Why this ride
From Himeji it runs 326 km to Himeji; allow about 5 h 44 of riding. On the way it passes Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun, Byodo-in and back through Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Himeji-jo and Byodo-in
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 326 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 44
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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
Himeji-jo is where the day begins. Next is Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun.
2. Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun
The Mozu kofun are strange. In the middle of modern Sakai, a heavy industrial and residential city south of Osaka, rise huge forested mounds surrounded by water-filled moats, some of them shaped like a keyhole, and these are the tombs of the rulers of Japan from the fifth century. Hanzei's tomb is one of the smaller ones in the group, though still well over a hundred metres long, and it is easily reached because the moat path runs around it. The giant of the group, attributed to Emperor Nintoku, is nearly five hundred metres long and one of the largest tombs in the world by area.
Read the complete Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun comes up about 105 km into the recorded legs. Next is Byodo-in.
3. 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
about 161 km into the recorded legs you reach Byodo-in. Next is back through Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun.
4. back through Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun, late in the day. Next is Himeji-jo.
5. Himeji-jo
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
Back at Himeji-jo. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Himeji-jo to Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun
Himeji-jo → Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun is 105 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun to Byodo-in
Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun → Byodo-in is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Byōdō-in to back through Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun
Byōdō-in → back through Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun to Himeji-jo
back through Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun → Himeji-jo is 108 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Himeji-jo and Tatsusayama Kofun · 329 km