Remains of Hara Castle and Sakitsu Village in Amakusa

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Remains of Hara Castle

   On a headland overlooking the Ariake Sea, at the southern tip of the Shimabara Peninsula in Nagasaki prefecture, the grassy ruins of Hara Castle mark the scene of one of the darkest episodes in Japanese history. In the winter of 1637 to 1638, thousands of peasants, many of them Christians, rose up against heavy taxation and religious persecution, and took refuge in the abandoned castle under the leadership of a charismatic teenager, Amakusa Shirō. The shogunate besieged the castle for months with a huge army, and when it finally fell, almost all the defenders, including women and children, were killed.

   Read the complete Remains of Hara Castle write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Remains of Hara Castle is where the day begins. Next is Takashima Coal Mine/ Takashima Coal Mine.

2. 2. Takashima Coal Mine/ Takashima Coal Mine

   Out in the sea off Nagasaki, a low island called Takashima was the place where modern Japan dug its first Western-style coal shaft. In 1868, in the very year of the Meiji Restoration, the Scottish merchant Thomas Glover went into partnership with the Saga domain to sink a shaft here using steam-powered machinery from Britain. The mine later passed to Mitsubishi and became one of the pillars of the company's rise, fuelling steamships, factories and the rapid industrialisation of the country. Takashima is now part of the Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution, listed by UNESCO in 2015.

   Read the complete Takashima Coal Mine/ Takashima Coal Mine write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Takashima Coal Mine/ Takashima Coal Mine comes up about 84 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sakitsu Village in Amakusa.

3. 3. Sakitsu Village in Amakusa

   A small Gothic church with a spire stands right at the water's edge in Sakitsu, a fishing village tucked into an inlet on the southern coast of Amakusa's Shimoshima island. It looks almost Breton, a surprise in rural Kyushu, and the story behind it is one of the most moving in Japanese history. When Christianity was banned in the early seventeenth century, the people of Sakitsu kept their faith in secret for over two centuries, disguising prayers and objects as Buddhist or Shinto practice, and using things from their own fishing life, such as abalone shells whose inner patterns recalled holy images, as objects of devotion.

   Read the complete Sakitsu Village in Amakusa write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 221 km into the recorded legs you reach Sakitsu Village in Amakusa. Next is back through Takashima Coal Mine/ Takashima Coal Mine.

4. 4. Back to Remains of Hara Castle

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Remains of Hara Castle write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Takashima Coal Mine/ Takashima Coal Mine, late in the day. Next is Remains of Hara Castle.

5. 5. Remains of Hara Castle

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Remains of Hara Castle write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Remains of Hara Castle. That is the ride.