Yoshida lava tree molds and Mihonomatsubara pine tree grove starting at Fujiyoshida
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
189 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 47
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.
From Fujiyoshida it runs 189 km to Fujiyoshida; allow about 2 h 47 of riding. It goes by way of Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine, Mihonomatsubara pine tree grove and back through Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 850 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Yoshida lava tree molds
Mount Fuji's lava does strange things to trees. When a flow of molten rock surges through a forest, it wraps around trunks and hardens, and when the tree burns away it leaves a hollow cast, a round tube in the rock that looks like a well or a chimney. The lava tree molds at Yoshida are formed in this way, found along the lower slopes in the dense forest known as Aokigahara, where the ground is black, rough and honeycombed with caves. The flows come from eruptions of Fuji in the ninth century and later, and the forest has grown up over the cooling rock ever since.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Yoshida lava tree molds is where the day begins. Next is Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine.
2. Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine
Mount Fuji has been worshipped as a sacred mountain for as long as people have lived beneath it, and the Fujisan Hongū Sengen Taisha in Fujinomiya is the head shrine of that worship, the principal sanctuary of over a thousand Sengen shrines across Japan. Its main hall, rebuilt in the early seventeenth century under the patronage of Tokugawa Ieyasu, has an unusual two-storey design, painted in vermilion and set among tall trees. The shrine is dedicated to Konohanasakuya-hime, a goddess associated with the mountain, with blossoms and with fire.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine comes up about 52 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mihonomatsubara pine tree grove.
3. Mihonomatsubara pine tree grove
Miho is a thin hook of land curling out into Suruga Bay, and Mihonomatsubara is the pine grove that covers it: tens of thousands of dark pines behind a long beach of grey, pebbly sand. People come for the view. On a clear day Mount Fuji sits on the other side of the bay, framed by the trees and the curve of the shore, and that image has been painted, printed and photographed for centuries. It is why the grove was included in the UNESCO listing for Fuji in 2013, as an artistic setting for the mountain rather than as a piece of nature in itself.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Yoshida lava tree molds. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Yoshida lava tree molds to Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine
Yoshida lava tree molds → Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine to Mihonomatsubara pine tree grove
Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine → Mihonomatsubara pine tree grove is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mihonomatsubara pine tree grove to back through Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine
Mihonomatsubara pine tree grove → back through Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine to Yoshida lava tree molds
back through Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine → Yoshida lava tree molds is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.