Why this ride
397 km from Shimokizukuri to Shimokizukuri, about 5 h 40 of riding. It goes by way of Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan, Sannai Maruyama Site, Futatsumori Site and Korekawa Site. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Tagoyano Site and Korekawa Site
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 397 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 40
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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. Tagoyano Site
In the far north of Honshu, on the Tsugaru plain of Aomori Prefecture, the Tagoyano site is a shell midden left by people of the Jomon period, the long era of hunter-gatherers who lived in Japan for over ten thousand years and made some of the oldest pottery in the world. The mound consists mainly of shells of shijimi, a small freshwater clam that thrived in the brackish water of the old lagoon. Along with the shells, archaeologists found pottery, tools and bones, and the site has become part of the Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan, inscribed by UNESCO in 2021. There is little to see above ground now, just a grassy area and information boards, but the picture it paints is rich: people living by water, fishing, gathering, making beautiful vessels.
Read the complete Tagoyano Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tagoyano 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 48 km in. Next is Sannai Maruyama Site.
3. 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
95 km in you reach Sannai Maruyama Site. Next is Futatsumori Site.
4. 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
Futatsumori Site, about halfway. Next is Korekawa Site.
5. 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 sits at 190 km, about halfway. Next is back through Futatsumori Site.
6. 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 comes up 238 km in. Next is back through Sannai Maruyama Site.
7. back through 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
285 km in you reach back through Sannai Maruyama Site. Next is back through Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan.
8. 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, late in the day. Next is Tagoyano Site.
9. Tagoyano Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tagoyano Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 397 km.
Leg by leg
Tagoyano Site to Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan
Tagoyano Site → Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan to Sannai Maruyama Site
Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan → Sannai Maruyama Site is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sannai Maruyama Site to Futatsumori Site
Sannai Maruyama Site → Futatsumori Site is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Futatsumori Site to Korekawa Site
Futatsumori Site → Korekawa Site is 51 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 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Futatsumori Site to back through Sannai Maruyama Site
back through Futatsumori Site → back through Sannai Maruyama Site is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sannai Maruyama Site to back through Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan
back through Sannai Maruyama Site → back through Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan to Tagoyano Site
back through Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan → Tagoyano Site is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.