Fujiwara Palace Site and Kôyasan - Jison-in

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Fujiwara Palace Site

   Before Nara, before Kyoto, there was Fujiwara-kyō. In 694, the Empress Jitō moved the Japanese court to a new capital in the southern part of the Nara basin, the first in Japan to be laid out on a Chinese-style grid of streets, with the imperial palace at its centre. It lasted only sixteen years, until the court moved north to Nara in 710, but it marked a turning point in the history of the Japanese state.

   Read the complete Fujiwara Palace Site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Fujiwara Palace Site is where the day begins. Next is Yakushi-ji.

2. 2. Yakushi-ji

   Yakushi-ji is one of the great temples of Nara, the capital of Japan in the eighth century. It was founded by Emperor Tenmu in the late seventh century, praying for the recovery of his ill empress, and moved to its present site when the capital moved to Nara in 710. Dedicated to Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of healing, it is part of the UNESCO-listed Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara. The East Pagoda, which has stood since the eighth century, is one of the few surviving buildings from that era, and its layered roofs, with smaller roofs between each storey, create a rhythm described by one admirer as frozen music.

   Read the complete Yakushi-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Yakushi-ji comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tsudo-shiroyama Kofun.

3. 3. Tsudo-shiroyama Kofun

   On the plain south-east of Osaka, among suburbs, railway lines and car dealerships, the land is dotted with huge grassy mounds shaped like keyholes, surrounded by water-filled moats, and covered in trees. They are kofun, the burial mounds of Japan's early rulers and aristocrats, and the Tsudoshiroyama Kofun is one of them, in the Furuichi group, about two kilometres from the town of Kashiwara and not far from Habikino and Fujiidera. The group, together with the Mozu group in Sakai, was inscribed by UNESCO in 2019.

   Read the complete Tsudo-shiroyama Kofun write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 53 km into the recorded legs you reach Tsudo-shiroyama Kofun. Next is Kôyasan - Jison-in.

4. 4. Kôyasan - Jison-in

   Before you ride up to Mount Koya, the great mountain monastery of Shingon Buddhism, stop at its doorstep. Jison-in sits in the Kii river valley at Kudoyama, below the mountain, and it was founded by Kukai, the monk also known as Kobo Daishi, in the early ninth century as the administrative office and supply base for the new monastery above. Its most loved story concerns his mother. Women were barred from Koyasan for over a thousand years, so she lived here, and tradition says Kukai walked down nine times a month to visit her. That, the locals will tell you, is where the name Kudoyama, nine-times mountain, comes from.

   Read the complete Kôyasan - Jison-in write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Kôyasan - Jison-in, about halfway. Next is back through Tsudo-shiroyama Kofun.

5. 5. back through Tsudo-shiroyama Kofun

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Tsudo-shiroyama Kofun write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Tsudo-shiroyama Kofun sits at 127 km, about halfway. Next is back through Yakushi-ji.

6. 6. back through Yakushi-ji

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Yakushi-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Yakushi-ji comes up about 185 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fujiwara Palace Site.

7. 7. Fujiwara Palace Site

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Fujiwara Palace Site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Fujiwara Palace Site closes the day.