Why this ride
From Sasebo it runs 124 km to Sasebo; allow about 7 h 53 of riding. The stops in between: Kasuga Village and Sacred Places in Hirado and back through Kasuga Village and Sacred Places in Hirado.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Villages on Kuroshima Island and Remains of Villages on Nozaki Island
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 124 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 7 h 53
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Villages on Kuroshima Island → Kasuga Village and Sacred Places in Hir
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 32 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 124 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Kasuga Village and Sacred Places in Hirado.
2. Kasuga Village and Sacred Places in Hirado
Hirado is an island off the northwest coast of Kyushu, connected to the mainland by a bright red suspension bridge, and for a brief moment in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was one of Japan's windows on the world. Portuguese traders arrived in 1550, followed by Jesuit missionaries, and later the Dutch and English East India Companies set up trading posts here. When Christianity was banned in the early seventeenth century and foreign trade was moved to Nagasaki, the Christians of Hirado went underground. Kasuga, a farming village on the western side of the island, is one of the places where these Hidden Christians, the Kakure Kirishitan, maintained their faith in secret for more than two centuries, outwardly following Buddhism and Shinto while worshipping Christian images disguised as Buddhist statues and reciting prayers in a garbled mix of Latin, Portuguese and Japanese. The village and the sacred mountain of Yasumandake above it are part of the UNESCO listing of the Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region.
Read the complete Kasuga Village and Sacred Places in Hirado write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kasuga Village and Sacred Places in Hirado comes up about 62 km into the recorded legs. Next is Remains of Villages on Nozaki Island.
3. back through Kasuga Village and Sacred Places in Hirado
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kasuga Village and Sacred Places in Hirado write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Kasuga Village and Sacred Places in Hirado, late in the day. Next is Villages on Kuroshima Island.
4. Villages on Kuroshima Island
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
Back at Villages on Kuroshima Island. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Villages on Kuroshima Island to Kasuga Village and Sacred Places in Hirado
Villages on Kuroshima Island → Kasuga Village and Sacred Places in Hirado is 124 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kasuga Village and Sacred Places in Hirado to back through Kasuga Village and Sacred Places in Hirado
Kasuga Village and Sacred Places in Hirado → back through Kasuga Village and Sacred Places in Hirado is 1 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kasuga Village and Sacred Places in Hirado to Villages on Kuroshima Island
back through Kasuga Village and Sacred Places in Hirado → Villages on Kuroshima Island is 124 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.