Hazamiyama Kofun and Tôdai-ji

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Hazamiyama Kofun

   South-east of Osaka, in the low country between the Yamato river and the Nara hills, the earth is full of tombs. These are the kofun, great mounds raised for rulers and nobles between roughly the third and the sixth centuries, and the most famous have a distinctive shape, a keyhole, with a round rear mound and a trapezoid front, surrounded by a moat. The Mozu and Furuichi groups, with forty-nine mounds between them, were listed by UNESCO in 2019, and Hazamiyama, as far as I can tell, belongs with the Furuichi mounds.

   Read the complete Hazamiyama Kofun write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Hazamiyama Kofun is where the day begins. Next is Horyu-ji Area.

2. 2. Hōryū-ji Area

   The buildings at Hōryū-ji are around thirteen hundred years old, and some of them are among the oldest wooden structures anywhere in the world. Founded in the early seventh century by Prince Shōtoku, a regent remembered as a champion of Buddhism and a founding figure of the Japanese state, the temple was rebuilt after a fire later in the same century, and parts of that rebuilding still stand. In 1993 it became one of the first sites in Japan to be listed by UNESCO, as the Buddhist Monuments in the Hōryū-ji Area.

   Read the complete Horyu-ji Area write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Hōryū-ji Area comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tôdai-ji.

3. 3. Tôdai-ji

   Nothing quite prepares you for the scale of Tōdai-ji. You walk through the great Nandaimon gate, past two fierce wooden guardian kings carved in the thirteenth century by Unkei, Kaikei and their workshop, and there it is: the Daibutsuden, the Great Buddha Hall, for centuries the largest wooden building in the world, even though the current structure, rebuilt in the early eighteenth century, is smaller than the original. Inside sits the Daibutsu, a bronze Buddha some fifteen metres tall, commissioned by Emperor Shōmu and consecrated in 752 with a ceremony that drew monks from as far away as India. The temple is part of the UNESCO listing of Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara.

   Read the complete Tôdai-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 35 km into the recorded legs you reach Tôdai-ji. Next is back through Horyu-ji Area.

4. 4. back through Horyu-ji Area

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Horyu-ji Area write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Horyu-ji Area, late in the day. Next is Hazamiyama Kofun.

5. 5. Hazamiyama Kofun

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Hazamiyama Kofun write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Hazamiyama Kofun. That is the ride.