Why this ride
A 329 km round trip from Himeji - roughly 5 h 53 in the saddle. The stops in between: Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun, Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area, Yashimazuka Kofun and Tatsusayama Kofun. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Himeji-jo and Tatsusayama Kofun
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 329 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 53
- 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 Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area.
3. Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area
If you want to stand in front of the oldest wooden buildings in the world, this is the place. Hōryū-ji, a Buddhist temple in the town of Ikaruga south-west of Nara, was founded by Prince Shōtoku in the early seventh century, and although it burned and was rebuilt not long after, its central buildings, including the main hall and the five-storey pagoda, date from around the end of the seventh century. They were among the first sites in Japan inscribed by UNESCO, in 1993.
Read the complete Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least about 133 km into the recorded legs you reach Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area. Next is Yashimazuka Kofun.
4. Yashimazuka Kofun
In the southeastern suburbs of Osaka, among houses, rice paddies and railway lines, rise wooded mounds surrounded by moats. These are kofun, burial mounds built for the elite of ancient Japan between the third and seventh centuries, and the Furuichi group around Fujiidera and Habikino contains some of the largest in the country. Yashimazuka is one of the smaller mounds in the group, standing close to much bigger keyhole-shaped tombs attributed to emperors and empresses. Together with the Mozu group in Sakai, these mounds were listed by UNESCO in 2019 as the Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group.
Read the complete Yashimazuka Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Yashimazuka Kofun, about halfway. Next is Tatsusayama Kofun.
5. Tatsusayama Kofun
Southern Osaka has a secret that is hard to see from the ground: its suburbs are woven around ancient burial mounds, some of them among the largest tombs ever built. In Sakai, these kofun belong to the Mozu group, which, together with the Furuichi group further east, was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 2019. Tatsusayama is one of the smaller mounds, a wooded hill surrounded by houses and roads, but it is part of the same story. Between roughly the fourth and sixth centuries, the rulers of the Yamato court and their elite were buried in tombs shaped like keyholes when seen from above, with moats around them and clay figures called haniwa placed on their slopes.
Read the complete Tatsusayama Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tatsusayama Kofun sits at 168 km, about halfway. Next is back through Yashimazuka Kofun.
6. back through Yashimazuka Kofun
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Yashimazuka Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Yashimazuka Kofun comes up about 177 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area.
7. back through Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 192 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area. Next is back through Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun.
8. 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.
9. 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
The route ends here after 329 km.
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 Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area
Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun → Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area to Yashimazuka Kofun
Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area → Yashimazuka Kofun is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yashimazuka Kofun to Tatsusayama Kofun
Yashimazuka Kofun → Tatsusayama Kofun is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tatsusayama Kofun to back through Yashimazuka Kofun
Tatsusayama Kofun → back through Yashimazuka Kofun is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Yashimazuka Kofun to back through Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area
back through Yashimazuka Kofun → back through Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area to back through Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun
back through Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area → back through Hanzei-tenno-ryo Kofun is 29 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
- Osaka afternoon · Itasuke Kofun · 43 km
- Kyoto long day · Komoyamazuka Kofun · 138 km
- Nabezuka Kofun and Kôyasan - Jison-in · 126 km
- Himeji-jo and Byodo-in · 326 km