Shitsu Village in Sotome and Takashima Coal Mine/ Takashima Coal Mine

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Shitsu Village in Sotome

   Sotome is a stretch of rugged coast north of Nagasaki, where steep hills drop into the East China Sea, and the village of Shitsu clings to its slopes. During the centuries when Christianity was banned in Japan, the farmers and fishermen of this remote area kept their faith in secret, passing down prayers and rituals from generation to generation, hiding their devotion behind Buddhist and Shinto practices. When the ban was lifted in 1873, many of them returned to the Catholic Church. The Shitsu church, built in 1882 under the direction of the French missionary Marc Marie de Rotz, stands on a hill above the sea, a simple white building with a low profile designed to resist the strong winds. De Rotz was more than a priest: he taught the villagers to make bread, pasta and textiles, built a clinic and a workshop, and his legacy is still honoured locally. The village and church are part of the UNESCO listing of the Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region.

   Read the complete Shitsu Village in Sotome write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Shitsu Village in Sotome is where the day begins. Next is Nagasaki Shipyard/ Mitsubishi Former Patte.

2. 2. Nagasaki Shipyard/ Mitsubishi Former Patte

   Nagasaki's harbour is a long, narrow inlet surrounded by steep hills, and on its western shore the Mitsubishi shipyard has been building ships since the late nineteenth century. The yard was one of the engines of Japan's rapid industrialisation in the Meiji era, when the country transformed itself from a feudal society into an industrial power in a few decades. Several of its historic structures are part of the UNESCO listing of the Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution, inscribed in 2015. The Former Pattern Shop, a red-brick building from 1898 where wooden patterns were made for casting metal parts, now houses a museum of the yard's history. The Giant Cantilever Crane, installed in 1909 and made in Scotland, is still in working order, and it dominates the waterfront. The yard built many famous ships, including the battleship Musashi, one of the largest warships ever constructed.

   Read the complete Nagasaki Shipyard/ Mitsubishi Former Patte write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Nagasaki Shipyard/ Mitsubishi Former Patte comes up about 29 km into the recorded legs. Next is Takashima Coal Mine/ Takashima Coal Mine.

3. 3. 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

   about 50 km into the recorded legs you reach Takashima Coal Mine/ Takashima Coal Mine. Next is back through Nagasaki Shipyard/ Mitsubishi Former Patte.

4. 4. back through Nagasaki Shipyard/ Mitsubishi Former Patte

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Nagasaki Shipyard/ Mitsubishi Former Patte write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Nagasaki Shipyard/ Mitsubishi Former Patte, late in the day. Next is Shitsu Village in Sotome.

5. 5. Shitsu Village in Sotome

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Shitsu Village in Sotome write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Shitsu Village in Sotome. That is the ride.