Why this ride
From Nakama it runs 160 km to Nakama; allow about 3 h 06 of riding. It goes by way of Nakatsu-miya, The Imperial Steel Works, Hetsu-miya and back through Hetsu-miya. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Onga river Pumping Station and Mikadobashira · 394 km from Nakama
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 160 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 06
- 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. 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
Onga river Pumping Station is where the day begins. Next is Nakatsu-miya.
2. Nakatsu-miya
Munakata Taisha is not one shrine but three, spread across the sea off northern Kyushu, and Nakatsu-miya is the middle one. The boat leaves from the little harbour of Kōnominato and takes roughly a quarter of an hour, crossing water that was once the main sea lane between Japan and the Korean peninsula. Shrines were built at three points along that lane to protect sailors, and the middle one honours the goddess Tagitsuhime.
Read the complete Nakatsu-miya write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nakatsu-miya comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Imperial Steel Works.
3. 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
about 79 km into the recorded legs you reach The Imperial Steel Works. Next is Hetsu-miya.
4. 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 Mikadobashira.
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 113 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through The Imperial Steel Works.
6. back through The Imperial Steel Works
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
about 146 km into the recorded legs you reach back through The Imperial Steel Works. Next is back through Nakatsu-miya.
7. Back to 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
back through Nakatsu-miya, late in the day. Next is Onga river Pumping Station.
8. 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
The route ends here after 394 km.
Leg by leg
Onga river Pumping Station to Nakatsu-miya
Onga river Pumping Station → Nakatsu-miya is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nakatsu-miya to The Imperial Steel Works
Nakatsu-miya → The Imperial Steel Works is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Imperial Steel Works to Hetsu-miya
The Imperial Steel Works → Hetsu-miya is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hetsu-miya to back through Hetsu-miya
Hetsu-miya → back through Hetsu-miya is 1 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Hetsu-miya to back through The Imperial Steel Works
back through Hetsu-miya → back through The Imperial Steel Works is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Imperial Steel Works to Back to Onga river Pumping Station
back through The Imperial Steel Works → Back to Onga river Pumping Station is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.