Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara and Tatsusayama Kofun

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara

   Nara was Japan's capital for only seventy-four years, from 710 to 784, but it left a mark out of all proportion to the time. The court modelled the new city on Chang'an, the Chinese capital, with a grid of streets and a palace at the north, and it was here that Buddhism took root as the state religion, that the first histories and poetry anthologies were compiled, and that the great temples were built. Eight monuments are included in the World Heritage listing: Todai-ji, Kofuku-ji, Kasuga Taisha, Gango-ji, Yakushi-ji, Toshodai-ji, the site of Heijo Palace and the Kasugayama Primeval Forest.

   Read the complete Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara is where the day begins. Next is Fujiwara Palace Site.

2. 2. 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 comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Horyu-ji Area.

3. 3. 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

   about 47 km into the recorded legs you reach Horyu-ji Area. Next is Yashimazuka Kofun.

4. 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. 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 78 km, about halfway. Next is back through Yashimazuka Kofun.

6. 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 91 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Horyu-ji Area.

7. 7. 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

   about 106 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Horyu-ji Area. Next is back through Fujiwara Palace Site.

8. 8. back through 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

   back through Fujiwara Palace Site, late in the day. Next is Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara.

9. 9. Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara 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 153 km.