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 Shimokizukuri it runs 450 km to Shimokizukuri; allow about 8 h 15 of riding. It goes by way of Shirakami-Sanchi, Oyu Stone Circles and back through Shirakami-Sanchi. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Tagoyano Site is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Shirakami-Sanchi comes up about 113 km into the recorded legs. Next is Oyu 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 226 km into the recorded legs you reach Oyu Stone Circles. Next is back through Shirakami-Sanchi.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shirakami-Sanchi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Shirakami-Sanchi, late in the day. Next is Tagoyano Site.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tagoyano Site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Tagoyano Site. That is the ride.
Tagoyano Site → Shirakami-Sanchi is 113 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Shirakami-Sanchi → Oyu Stone Circles is 113 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Ōyu Stone Circles → back through Shirakami-Sanchi is 111 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Shirakami-Sanchi → Tagoyano Site is 113 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.