Why this ride
43 km from Osaka to Osaka, about 1 h 07 of riding. On the way it passes Zenizuka Kofun, Gobyoyama Kofun, Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun and Itasuke Kofun.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Osaka afternoon · Itasuke Kofun
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 43 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 07
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Osaka
Osaka runs on appetite. It is Japan's third-largest city, with some two and a half million people, and for centuries it was the nation's kitchen, the place where rice from the whole country was traded and where merchants made fortunes and lived well. The local motto kuidaore, eat until you drop, is not a boast so much as a way of life, and you will see it in the neon crabs and puffer fish along Dotonbori.
Read the complete Osaka write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Osaka is where the day begins. Next is Zenizuka Kofun.
2. Zenizuka Kofun
Mozu is an old word for the shrike, a small predatory bird that impales its prey on thorns, and the name belongs to the stretch of Sakai where the biggest tombs lie. A chronicle tells how, when workers were building the tomb of Emperor Nintoku in the fifth century, a deer suddenly fell dead on the site, and a shrike flew out of its ear. The story is a legend, of course, but it gave the district its name, and it hints at how strange and mysterious these monuments seemed even to later Japanese.
Read the complete Zenizuka Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zenizuka Kofun comes up about 18 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gobyoyama Kofun.
3. Gobyoyama Kofun
The Gobyoyama tomb is the resting place attributed to Emperor Richu, the seventeenth emperor in the traditional count, and it is a giant: a keyhole-shaped mound in Sakai more than three hundred metres long, one of the biggest in the whole country. It was built in the late fourth or early fifth century, and its builders moved an enormous amount of earth. Surfaces were covered with fitted stones, and rows of haniwa figures stood on the terraces, so that in its day the whole mound would have gleamed like a stepped pyramid.
Read the complete Gobyoyama Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least about 19 km into the recorded legs you reach Gobyoyama Kofun. Next is Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun.
4. Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun
You cannot really see a kofun. That is the first lesson of Richu-tenno-ryo, one of the great keyhole-shaped tombs of the Mozu group in Sakai, south of Osaka. These are burial mounds built in the fifth century for the early rulers of Japan, shaped like a keyhole with a round back and a wide front, and surrounded by moats. The Richu mound is about three hundred and sixty metres long, among the largest in the country, and you walk around the water on a path, catching glimpses through the trees of a green hill that looks like a wooded island. From the ground it simply looks like a park.
Read the complete Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun, about halfway. Next is Itasuke Kofun.
5. Itasuke Kofun
Itasuke is a modest keyhole-shaped mound from the same age of burial monuments that gave the city its World Heritage listing. It sits amid ordinary streets, one more piece of green surrounded by tiled roofs, with its moat and trees telling you that something older than the neighbourhood is under there. It is a reason to arrive early, on a quiet weekday morning, and see what a city looks like before the engines warm up.
Read the complete Itasuke Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Itasuke Kofun sits at 24 km, about halfway. Next is back through Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun.
6. back through Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Gobyoyama Kofun.
7. back through Gobyoyama Kofun
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gobyoyama Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 23 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Gobyoyama Kofun. Next is back through Zenizuka Kofun.
8. back through Zenizuka Kofun
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zenizuka Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Zenizuka Kofun, late in the day. Next is Osaka.
9. Osaka
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Osaka 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 43 km.
Leg by leg
Osaka to Zenizuka Kofun
Osaka → Zenizuka Kofun is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Zenizuka Kofun to Osaka
back through Zenizuka Kofun → Osaka is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.