Oshi” Lodging House is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through “Oshi” Lodging House → back through Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine → Nirayama Reverbatory Furnaces is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.