CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
A 198 km round trip from Kashihara - roughly 3 h 05 in the saddle. The stops in between: Yakushi-ji, Yamada-dera Temple Site, Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji and back through Yamada-dera Temple Site. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
The tomb attributed to Emperor Ingyo stands in Fujiidera, in the eastern suburbs of Osaka, and it belongs to the Furuichi group of kofun, the other half of the World Heritage site shared with Sakai's Mozu tombs. It is a large keyhole-shaped mound, wooded and surrounded by a moat, and like all imperial tombs it is managed by the Imperial Household Agency and closed to visitors. Scholars debate whether the attributions to specific emperors are accurate, since they were made long after the tombs were built, but the scale of the monuments speaks for itself. Nearby, the tomb attributed to Emperor Ojin, Kondagobyoyama, is the second largest in Japan by volume.
Read the complete Ingyo-tenno-ryo Kofun write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ingyo-tenno-ryo Kofun is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Yakushi-ji comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Yamada-dera Temple Site.
South of the modern town of Sakurai, in the Asuka region of Nara Prefecture, the grass and low walls of Yamada-dera mark the ruins of what was once a very grand temple. It was founded in the 640s by Soga no Kurayamada Ishikawamaro, a powerful minister of the Soga clan, who was caught up in court intrigue and is said to have taken his own life at the temple in 649, after being accused of treason. The story gives the quiet site a sad edge. In later excavations, archaeologists uncovered the foundation of the main hall and a long covered corridor whose timbers had collapsed and been buried in place, one of the best-preserved examples of seventh-century temple architecture in Japan.
Read the complete Yamada-dera Temple Site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 50 km into the recorded legs you reach Yamada-dera Temple Site. Next is Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji.
Ōminesan-ji is a temple on the summit of Mount Sanjō, one of the peaks of the Ōmine range in the heart of the Kii peninsula, and it holds a special place in Japanese religion. It is a centre of Shugendō, the mountain ascetic tradition that blends Buddhism, Shinto and older mountain worship, and its practitioners, the yamabushi, undergo arduous training on the ridges. The temple is famous for another reason too: the mountain is still closed to women by tradition, one of the last such places in Japan, which has become a subject of ongoing debate.
Read the complete Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji, about halfway. Next is back through Yamada-dera Temple Site.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Yamada-dera Temple Site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Yamada-dera Temple Site sits at 121 km, about halfway. Next is back through Yakushi-ji.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Yakushi-ji write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Yakushi-ji comes up about 172 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ingyo-tenno-ryo Kofun.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ingyo-tenno-ryo Kofun write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ingyo-tenno-ryo Kofun closes the day.
Ingyo-tenno-ryo Kofun → Yakushi-ji is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yakushi-ji → Yamada-dera Temple Site is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yamada-dera Temple Site → Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji → back through Yamada-dera Temple Site is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Yamada-dera Temple Site → back through Yakushi-ji is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Yakushi-ji → Ingyo-tenno-ryo Kofun is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.