Why this ride
A 65 km round trip from Kitakyushu - roughly 56 min in the saddle. On the way it passes Hetsu-miya and back through Hetsu-miya. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Imperial Steel Works and Mikadobashira
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 65 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 56 min
- 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. The Imperial Steel Works
Japan's modern industry has a birthday, and in Kitakyushu they celebrate it with a rusting blast furnace. The Imperial Steel Works at Yawata began producing iron in 1901, a state-run enterprise financed with money from the war indemnity that China paid after the First Sino-Japanese War, and it was built to give a country that had just opened to the world its own supply of steel. German engineers advised on the early design. The works grew into the heart of the northern Kyushu industrial belt, and Yawata became a city that smelled of coke and smoke for most of a century.
Read the complete The Imperial Steel Works write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Imperial Steel Works is where the day begins. Next is Hetsu-miya.
2. Hetsu-miya
Hetsu-miya is the third of the Munakata shrines, and the only one you can drive to. Munakata Taisha honours three goddesses, the daughters of the sun goddess Amaterasu in the old myths, and each lives in a different place along the sea lane between Japan and Korea: one on the remote island of Okinoshima, one on Ōshima and one here on the mainland, at Tashima, beside a calm pine grove close to the shore. The grounds are plain, with a simple wooden hall and an air of sea and pine, and in autumn a festival draws crowds and boats.
Read the complete Hetsu-miya write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hetsu-miya comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mikadobashira.
3. back through Hetsu-miya
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hetsu-miya write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Hetsu-miya, late in the day. Next is The Imperial Steel Works.
4. The Imperial Steel Works
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Imperial Steel Works write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at The Imperial Steel Works. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
The Imperial Steel Works to Hetsu-miya
The Imperial Steel Works → Hetsu-miya is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hetsu-miya to back through Hetsu-miya
Hetsu-miya → back through Hetsu-miya is 1 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Hetsu-miya to The Imperial Steel Works
back through Hetsu-miya → The Imperial Steel Works is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.