Why this ride
A 330 km round trip from Minamishimabara - roughly 11 h 08 in the saddle. On the way it passes Takashima Coal Mine/ Takashima Coal Mine, Villages on Kuroshima Island and Remains of Hara Castle. It stays on the island.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Remains of Hara Castle and Villages on Kuroshima Island
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 330 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 11 h 08
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Remains of Hara Castle → Takashima Coal Mine/ Takashima Coal Mine
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 64 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 84 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
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. 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 Villages on Kuroshima Island.
3. Villages on Kuroshima Island
For more than two centuries after Christianity was banned in Japan in the early seventeenth century, small communities of believers kept their faith in secret, disguising prayers as Buddhist chants and images of the Virgin Mary as Buddhist figures. Kuroshima, a small island off the coast of Sasebo in Nagasaki Prefecture, was one of the places where these hidden Christians lived and farmed, and when the ban was lifted in the 1870s they emerged openly. Their villages are part of the UNESCO listing of Hidden Christian sites in the Nagasaki region, listed in 2018.
Read the complete Villages on Kuroshima Island write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 194 km into the recorded legs you reach Villages on Kuroshima Island. Next is back through Takashima Coal Mine/ Takashima Coal Mine.
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. 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.
Leg by leg
Remains of Hara Castle to Takashima Coal Mine/ Takashima Coal Mine
Remains of Hara Castle → Takashima Coal Mine/ Takashima Coal Mine is 84 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Takashima Coal Mine/ Takashima Coal Mine to Villages on Kuroshima Island
Takashima Coal Mine/ Takashima Coal Mine → Villages on Kuroshima Island is 110 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Villages on Kuroshima Island to Back to Remains of Hara Castle
Villages on Kuroshima Island → Back to Remains of Hara Castle is 137 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.