CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
From Kashihara-shi it runs 127 km to Kashihara-shi; allow about 1 h 52 of riding. It goes by way of Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpusen-ji, Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji and back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpusen-ji. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Fujiwara-kyō was Japan's first real city, and the grid that was laid out on this plain in 694 under Empress Jitō was a deliberate imitation of the Tang capital of Chang'an. Until then, the court had wandered from one palace to the next, and each reign built afresh. Fujiwara-kyō fixed the capital in one place, with straight avenues, a walled palace compound, and blocks for officials and temples. It lasted only sixteen years before the court moved north to Heijō-kyō, today's Nara, in 710, but the idea of a planned capital stayed, and Nara and Kyoto followed the same pattern.
Read the complete Ancient Capitals of Asuka and Fujiwara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ancient Capitals of Asuka and Fujiwara is where the day begins. Next is Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpusen-ji.
Every April, the hillsides of Yoshino turn pink and white as tens of thousands of cherry trees burst into bloom, and the narrow ridge-top town fills with visitors who come to see one of Japan's most famous blossom displays. But Yoshino is more than a flower show. It is the heart of Shugendō, a mountain religion that blends Buddhism, Shinto and ancient nature worship, and the Kimpusen-ji temple, with its enormous wooden main hall, the Zaō-dō, is its spiritual centre. The temple is part of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range, listed by UNESCO in 2004.
Read the complete Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpusen-ji write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpusen-ji comes up about 20 km into the recorded legs. Next is Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji.
Ōminesan-ji is a temple on the summit of Mount Sanjō, one of the peaks of the Ōmine range in the heart of the Kii peninsula, and it holds a special place in Japanese religion. It is a centre of Shugendō, the mountain ascetic tradition that blends Buddhism, Shinto and older mountain worship, and its practitioners, the yamabushi, undergo arduous training on the ridges. The temple is famous for another reason too: the mountain is still closed to women by tradition, one of the last such places in Japan, which has become a subject of ongoing debate.
Read the complete Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 64 km into the recorded legs you reach Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji. Next is back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpusen-ji.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpusen-ji write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpusen-ji, late in the day. Next is Ancient Capitals of Asuka and Fujiwara.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ancient Capitals of Asuka and Fujiwara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Ancient Capitals of Asuka and Fujiwara. That is the ride.
Ancient Capitals of Asuka and Fujiwara → Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpusen-ji is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpusen-ji → Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji → back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpusen-ji is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpusen-ji → Ancient Capitals of Asuka and Fujiwara is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.