A brief explanation on the word “Touge”
Touge is a Japanese word literally meaning “pass” (Tōge – 峠) as in mountain pass or a road between two mountains. Touge refers to the narrow winding mountain roads.
Due to steep elevation changes, a series of turns and bends, sometimes called cut backs, is needed to provide access to and from the higher elevations. Aside from construction limitations, like not being able to pave a road straight up the side of a mountain, the winding road is intended as a safety measure – typically preventing drivers from reaching extreme speeds while on the mountain.
Nevertheless, street racers and motorsport enthusiasts alike seek to test their drifting skills on the touge. Eventually, these touge racers began to adopt driving techniques used by rally drivers to help maintain their momentum through the corners. From touge racing, drifting was born.