Samurai Japanese Bike Tour – Mt Fuji, Honshu & Shikoku Islands

Samurai Bike Tour Highlights

– Explore the ancient Samurai roads and learn about this fascinating period in history.
– Indulge yourself in the natural hot springs offered by most of our accommodations.
– Discover the unique tastes of Japanese cuisine that are distinct and varied across the islands.
– Experience the delights of Japanese style inns that offer a very different hotel experience to what you might be used to.

Mt Fuji Stage
– Ride across Japan from North to South, exploring historic landmarks like the Black Crow Castle in Matsumoto, Japan’s oldest original castle.
– Cycle around Mt. Fuji, experiencing incredible views of this iconic Japanese mountain from the Fuji 5 Lakes, with the option of riding up the volcano.
– Explore the Izu Peninsula, passing through fishing villages and onsen towns, with Mt. Fuji visible from the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
– Ride past the site where the famous American Black Ships landed, a catalyst for ending feudalism and starting Japan’s rapid modernization during the samurai era.
– Experience diverse landscapes and cultural highlights throughout the Alps that have sheltered much of Japan’s ancient history, on this epic cycling tour across Japan.

Honshu Stage
–  Visit the enchanting alpine village of Shirakawago that has attained UNESCO status for its multi-story 17th century steep grass-thatched farmhouses.
– Ride through the lands of the Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage Routes- ancient, spiritual paths through lush forests leading to grand shrines and breathtaking waterfalls.
– Discover the ancient art of cormorant fishing on the Nagaragawa River in Gifu City.
– Visit the famous Nachi Falls, Japan’s tallest waterfall, and the Seiganto-ji Temple, which offers spectacular views through this ancient valley.
– Cycle through the stunning coastal scenery and quaint fishing villages of the Kii Peninsula.

Shikoku Stage
– Share your route with pilgrims travelling in homage to the Buddhist saint, Kobo Daishi and visit some of the 88 temples that make up this 1,200-year-old pilgrimage.
– Climb over the highest mountain in Western Japan – Mt Ishizuchi (1982m / 6502ft)
– Cycle along Japan’s last pure waterway, the stunning crystal clear Shimanto River.
– Traverse the amazing 60km+ long Shimanami Kaido bikeway, a series of suspension bridges and six small islands that link Shikoku with the main island, Honshu.

 

Samurai Bike Tour Dates Spring 2025

 

Samurai Bike Tour Dates Fall 2025

All tours and individual stages are available as a custom tour for your group – contact us for details.

What’s Included?

• Accommodation in our carefully selected hotels
• Meals – hotel breakfasts, snacks en route and pre/post-ride nutrition, multi course group dinners with a focus on the local cuisine.*NB we include occasional independent dinners to break up the week
• Ride and Seek jersey
• Garmin 1030 use with all routes preloaded
• Ride and Seek water bottle
• Kit laundry service once a week
• Passionate, experienced and knowledgeable guides always on hand to help

Not Included

• Alcoholic beverages
• Bike hire
• Pre & post tour accommodation

Supplements

• Single supplement – Our prices are based on twin/double occupancy. If you wish to have your own room then a supplement is applicable.

Deposit

• To reserve a place on a stage of this tour we ask for a deposit of US$500 (or your local currency equivalent). We also accept payment in GB£, AU$ and EU€. The final invoice will include any applicable single supplements and bike hire costs.

Useful Information

• Climate – The end of September and October is known as the calm period in Japan after the mid-year storms. Average temperatures in Shikoku during October are 19°C (high is 24°C and low 13°C). Average rain days in October are 8 which is lower than the preceding 5 months. Central Japan shares its latitude with Morocco, southern California and the Mediterranean, about 200km south of Sicily, which provides a useful point of geographical reference.

Samurai Bike Tour Food and Wine

Wherever we travel in Japan we are never far from another great meal. Each region, sometimes even each restaurant specialise in a particular dish having spent generations perfecting it. Many of our meals are as much a cultural experience as they are a culinary one, with multiple courses, each carefully created into a piece of edible art.

On both islands, we don’t have to travel far to discover that Japanese cuisine is deeply varied. The hearty hotpots and grilled freshwater fish of the alps and the mountains of Shikoku dramatically differ from the varied and abundant seafood with its fresh delicate sushi of the coastal regions. It’s also intensely seasonal, meaning you can visit in spring and again in fall and experience totally new tastes.

The name “Shikoku” means “four provinces”, which refers to the island’s four prefectures—Kagawa, Tokushima, Kochi, and Ehime. The mountains created natural barriers that separated the four provinces, keeping them fairly isolated from each other. This allowed each area to develop its own unique food culture.

The Kagawa province, in the North East of the Island, is famous for its Udon noodles, made from the locally-produced flour, and recognisable from its square shape and flat edges. You’ll see these on menus as Sanuki Udon, because the Kagawa prefecture was previously called Sanuki Province.

Tokushima ramen, comes in different shades of dark brown, yellow and white, depending on whether pork, chicken or vegetable broth is used, and whether dark or light soy sauce is used. It is topped with slices of pork ribs, spring onions, and a raw egg that cooks in the hot soup.

Katsuo Tataki is a very popular dish. Fresh Skipjack/Bonito tuna is seared on the outside on a straw fire, then thinly sliced, garnished with ginger, and eaten like sashimi. This is a Shikoku method, and folklore has it that the technique was developed by Sakamoto Ryoma, a 19th century Samurai.

In the Ehime region red snapper (‘Tai’) is caught in the Seto Inland Sea, and incorporated into the popular local dish Tai Meshi, where cooked rice is topped with red snapper sashimi that has been dipped in raw egg yolk mixed with a sweetened sauce.

Because of the warm climate on Shikoku citrus fruits are able to thrive, with mandarins being one of the most successful local crops. They are mainly grown in rows on terraced slopes. Yuzu (with a flavour between grapefruit and lime) is also particularly abundant, and we will see all kinds of yuzu products from fresh yuzu juice to yuzu flavoured nuts.

While there has been increased interest in reviving wine-making in Japan, we will discover other more traditional options on our trip that shouldn’t be ignored. There are over ninety sake breweries across the four provinces, each with their own style, and with many small family-run breweries thriving. Each region of Shikoku has both a mountainous interior and a coastal area, so there are breweries producing richer sake to match the mountain-style food such as game and root vegetable, and others creating a lighter sake to complement the seafood available along the coast.

Beer has been produced in Japan since the 19th century, and there are breweries on Shikoku itself. Aside from the large Asahi brewery, there are also smaller producers, which are often an off-shoot of a sake brewery. As you can imagine many of these beers are a perfect complement to the local food!

Samurai Bike Tour Accommodation

We present a range of accommodation options across this tour, but without doubt, our favourite abodes are the Japanese inns. As with all of our tours we have searched out places that are not only ‘best available’, but also reflect the essence of the area in which we travel. The inns are a wonderful way to immerse yourself in the culture of Japan with their straw mat floors and futon beds. Many of them also offer baths in natural hot springs to soothe those aching muscles at the end of a day on the bike. The traditional cuisine served up in these inns is also a real highlight. Our Samurai tour has a good mix of traditional inns and more western orientated hotels.

Samurai Bike Tour History

Our tour explores many of Japan’s historically important regions. Our rest day allows us to discover the 1200-year-old imperial city of Kyoto. Shikoku Island was known as a refuge for defeated samurai, with its wild mountainous centre and steep rivers enough to slow any large pursuing army. Masterless and with only small gains to be found in banditry on such a remote island many swapped their swords for ploughs and lived as farmers. Their descendants still work the rice paddies in the remote valleys we ride through today.

Shikoku is also famous for its pilgrimage of the 88-temples, scattered across the island associated with the Buddhist priest Kuka, known posthumously as Kobo-Daishi who lived from 774 to 835AD. Modern-day pilgrims, called ‘Henro’ by the locals, still tackle the 1200km route, many of them sporting the traditional white clothing, sedge hats and kongō-zue walking sticks and sharing some of their route with ours. 

Japan has a long and fascinating history. The Yamato dynasty (Japanese Imperial Family) is the longest unbroken monarchy in the world, dating back to 660AD. Their linear family history belies the complexity of the county’s history which began to bear similarities with Japanese culture around 400AD when people began practising wet rice cultivation and using metal tools which promoted a sense of territoriality.

Buddhism and the Chinese writing system arrived a century later. The now literate elite used religion as a unifying tool and the writing system to consolidate power through taxes, regulate land distribution, create official ranks and document family lineages to justify their right to rule. 

The first strong central government developed in the 8th century and the imperial capital of Kyoto was founded in 794AD. Over the next few centuries courtly life reached a pinnacle of refined artistic pursuits and etiquette, turning out enduring art, poetry, and prose – most famously perhaps the world’s first novel ‘The Tale of Genji’ written by a lady of the court in around 1,004AD. The samurai (literally ‘retainer’) warrior class developed during this time as a means for the nobility to control, defend and tax their distant provinces. 

Servent became dictator when after many decades of war between the two largest rival clans, the Minamoto and the Taira who were aligned with the emperor came to an end. Yoritomo, the leader of the victorious Minamoto clan, did not make himself emperor but had the emperor give him legitimacy by conferring him the title of Shogun (commander of all combined military forces) in 1192AD. So began the almost 700 years of Shogunate rule, a feudal system centred on a loyalty-based lord-vassal system. 

He left many existing offices and institutions in place and set up a base in his home territory not far from present-day Tokyo. In theory, Yoritomo represented the military arm of the emperor’s government, but in practice, he was in charge of the government. This change in power meant rule over Japan was no longer defined to one noble family but could be obtained by force and influence over the emperor. 

The following centuries were rife with war, but with land, power and thereby cultural sway moving to the Samurai a new disciplined culture developed under the growing influence of Zen Buddhism. Leading to a flourishing of the arts, such as the uniquely Japanese tea ceremony, flower arranging and stylised dance-drama performed on a bare stage. 

In the last three decades of the fifteen-hundreds’, Japan was finally unified and so began 250 years of peace that prevailed under the Tokugawa Shogunate. Samurai were made a closed caste at the top of society, above farmers, artisans and merchants. Words like ‘bushido’ (“way of the warrior”) came into parlance. Samurai arguing that they should be thought of as a moral beacon as they tried to justify their role in a land without war. This period is also known for its locked country policy, which didn’t hinder the county’s growing wealth nor the size of its cities. By the end of the 17th century Edo (later Tokyo) was one of the most populous and organised cities in the world with over one million inhabitants (the much older London had a population of about 600,000; Paris 500,000; and New York just 5,000).

Throughout this Epic Tour, we explore how the samurai’s reign came to an end, why the emperor was needed to give legitimacy to their rule, what was the code of conduct that came to be known as bushidō (the way of the warrior) and how did they become the world’s finest swordsmen. We also learn how Buddhism influenced their culture, how ‘seppuku’ (ritual suicide), also known as ‘hara-kiri’ became normalised and seen as honourable and how the belief that life is impermanent served as a handy reason to face death with serenity. The samurai may be gone, but their literature, arts, aesthetics and values still influence much of Japanese culture today.