Why this ride
The stops in between: Nakijin-jô site, Zakimi-jô site, Nakagusuku-jô site and Sêfa-utaki. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Northern part of Okinawa Island and Sêfa-utaki
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 308 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 7 h 54
- 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. Northern part of Okinawa Island
The northern third of Okinawa island is called Yanbaru, and it is nothing like the beach resorts and American bases the south is known for. It is forest, thick subtropical evergreen forest with giant ferns and trees dripping with moss, rolling over steep hills that drop straight into the East China Sea. It is also one of the richest places for wildlife in Japan, with species found nowhere else in the world, including the Okinawa rail, a flightless bird only found by scientists in 1981, and the Okinawa woodpecker. Together with Amami and a few other islands, the area was added to the UNESCO natural heritage list in 2021.
Read the complete Northern part of Okinawa Island write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Northern part of Okinawa Island is where the day begins. Next is Nakijin-jô site.
2. Nakijin-jô site
On a hill on the Motobu peninsula in northern Okinawa, the long, curving walls of Nakijin castle follow the contours of the limestone like a stone dragon. In the fourteenth century, Okinawa was divided into three kingdoms, and Nakijin was the seat of the northern kingdom, Hokuzan, until it was conquered by the Chuzan kingdom in the early fifteenth century. The site is part of the UNESCO-listed Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu, which celebrates the unique culture of the Ryukyu islands, shaped by trade with China, Japan and Southeast Asia.
Read the complete Nakijin-jô site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nakijin-jô site comes up about 44 km into the recorded legs. Next is Zakimi-jô site.
3. Zakimi-jô site
The walls of Zakimi gusuku curve across the top of a hill in Yomitan like a ribbon of pale limestone, following the contour of the land in graceful arcs rather than straight lines. Built in the early fifteenth century by Gosamaru, a celebrated castle builder of the Ryukyu Kingdom, the fortress is small but beautifully made. Its arched stone gateways, held in place by a wedge-shaped keystone, are among the oldest stone arches in Okinawa. Zakimi is part of the UNESCO site of the Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu, listed in 2000.
Read the complete Zakimi-jô site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 109 km into the recorded legs you reach Zakimi-jô site. Next is Nakagusuku-jô site.
4. Nakagusuku-jô site
On the ridge above Nakagusuku Bay the walls of an old castle follow the curve of the hill in a long ribbon of pale limestone, and the shapes are surprisingly sophisticated. Nakagusuku was built, probably in the fourteenth century and extended in the fifteenth, by the lord Gosamaru, who was respected as a master builder, and its walls use a technique of fitted, curved stones with no mortar, in a pattern the Okinawans call nunozumi, cloth-laying, and a more rugged style called aikatazumi, which looks like a jigsaw. Six enclosures step up along the ridge, with gateways, a well and the foundations of halls.
Read the complete Nakagusuku-jô site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nakagusuku-jô site, about halfway. Next is Sêfa-utaki.
5. Sêfa-utaki
For the people of the old Ryukyu Kingdom, there was no holier place than Sēfa-utaki, a grove of forest and rock on the southeastern tip of Okinawa island. An utaki is a sacred site in the Ryukyuan religion, often a grove, a rock or a spring, where gods are believed to descend, and this one was the most important of all. The kingdom's highest priestess, the Kikoe-ōkimi, usually a woman of the royal family, was inaugurated here, and for centuries men were not allowed to enter.
Read the complete Sêfa-utaki write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sêfa-utaki sits at 130 km, about halfway. Next is back through Nakagusuku-jô site.
6. back through Nakagusuku-jô site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nakagusuku-jô site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Nakagusuku-jô site comes up about 176 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Zakimi-jô site.
7. back through Zakimi-jô site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zakimi-jô site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 197 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Zakimi-jô site. Next is back through Nakijin-jô site.
8. back through Nakijin-jô site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nakijin-jô site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Nakijin-jô site, late in the day. Next is Northern part of Okinawa Island.
9. Northern part of Okinawa Island
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Northern part of Okinawa Island write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 308 km.
Leg by leg
Northern part of Okinawa Island to Nakijin-jô site
Northern part of Okinawa Island → Nakijin-jô site is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nakijin-jô site to Zakimi-jô site
Nakijin-jô site → Zakimi-jô site is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Zakimi-jô site to Nakagusuku-jô site
Zakimi-jô site → Nakagusuku-jô site is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nakagusuku-jô site to Sêfa-utaki
Nakagusuku-jô site → Sêfa-utaki is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sêfa-utaki to back through Nakagusuku-jô site
Sêfa-utaki → back through Nakagusuku-jô site is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Nakagusuku-jô site to back through Zakimi-jô site
back through Nakagusuku-jô site → back through Zakimi-jô site is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Zakimi-jô site to back through Nakijin-jô site
back through Zakimi-jô site → back through Nakijin-jô site is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Nakijin-jô site to Northern part of Okinawa Island
back through Nakijin-jô site → Northern part of Okinawa Island is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.