Haniwa are the clue to this place. These clay cylinders and figures, shaped as houses, horses, warriors and dancers, were set around the slopes of the great Japanese tombs to guard the dead, and replicas of them now stand in parks and museums in Sakai. Shichikannon is a mound from that world, one of the numerous burial sites in the city that became a World Heritage property in 2019, and as with its neighbours you appreciate it from outside the moat. The lawn, the trees and the water do most of the talking.
What makes the Sakai tomb field remarkable is its scale. The largest, the Daisen Kofun, runs close to five hundred metres from end to end and was probably the work of thousands of labourers over years. The people who ordered such things were shaping a political message. They were declaring a dynasty at the point when contacts with the mainland were bringing iron, writing and Buddhism into Japan, and a tomb that could be seen from ships in the bay of Osaka was a handy form of advertising.
Your ride heads off toward Horyu-ji in the Ikaruga area of Nara, a few dozen kilometres away. The temple was founded in the early seventh century by Prince Shotoku, and its main buildings are considered the oldest surviving wooden structures in the world, which is a bold claim and a fair one. The five-storey pagoda and the main hall stand in a long cloister, quiet and weathered, with a smell of old cedar and incense. The place makes you slow down, and you should. Photographers will like the pale morning light on the wooden eaves, and Nara's deer, famous in the city, are not here, so you can eat your lunch in peace.
The road between the two sights crosses the broad Yamato basin, so the riding is mostly flat and sometimes tedious: lights, crossings, scooters, small trucks. But a little lateral thinking pays off. Look for the quieter prefectural roads that wind between rice fields and irrigation ponds and avoid the national route at commuting times. Fuel and drinks are easy to find in Sakai and along the way, since the area is densely settled. Autumn is the best season, with clear air, harvested paddies and the persimmons glowing orange on bare branches along the farm lanes.