Why this ride
On the way it passes Tagoyano Site, Sannai Maruyama Site, Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle and Shirakami-Sanchi. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Odai Yamamoto Site and Shirakami-Sanchi
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 474 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 7 h 58
- 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. Odai Yamamoto Site
Some of the oldest pottery in the world was found on a hillside near the northern end of Honshu, and nobody was looking for it. At Odai Yamamoto I, on the Tsugaru Peninsula in Aomori prefecture, archaeologists dug up fragments of fired clay that date back more than sixteen thousand years, among the earliest known ceramics in Japan, made by hunter-gatherers at the end of the last Ice Age. The site is part of the Jomon prehistoric sites of northern Japan, a World Heritage listing from 2021 that celebrates a long era of settled life without agriculture, with Sannai Maruyama as its best-known example.
Read the complete Odai Yamamoto Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Odai Yamamoto Site is where the day begins. Next is Tagoyano Site.
2. Tagoyano Site
In the far north of Honshu, on the Tsugaru plain of Aomori Prefecture, the Tagoyano site is a shell midden left by people of the Jomon period, the long era of hunter-gatherers who lived in Japan for over ten thousand years and made some of the oldest pottery in the world. The mound consists mainly of shells of shijimi, a small freshwater clam that thrived in the brackish water of the old lagoon. Along with the shells, archaeologists found pottery, tools and bones, and the site has become part of the Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan, inscribed by UNESCO in 2021. There is little to see above ground now, just a grassy area and information boards, but the picture it paints is rich: people living by water, fishing, gathering, making beautiful vessels.
Read the complete Tagoyano Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tagoyano Site comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sannai Maruyama Site.
3. Sannai Maruyama Site
On the outskirts of Aomori, at the northern tip of Honshu, archaeologists working on a site for a baseball stadium in the early 1990s found the remains of a large village of the Jomon period, a hunter gatherer culture that lived in Japan for over ten thousand years. Sannai Maruyama was occupied for around a thousand years, from about 5,900 to 4,200 years ago, and its finds changed ideas about the Jomon: long houses, pit dwellings, storehouses, burial grounds, and a huge structure of six massive chestnut posts, now reconstructed as a tall wooden tower. In 2021 it became part of the World Heritage listing of Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan.
Read the complete Sannai Maruyama Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 83 km into the recorded legs you reach Sannai Maruyama Site. Next is Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle.
4. Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle
Over three thousand years ago, Jomon people in northern Japan arranged stones into circles on a terrace at the foot of Mount Iwaki, the conical volcano that dominates the Tsugaru plain in Aomori prefecture. The Omori Katsuyama stone circle is one of these monuments, with a ring of standing and placed stones that may have been used for rituals, burials or marking the seasons. It is part of the Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan, inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2021, which celebrates a culture of hunter-gatherers who settled in permanent villages and made pottery for over ten thousand years.
Read the complete Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle, about halfway. Next is Shirakami-Sanchi.
5. Shirakami-Sanchi
Shirakami-Sanchi is one of the largest remaining virgin beech forests in East Asia, a vast tract of mountains straddling the border between Aomori and Akita prefectures in northern Honshu. It joined the World Heritage list in 1993, one of Japan's first natural sites, and the core area is left almost untouched, with no roads or facilities. Siebold's beech, a species found only in Japan, dominates the forest, and it shelters black bears, Japanese serows, golden eagles and the black woodpecker. The trees are at their most beautiful in autumn, when they turn gold and copper, and in spring when the new leaves are a startling pale green.
Read the complete Shirakami-Sanchi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Shirakami-Sanchi sits at 167 km, about halfway. Next is back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle.
6. back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle comes up about 353 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Sannai Maruyama Site.
7. back through Sannai Maruyama Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sannai Maruyama Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 392 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Sannai Maruyama Site. Next is back through Tagoyano Site.
8. back through Tagoyano Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tagoyano Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Tagoyano Site, late in the day. Next is Odai Yamamoto Site.
9. Odai Yamamoto Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Odai Yamamoto Site 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 474 km.
Leg by leg
Odai Yamamoto Site to Tagoyano Site
Odai Yamamoto Site → Tagoyano Site is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tagoyano Site to Sannai Maruyama Site
Tagoyano Site → Sannai Maruyama Site is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sannai Maruyama Site to Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle
Sannai Maruyama Site → Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle to Shirakami-Sanchi
Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle → Shirakami-Sanchi is 115 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Shirakami-Sanchi to back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle
Shirakami-Sanchi → back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle is 115 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle to back through Sannai Maruyama Site
back through Omori Katsuyama Stone Circle → back through Sannai Maruyama Site is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sannai Maruyama Site to back through Tagoyano Site
back through Sannai Maruyama Site → back through Tagoyano Site is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tagoyano Site to Odai Yamamoto Site
back through Tagoyano Site → Odai Yamamoto Site is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.