In Futtsu, Chiba, there's an approach path carved straight through rock. Walls about 10 m high rise on both sides, and the gap between them is just wide enough for a motorcycle to slip through. The Tōrōzaka Daishi cut-through tunnel. Once you've been there, you don't forget it.
The first time I visited was on the SR400. Three years later — on the XSR900 — I came back.
What the cut-through tunnel is
"Tōrōzaka Daishi" is the local name for Tōzen-ji, a Shingon Buddhist temple in Takeoka, Futtsu City. The tunnel was carved by hand through a rocky hill as the approach path to the temple grounds. It runs about 50 m. The cut walls are mossed over, and the look changes completely with how the light comes in.
It's a short walk from Takeoka Station on the Uchibō Line. Accessible by bike or car, with parking. Drive along the coastal road and the signs appear.
Three years ago, on the SR400
I stopped the SR400 in the same spot back then. The single-cylinder note bouncing off the rock walls sounded lower than usual. At the time it didn't occur to me that three years later I'd be back on a different bike.
Back on the XSR900
The color of the moss, the way the light came through — pretty much the same as I remembered. The bike changed; the tunnel didn't. Obvious, I know, but it landed as a small relief.
"Take the bike out, hit an onsen, eat seafood." That was the whole plan for the day. Days as simple as that often feel the most complete.
There's a particular quiet inside the cut. Kill the engine, stand there for a while, and the noise in your head settles. As Chiba off-the-beaten-path goes, this place deserves to be better known.