COURSE
Cycling Course
Enjoy a relaxed day touring the Saku area on our ebikes: around the fields where sake rice for breweries is grown, stopping off at local historical and cultural sites and meeting the brewery owners who devote their lives to making sake. Here are some suggestions for cycling days out.
Yachiho Course
Explore the Yachiho plain, surrounded by the Yatsugatake peaks! This course lets you discover the area’s water sources as you visit sake breweries and rice fields located along the banks of the Chikuma River. The 30 km (18.6 mile) route starts off on a shopping street unchanged since the Showa Era, before moving on to the panorama of rice fields extending below Mt Asama. Here is where you’ll find Kamenoumi Tsuchiya Brewing’s organic rice field, Kurosawa Sake Brewery’s rice field and Sakunohana Sake Brewery’s rice fields, with all three breweries growing Sankei Nishiki rice and fed by the same water they use to make sake. After returning to KURABITO STAY, you’ll taste the sake made by the three breweries with Sankei Nishiki, and recall the scenes you saw from your ebike.
Length : 30 km (18.6 miles)
Approximate time : 7 hours (cycling time: 1.5 hours))
Elevatione : 494m
Difficulty : ★★★★☆
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Mochizukiu-Asashina Course
Several areas around Saku city grow outstanding Koshihikari table rice, including the exclusive Gorobei-mai brand. The Asahina and Mochizuki Course centers around the fields in these areas that grow the sake rice Hitogokochi. You’ll visit the Hitogokochi rice fields of the Fuyou Sake Brewery in the Osawa area, which produce excellent rice thanks to the abundant water from the Chikuma River system, the Hitogokochi and Kinmon Nishiki rice fields of Kamenoumi Tsuchiya Brewing in the New Gorobei Fields area, which is famous for Gorobei-mai table rice, and the Hitogokochi rice fields of Osawa Sake Brewery nestled in the beautiful Kasuga area, which is supplied with water from Mt Tateshina. After enjoying the panorama of fertile fields and the view from the terraced rice fields below the mountains, taste the sake made with Hitogokochi rice from the three breweries and you’ll recall the scenes you saw from your ebike.
Distance : 56.6km
Duration : 8hours (Ride : 2.5hours)
Elevation difference : 632m
Strength : ★★★★★
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Katakai River Course
This half-day cycling course takes around 3 hours, starting in Usuda near KURABITO STAY where Sankei Nishiki sake rice is grown organically under contract for Kamenoumi Tsuchiya Brewing, then continuing to nearby Osawa where Hitogokochi sake rice is grown for Fuyou Sake Brewery. Cycle along the banks of the Katakai River, with plenty of stops where you can enjoy visiting hives kept by young beekeepers, the Kiuchi Sake Brewery in the Osawa area, and Teishoji Temple with its enchanting moss, as well as exploring the left bank of the Chikuma River with its enchanting scenery of mountains and rice fields and rich cultural heritage.
Length : 19 km (11.8 miles)
Approximate time : 3hours (cycling time: 50 min)
Elevation : 207m
Difficulty : ★★☆☆☆
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Kiyokoawa Course
This half-day course takes around 3 hours, departing from KURABITO STAY and staying near Usuda for a relaxed visit to three brewery-operated rice fields. Start by tasting Sakunohana Sake Brewery’s brewing water, then visit the rice fields where they grow the sake rice Sankei Nishiki and those in the Kiyokawa area that produce Hitogokochi. Enjoy cycling through the fields of the Kiyokawa area with a great view of Mt Asama on your way to Fuyou Sake Brewery, before a tour and sampling their craft cola, followed by a visit to the fields where the Kogen no Shizuku Koshihikari table rice they use to make their Yoyoi no Yoi sake is grown. You’ll also see two rice fields where the Kitsukura Sake Brewery grow their own sake rice.
Length : 13.6km (8.5 miles)
Approximate time : 3 hourss (cycling time: 35 min)
Elevatione : 74m
Difficulty : ★☆☆☆☆