Why this ride
It goes by way of Glover House and Office, Shitsu Village in Sotome, Villages on Kuroshima Island and back through Shitsu Village in Sotome. An island ride, so the sea is never far.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Takashima Coal Mine/ Hashima Coal Mine and Villages on Kuroshima Island
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 262 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 10 h 58
- 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. Takashima Coal Mine/ Hashima Coal Mine
From the sea, Hashima looks like a battleship: a small rocky island off Nagasaki surrounded by high concrete walls, crowded with tall, empty apartment blocks. The Japanese call it Gunkanjima, battleship island, and it is the most famous ruin of Japan's industrial age. Mitsubishi mined coal here from undersea seams from the late nineteenth century, and as the mine grew the island was extended with land reclaimed from the sea and built up with concrete housing, schools, a hospital and shops. At its peak it was one of the most densely populated places on Earth. When the mine closed in 1974, everyone left within weeks, and the island has been slowly crumbling ever since.
Read the complete Takashima Coal Mine/ Hashima Coal Mine write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Takashima Coal Mine/ Hashima Coal Mine is where the day begins. Next is Glover House and Office.
2. Glover House and Office
Thomas Blake Glover arrived in Nagasaki in 1859 as a young Scot in his early twenties, and within a decade he had become one of the most influential foreigners in Japan. His house stands on Minamiyamate hill above the harbour, built in the early 1860s, and it is the oldest surviving Western-style building in the country. It has wide verandas, a stone-flagged garden and a view of the bay that must have been a sales tool in itself. Glover traded tea and ships and, more controversially, guns and warships, supplying the domains that overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate. He also helped smuggle young Choshu samurai out of Japan to study in London, and later worked with Mitsubishi on shipbuilding. Some historians say he brought the Industrial Revolution to Japan through the back door.
Read the complete Glover House and Office write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Glover House and Office comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is Shitsu Village in Sotome.
3. 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
about 52 km into the recorded legs you reach Shitsu Village in Sotome. Next is Villages on Kuroshima Island.
4. Villages on Kuroshima Island
For more than two centuries after Christianity was banned in Japan in the early seventeenth century, small communities of believers kept their faith in secret, disguising prayers as Buddhist chants and images of the Virgin Mary as Buddhist figures. Kuroshima, a small island off the coast of Sasebo in Nagasaki Prefecture, was one of the places where these hidden Christians lived and farmed, and when the ban was lifted in the 1870s they emerged openly. Their villages are part of the UNESCO listing of Hidden Christian sites in the Nagasaki region, listed in 2018.
Read the complete Villages on Kuroshima Island write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villages on Kuroshima Island, about halfway. Next is back through Shitsu Village in Sotome.
5. back through 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 through Shitsu Village in Sotome sits at 133 km, about halfway. Next is back through Glover House and Office.
6. back through Glover House and Office
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Glover House and Office write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Glover House and Office comes up about 240 km into the recorded legs. Next is Takashima Coal Mine/ Hashima Coal Mine.
7. Takashima Coal Mine/ Hashima Coal Mine
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Takashima Coal Mine/ Hashima Coal Mine write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Takashima Coal Mine/ Hashima Coal Mine closes the day.
Leg by leg
Takashima Coal Mine/ Hashima Coal Mine to Glover House and Office
Takashima Coal Mine/ Hashima Coal Mine → Glover House and Office is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Glover House and Office to Shitsu Village in Sotome
Glover House and Office → Shitsu Village in Sotome is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Shitsu Village in Sotome to Villages on Kuroshima Island
Shitsu Village in Sotome → Villages on Kuroshima Island is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villages on Kuroshima Island to back through Shitsu Village in Sotome
Villages on Kuroshima Island → back through Shitsu Village in Sotome is 80 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Shitsu Village in Sotome to back through Glover House and Office
back through Shitsu Village in Sotome → back through Glover House and Office is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Glover House and Office to Takashima Coal Mine/ Hashima Coal Mine
back through Glover House and Office → Takashima Coal Mine/ Hashima Coal Mine is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.