Why this ride
It goes by way of Isedotai Stone Circles, Oyu Stone Circles, Goshono Site and back through Oyu Stone Circles. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Shirakami-Sanchi and Goshono Site
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 398 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 22
- 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. Shirakami-Sanchi
Shirakami-Sanchi is one of the largest remaining virgin beech forests in East Asia, a vast tract of mountains straddling the border between Aomori and Akita prefectures in northern Honshu. It joined the World Heritage list in 1993, one of Japan's first natural sites, and the core area is left almost untouched, with no roads or facilities. Siebold's beech, a species found only in Japan, dominates the forest, and it shelters black bears, Japanese serows, golden eagles and the black woodpecker. The trees are at their most beautiful in autumn, when they turn gold and copper, and in spring when the new leaves are a startling pale green.
Read the complete Shirakami-Sanchi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Shirakami-Sanchi is where the day begins. Next is Isedotai Stone Circles.
2. Isedotai Stone Circles
In a quiet corner of Akita prefecture, near the town of Takanosu in the north of Japan's main island, a set of stone circles lies on a low terrace above the Yoneshiro river. The Isedotai stone circles were built around four thousand years ago by the people of the Jomon culture, hunter-gatherers who lived in the Japanese archipelago for more than ten thousand years and made some of the oldest pottery in the world. The site is part of the Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan, listed by UNESCO in 2021, a series of seventeen sites across Hokkaido and the north of Honshu that illustrate the long, settled life of these people.
Read the complete Isedotai Stone Circles write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Isedotai Stone Circles comes up about 62 km into the recorded legs. Next is Oyu Stone Circles.
3. Ōyu Stone Circles
Two great rings of river stones lie in a quiet field on a plateau near Kazuno, in the north of Akita prefecture, and at the heart of each stands a small arrangement of upright stones that has been called a sundial. The Ōyu Stone Circles, known as Manza and Nonakadō, were built by the Jōmon people around four thousand years ago, and they are the largest stone circles in Japan. Beneath and around them archaeologists have found graves, suggesting they were places of burial and ceremony. Some researchers believe the circles were aligned with the setting sun at the summer solstice. Since 2021 they have formed part of the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Jōmon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan.
Read the complete Oyu Stone Circles write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 112 km into the recorded legs you reach Oyu Stone Circles. Next is Goshono Site.
4. Goshono Site
In the hills of northern Iwate, a short ride from the town of Ichinohe, a group of round houses with grass-covered roofs sits in a quiet clearing among cedar and broadleaf woods. They look like something out of a fairy tale, low mounds with doorways and smoke holes, and they are reconstructions of pit dwellings from the Jomon period, the long prehistoric era of hunter-gatherers who lived in Japan from around fifteen thousand years ago until the arrival of rice farming. The Goshono site was a large settlement in the middle Jomon period, and excavations found that some houses here were roofed with earth rather than thatch, which is why the reconstructions look the way they do. Since 2021 it has been one of the components of the World Heritage site of the Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan.
Read the complete Goshono Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Goshono Site, about halfway. Next is back through Oyu Stone Circles.
5. back through Oyu Stone Circles
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Oyu Stone Circles write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Oyu Stone Circles sits at 211 km, about halfway. Next is back through Isedotai Stone Circles.
6. back through Isedotai Stone Circles
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Isedotai Stone Circles write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Isedotai Stone Circles comes up about 335 km into the recorded legs. Next is Shirakami-Sanchi.
7. Shirakami-Sanchi
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shirakami-Sanchi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Shirakami-Sanchi closes the day.
Leg by leg
Shirakami-Sanchi to Isedotai Stone Circles
Shirakami-Sanchi → Isedotai Stone Circles is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Isedotai Stone Circles to Oyu Stone Circles
Isedotai Stone Circles → Oyu Stone Circles is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ōyu Stone Circles to Goshono Site
Ōyu Stone Circles → Goshono Site is 86 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Goshono Site to back through Oyu Stone Circles
Goshono Site → back through Oyu Stone Circles is 87 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Oyu Stone Circles to back through Isedotai Stone Circles
back through Oyu Stone Circles → back through Isedotai Stone Circles is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Isedotai Stone Circles to Shirakami-Sanchi
back through Isedotai Stone Circles → Shirakami-Sanchi is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.