[Motorcycle Blog] My first attempt at ``Kuragari Touge'', ``Japan's steepest national highway'' 

This is a video of when I went to "Kuragari Touge" (maximum slope of 26 degrees) by motorcycle in December 2023.
I was surprised that the slope was steeper than I expected.
The dark pass is located on National Route 308 and Osaka Prefectural Highway/Nara Prefectural Route 702 Osaka Hiraoka-Nara Line (duplicate) on the border between Nishihata-cho, Ikoma City, Nara Prefecture and Higashitoyoura-cho, Higashiosaka City, Osaka Prefecture. Pass. In ancient times, it was also written as ``Yamitoge''.
The altitude is 455m. This is a difficult spot in the Ikoma Mountains on the Akoshi Nara Highway, with a straight, steep slope with few twists and turns. In particular, the slope on the Osaka Prefecture side is about 2.5 km from the foot of the mountain to the pass. There are many historical monuments such as old temples, Jizo statues, and stone Buddhas along the mountain passes and on the roadsides. In recent years, it has become famous as a hiking route.
There is a small village at the top of the pass, and some teahouses are still open as of 2022. The road surface in this area is a stone pavement laid by the Koriyama clan during the Edo period. Daijingu lanterns and old guideposts can be seen next to this 50m long concrete pavement.[1] Because the dark pass is steep, this stone pavement was laid to prevent the basket carrying the lord during the sankin katai from slipping. This style still exists today, and it is extremely rare to find a cobblestone road designated as a national highway.
The origin of the name ``Darkness'' is that it was a road that crossed a mountain covered with dense trees and was dark even during the day, or that it was a change from ``Mukumine Pass'', or that ``Saddle Borrow'' and ``Kuragae e'' were corrupted. There is also a different theory that it became ``dark''. In Kamigata Rakugo Ise Sangu Kaminogi no Makura, it is said that ``It came to be called Kuragaeri Pass because it was so steep that the horse's saddle would almost tip over.''
The Dark-Etsu Nara Highway, which passes through the dark mountain pass, has been selected as one of Japan's top 100 roads, and a monument commemorating Japan's top 100 roads has been placed on the cobblestone roadside at the top of the mountain pass.
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