Why this ride
From Nishifukuma it runs 76 km to Nishifukuma; allow about 1 h 02 of riding. It goes by way of The Imperial Steel Works and back through The Imperial Steel Works. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Shimbaru-Nuyama Mounded Tomb Group and Mikadobashira
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 76 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 02
- 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. Shimbaru-Nuyama Mounded Tomb Group
In Fukuoka prefecture, on the shore of the Genkai Sea, a group of burial mounds records the power of the Munakata clan, the family who were priests and sea-lords of the strait between Kyushu and Korea. Shimbaru-Nuyama is a cluster of tombs from the fifth and sixth centuries, small and large mounds scattered over a low ridge, and it belongs to the World Heritage listing for Okinoshima and the associated sites of the Munakata region, inscribed in 2017. Okinoshima is a remote island in the channel where ritual offerings were made for centuries to pray for safe voyages, and no women are allowed to land, and men must purify themselves in the sea before setting foot on it.
Read the complete Shimbaru-Nuyama Mounded Tomb Group write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Shimbaru-Nuyama Mounded Tomb Group is where the day begins. Next is The Imperial Steel Works.
2. 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
The Imperial Steel Works comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mikadobashira.
3. 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
back through The Imperial Steel Works, late in the day. Next is Shimbaru-Nuyama Mounded Tomb Group.
4. Shimbaru-Nuyama Mounded Tomb Group
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shimbaru-Nuyama Mounded Tomb Group write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Shimbaru-Nuyama Mounded Tomb Group. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Shimbaru-Nuyama Mounded Tomb Group to The Imperial Steel Works
Shimbaru-Nuyama Mounded Tomb Group → The Imperial Steel Works is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Imperial Steel Works to back through The Imperial Steel Works
The Imperial Steel Works → back through The Imperial Steel Works is 1 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through The Imperial Steel Works to Shimbaru-Nuyama Mounded Tomb Group
back through The Imperial Steel Works → Shimbaru-Nuyama Mounded Tomb Group is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.