Aoyama Kofun and Daigo-ji

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Aoyama Kofun

   Aoyama Kofun is a modest tomb among many, one of the Furuichi mounds in southeastern Osaka that together make up a landscape of burials from the fifth century and thereabouts. The ride calls it by a nearer town, Kashihara, but the ground is the Kawachi plain, below the Kongo and Katsuragi hills, and the character is residential: low houses, small shops, canals of traffic on the main roads and quiet lanes that circle the mounds.

   Read the complete Aoyama Kofun write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Aoyama Kofun is where the day begins. Next is Gangô-ji.

2. 2. Gangô-ji

   Nara lives in the shadow of its grand temples, Todai-ji and Kofuku-ji, but Gango-ji is the one with the best sense of age. It started life in Asuka, in the late sixth century, as Asuka-dera, the first true Buddhist temple in Japan, founded by the powerful Soga clan. When the capital moved to Heijo-kyo in the early eighth century, the monks followed, and the temple was rebuilt on a new site in what is now the Naramachi district, with some of the original roof tiles carried across the plain and reused. You can still pick out the older, darker tiles on the roof of the main hall, a faint line of continuity across thirteen centuries.

   Read the complete Gangô-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Gangô-ji comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Daigo-ji.

3. 3. Daigo-ji

   The oldest building in Kyoto does not stand in the city centre but in the southeastern hills, at the temple of Daigo-ji: a five storey pagoda completed in 951, which has survived fires, earthquakes and wars that destroyed almost everything else of its age in the city. The temple was founded in the ninth century on Mount Daigo, and its grounds spread from the foot of the mountain to the summit, linked by a steep path, with halls, gardens and sub temples along the way. It is part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto World Heritage Site.

   Read the complete Daigo-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 68 km into the recorded legs you reach Daigo-ji. Next is back through Gangô-ji.

4. 4. back through Gangô-ji

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Gangô-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Gangô-ji, late in the day. Next is Aoyama Kofun.

5. 5. Aoyama Kofun

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Aoyama Kofun write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Aoyama Kofun. That is the ride.