Kyoto day out · Tôshôdai-ji

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Kyoto

   Kyoto was the capital of Japan for over a thousand years, from 794 until 1868, and it still carries itself like it. The founders laid the city out on the Chinese model, a rectangular grid with the palace at the north, and the grid is why a tourist can wander straight for ten minutes and know where they are. The old city sits in a basin ringed by low wooded mountains on three sides: Higashiyama to the east, Kitayama to the north, Nishiyama to the west. Seventeen monuments in and around Kyoto make up the UNESCO listing, from the mossy temples to the great castle of Nijo.

   Read the complete Kyoto write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Kyoto is where the day begins. Next is Nara Palace Site.

2. 2. Nara Palace Site

   For most of the eighth century, Nara was the capital of Japan. The city, then called Heijō-kyō, was laid out on a grid modelled on the Chinese capital Chang'an, and at its northern end stood the imperial palace, Heijō-kyū, a vast compound of halls, offices and gardens. When the court moved away at the end of the century, the palace was abandoned and the land eventually returned to rice fields. Today the Nara Palace Site is a huge open space on the western side of the modern city, part of the UNESCO-listed Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara.

   Read the complete Nara Palace Site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Nara Palace Site comes up about 40 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tôdai-ji.

3. 3. Tôdai-ji

   Nothing quite prepares you for the scale of Tōdai-ji. You walk through the great Nandaimon gate, past two fierce wooden guardian kings carved in the thirteenth century by Unkei, Kaikei and their workshop, and there it is: the Daibutsuden, the Great Buddha Hall, for centuries the largest wooden building in the world, even though the current structure, rebuilt in the early eighteenth century, is smaller than the original. Inside sits the Daibutsu, a bronze Buddha some fifteen metres tall, commissioned by Emperor Shōmu and consecrated in 752 with a ceremony that drew monks from as far away as India. The temple is part of the UNESCO listing of Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara.

   Read the complete Tôdai-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   At least about 45 km into the recorded legs you reach Tôdai-ji. Next is Kôfuku-ji.

4. 4. Kôfuku-ji

   In the early eighth century, when Nara became Japan's first permanent capital, the powerful Fujiwara clan moved their family temple here, and Kofuku-ji became one of the great temples of the city, wealthy enough to maintain its own warrior monks. Its five storey pagoda, rebuilt in the fifteenth century after one of several fires, is the second tallest wooden pagoda in Japan and a symbol of Nara, reflected in the Sarusawa pond below. The Central Golden Hall was rebuilt and reopened in 2018, and the National Treasure Museum holds the famous statue of Ashura, a three faced, six armed guardian with a strikingly human expression. Kofuku-ji is part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara World Heritage Site. The pagoda is undergoing a long restoration and may be wrapped in scaffolding when you visit.

   Read the complete Kôfuku-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Kôfuku-ji, about halfway. Next is Tôshôdai-ji.

5. 5. Tôshôdai-ji

   Toshodai-ji exists because a blind monk would not give up. Ganjin, a Chinese master of Buddhist law, was invited to Japan in the eighth century to teach proper monastic ordination, and he tried to cross the sea five times, defeated by storms, pirates and official obstruction, until he went blind. On the sixth attempt, in 753, he arrived in Japan, and in 759 he founded this temple in Nara. His own ordination hall still stands in the grounds, and a dry-lacquer statue of him, said to be a faithful likeness, is kept at the temple and shown only occasionally.

   Read the complete Tôshôdai-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Tôshôdai-ji sits at 61 km, about halfway. Next is back through Kôfuku-ji.

6. 6. back through Kôfuku-ji

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Kôfuku-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Kôfuku-ji comes up about 59 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Tôdai-ji.

7. 7. back through Tôdai-ji

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Tôdai-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 60 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Tôdai-ji. Next is back through Nara Palace Site.

8. 8. back through Nara Palace Site

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Nara Palace Site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Nara Palace Site, late in the day. Next is Kyoto.

9. 9. Kyoto

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Kyoto write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 108 km.