Why this ride
From Aomori it runs 392 km to Aomori; allow about 5 h 27 of riding. On the way it passes Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan, Futatsumori Site, Korekawa Site and back through Futatsumori Site. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Sannai Maruyama Site and Korekawa Site
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 392 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 27
- 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. 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
Sannai Maruyama Site is where the day begins. Next is Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan.
2. Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan
At the foot of Mount Iwaki, the solitary volcano that rises above the Tsugaru plain in Aomori prefecture, there is a flat terrace where people of the Jomon period laid out a large oval ring of stones a few thousand years ago. The Omori Katsuyama stone circle is one of the sites that make up the Jomon Prehistoric Sites of Northern Japan, listed by UNESCO in 2021, and it is a quiet, grassy place where you can stand in the middle and look straight up at the mountain the builders must have looked at every day.
Read the complete Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan comes up about 38 km into the recorded legs. Next is Futatsumori Site.
3. Futatsumori Site
Futatsumori is a gentle hilltop near the town of Shichinohe in Aomori prefecture, overlooking Lake Ogawara, and to an untrained eye it is simply a grassy field among woods and farmland. But this is one of the largest shell mounds in the Tōhoku region, piled up by Jōmon people over thousands of years as they gathered shellfish from the lake and the sea, and it belongs to the same World Heritage group of Jōmon sites as the better-known Sannai-Maruyama. The shell heaps, rich in calcium, neutralised the acid soil and preserved bones, tools and ornaments that would otherwise have dissolved.
Read the complete Futatsumori Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 140 km into the recorded legs you reach Futatsumori Site. Next is Korekawa Site.
4. Korekawa Site
The Korekawa site lies on the southern edge of Hachinohe, a port city on the Pacific coast of Aomori prefecture in northern Honshu, and it is one of seventeen locations in the UNESCO listing of the Jōmon prehistoric sites of northern Japan. The Jōmon were hunter-gatherers who lived in these islands for over ten thousand years, making some of the oldest pottery in the world and developing a remarkably settled, sophisticated way of life without farming. At Korekawa, waterlogged layers preserved things that usually vanish: wooden bowls, combs, bows and baskets, many of them coated in red lacquer, showing a level of craft that surprises everyone who sees them.
Read the complete Korekawa Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Korekawa Site, about halfway. Next is back through Futatsumori Site.
5. back through Futatsumori Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Futatsumori Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Futatsumori Site sits at 244 km, about halfway. Next is back through Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan.
6. back through Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan comes up about 352 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sannai Maruyama Site.
7. 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
Sannai Maruyama Site closes the day.
Leg by leg
Sannai Maruyama Site to Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan
Sannai Maruyama Site → Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan to Futatsumori Site
Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan → Futatsumori Site is 102 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Futatsumori Site to Korekawa Site
Futatsumori Site → Korekawa Site is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Korekawa Site to back through Futatsumori Site
Korekawa Site → back through Futatsumori Site is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Futatsumori Site to back through Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan
back through Futatsumori Site → back through Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan is 104 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan to Sannai Maruyama Site
back through Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan → Sannai Maruyama Site is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.