CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
From Gotenba it runs 202 km to Gotenba; allow about 3 h 48 of riding. It goes by way of Lake Yamanakako, Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki, Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine and back through Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 25 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
On the southern flank of Mount Fuji, above the town of Susono, a quiet shrine stands among tall cedar trees at the start of one of the oldest climbing routes on the mountain. The Suyama Sengen-jinja is dedicated to the goddess of Fuji and marks the beginning of the Suyama trail, used by pilgrims for centuries before falling into disuse in the twentieth century and being partly revived in recent years. It is one of the component sites of Fujisan, Sacred Place and Source of Artistic Inspiration, listed by UNESCO in 2013.
Read the complete Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine is where the day begins. Next is Lake Yamanakako.
Yamanakako is the largest and highest of the Fuji Five Lakes, lying at nearly a thousand metres at the eastern foot of Mount Fuji, and on a clear winter morning, with the snow cone of the mountain mirrored in still water, it delivers the view that sells a million postcards. The lake was formed when lava flows from Fuji dammed the valley, and it is shallow, with reed beds, swans and boating piers along the shore. In summer it is a cool escape from the heat of Tokyo, busy with families, rowing boats and lakeside cafés; in winter the crowds thin and the mountain is at its most impressive.
Read the complete Lake Yamanakako write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lake Yamanakako comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki.
Deep in the lava forests on the western foot of Mount Fuji there is a cave formed when molten rock flowed down the slopes and its crust cooled while the interior drained away. The Hitoana lava tube is small and low, but in the sixteenth century an ascetic called Hasegawa Kakugyo is said to have practised extreme austerities inside it, and he became the founder figure of the Fuji-ko, the popular confraternities whose members climbed Fuji as an act of worship. Around the cave entrance stand hundreds of stone memorials erected by Fuji-ko groups over the centuries, mossy and leaning among the trees. The site is one of the components of the World Heritage listing Fujisan, Sacred Place and Source of Artistic Inspiration.
Read the complete Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 75 km into the recorded legs you reach Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki. Next is Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine.
There is a good argument that this is the most atmospheric shrine at the foot of Mount Fuji, and it has nothing to do with the view. Omuro Sengen-jinja stands in a grove of huge old cedars on the northern side, close to the lake town of Kawaguchiko, and the trees are so tall and so quiet that the sound of the road disappears within a few steps of the torii. The shrine is attached to the cult of Fuji itself, the idea that the mountain is a goddess to be placated, and it is part of the World Heritage listing for Fujisan as a sacred place and not simply a pretty one.
Read the complete Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine, about halfway. Next is back through Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki sits at 121 km, about halfway. Next is back through Lake Yamanakako.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Lake Yamanakako write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Lake Yamanakako comes up about 171 km into the recorded legs. Next is Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine closes the day.
Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine → Lake Yamanakako is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lake Yamanakako → Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki → Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuji Omuro Segen-jinja Shrine → back through Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hitoana Fuji-ko Iseki → back through Lake Yamanakako is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Lake Yamanakako → Suyama Sengen-jinja Shrine is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.