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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Aoyama Kofun and Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
320 km
Riding-time estimate
4 h 32
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.

Open this ride in CurveScout

Why this ride

From Kashihara it runs 320 km to Kashihara; allow about 4 h 32 of riding. The stops in between: Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji, Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha and back through Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-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.

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 Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji.

  2. 2. 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.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji comes up about 67 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha.

  3. 3. Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha

    Deep in the mountains of the Kii Peninsula, where forested ridges fold one behind another like the scenery in a woodblock print, stands the head shrine of the Kumano faith. Kumano Hongū Taisha is one of the three grand shrines of Kumano, and for over a thousand years emperors, aristocrats and ordinary pilgrims have walked here along the network of mountain trails known as the Kumano Kodō, now part of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range listed by UNESCO.

    Read the complete Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    about 160 km into the recorded legs you reach Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha. Next is back through Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji.

  4. 4. back through Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    back through Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-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.

Leg by leg

Aoyama Kofun to Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji

Aoyama Kofun → Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji to Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha

Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji → Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha is 93 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.

Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha to back through Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji

Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha → back through Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji is 93 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.

back through Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji to Aoyama Kofun

back through Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji → Aoyama Kofun is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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