Why this ride
A 192 km round trip from Kyoto - roughly 3 h 43 in the saddle. On the way it passes Nara Palace Site, Fujiwara Palace Site, Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja and back through Fujiwara Palace Site. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kiyomizu-dera and Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 192 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 43
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Kiyomizu-dera → Nara Palace Site
This part of the ride is 40 km of Kiyomizu-dera → Nara Palace Site.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 40 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Kiyomizu-dera
On the eastern hills of Kyoto, the great wooden veranda of Kiyomizu-dera juts out over a slope of maple and cherry, held up by a forest of pillars. The stage is about thirteen metres above the ground, and there is a Japanese saying, to jump off the stage of Kiyomizu, that means to take a bold, irreversible step. In the Edo period, people did really jump, hoping that survival would grant a wish, and a surprising number survived. The temple was founded in 778, and the present buildings date mainly from the 1630s, built without nails, using interlocking beams of Japanese zelkova and cypress.
Read the complete Kiyomizu-dera write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kiyomizu-dera is where the day begins. Next is Nara Palace Site.
2. Nara Palace Site
For most of the eighth century, Nara was the capital of Japan. The city, then called Heijō-kyō, was laid out on a grid modelled on the Chinese capital Chang'an, and at its northern end stood the imperial palace, Heijō-kyū, a vast compound of halls, offices and gardens. When the court moved away at the end of the century, the palace was abandoned and the land eventually returned to rice fields. Today the Nara Palace Site is a huge open space on the western side of the modern city, part of the UNESCO-listed Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara.
Read the complete Nara Palace Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nara Palace Site comes up about 40 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fujiwara Palace Site.
3. 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
about 67 km into the recorded legs you reach Fujiwara Palace Site. Next is Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja.
4. Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja
Mount Yoshino, in the mountains of Nara Prefecture, is famous throughout Japan for one thing above all: cherry blossom. Some thirty thousand trees cover its slopes, planted over the centuries as offerings, and each spring they bloom in waves from the lower slopes to the summit. Kimpu Shrine, Kimpu-jinja, stands near the top of the mountain, in the area known as Oku Senbon, the inner thousand trees, and it is part of the UNESCO-listed Sacred Sites of the Kii Mountain Range.
Read the complete Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja, about halfway. Next is back through Fujiwara Palace Site.
5. 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 sits at 133 km, about halfway. Next is back through Nara Palace Site.
6. back through Nara Palace Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nara 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 Nara Palace Site comes up about 150 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kiyomizu-dera.
7. Kiyomizu-dera
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kiyomizu-dera write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kiyomizu-dera closes the day.
Leg by leg
Kiyomizu-dera to Nara Palace Site
Kiyomizu-dera → Nara Palace Site is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nara Palace Site to Fujiwara Palace Site
Nara Palace Site → Fujiwara Palace Site is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fujiwara Palace Site to Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja
Fujiwara Palace Site → Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja to back through Fujiwara Palace Site
Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja → back through Fujiwara Palace Site is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fujiwara Palace Site to back through Nara Palace Site
back through Fujiwara Palace Site → back through Nara Palace Site is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Nara Palace Site to Kiyomizu-dera
back through Nara Palace Site → Kiyomizu-dera is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.