Asuka Pond Garden Site and Himeji-jo

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Asuka Pond Garden Site

   In the Asuka district, a stone-lined pond lies below a gentle slope, with a channel feeding it and a neat edge of laid cobbles. The Asuka Pond Garden Site was uncovered in the late twentieth century, and it shows that the aristocracy of seventh-century Japan took water seriously, both as a garden feature and as part of ritual. The pond belongs to a type of formal water garden that was introduced from the Asian continent, along with Buddhism and Chinese court culture, and it was probably part of a palace or an elite residence, though the precise function is still debated.

   Read the complete Asuka Pond Garden Site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Asuka Pond Garden Site is where the day begins. Next is Byodo-in.

2. 2. Byōdō-in

   Take a ten-yen coin out of your pocket in Japan and you are holding a picture of this place. The Phoenix Hall of the Byōdō-in in Uji, with its wings stretching out on either side of a central hall and bronze phoenixes on the roof, is one of the most famous buildings in the country. It was built in 1053 by Fujiwara no Yorimichi, a member of the most powerful aristocratic family of the Heian period, who converted his father's villa into a Buddhist temple. Its reflection in the pond in front was meant to evoke the Pure Land paradise of the Amida Buddha.

   Read the complete Byodo-in write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Byōdō-in comes up about 52 km into the recorded legs. Next is Himeji-jo.

3. 3. Himeji-jo

   Himeji Castle is the one that survived. Japan has a lot of reconstructed keeps, concrete inside and gift shop on the ground floor, but the big white donjon here is the real thing, largely as it stood in the early 1600s when Ikeda Terumasa rebuilt the place on the hill. It came through the bombing of 1945 and the Kobe earthquake of 1995 with the timbers intact, and it has been a World Heritage site since 1993. The plaster is so brilliantly white that people call it Hakuro-jo, the White Heron, and on a clear morning from the east side you can see why: the roofs stack up like a bird lifting off.

   Read the complete Himeji-jo write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 174 km into the recorded legs you reach Himeji-jo. Next is back through Byodo-in.

4. 4. back through Byodo-in

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Byodo-in write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Byodo-in, late in the day. Next is Asuka Pond Garden Site.

5. 5. Asuka Pond Garden Site

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Asuka Pond Garden Site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Asuka Pond Garden Site. That is the ride.