Kôyasan - Niutsuhime-jinja and Jisho-ji

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Kôyasan - Niutsuhime-jinja

   A hunter with two dogs, according to the legend, is why Koyasan exists. When the monk Kukai, later called Kobo Daishi, returned from studying in China in the early ninth century, he threw a ritual three-pronged object into the air and asked it to land on a site for a mountain monastery. He found it hanging in a pine tree on a high plateau in the Kii mountains, and there he met a hunter, the god Karibamyojin, who led him to the place with his dogs. The hunter's mother, the goddess Niutsuhime, is honoured at the shrine that guards the approach. Kukai founded his monastery in 816, and Koyasan has been the headquarters of Shingon Buddhism since.

   Read the complete Kôyasan - Niutsuhime-jinja write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Kôyasan - Niutsuhime-jinja is where the day begins. Next is Hokki-ji Area.

2. 2. Hokki-ji Area

   Ikaruga, a quiet town on the western edge of the Nara basin, is where Japanese Buddhist architecture begins. The temple of Hōryū-ji, founded by Prince Shōtoku in the early seventh century, has wooden buildings counted among the oldest surviving in the world, and in 1993 the Buddhist Monuments in the Hōryū-ji Area became, along with Himeji Castle, the first Japanese sites on the UNESCO list. A short distance north, among rice fields and houses, Hokki-ji is a smaller temple with a single treasure: a three-storey pagoda completed in the early eighth century, the oldest of its type in Japan. Seen across the fields with the hills behind, it is a lovely, peaceful sight.

   Read the complete Hokki-ji Area write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Hokki-ji Area comes up about 63 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jisho-ji.

3. 3. Jisho-ji

   Jisho-ji, known to most of the world as Ginkaku-ji, the Silver Pavilion, sits at the foot of the Higashiyama hills in the northeast of Kyoto. It began in the 1480s as the retirement villa of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, a man who lost interest in governing during a period of civil collapse and devoted himself to art, tea and gardens instead. After his death it became a Zen temple. The pavilion was never actually covered in silver, despite the name, and visitors still argue about whether the plan was dropped for lack of money or for taste.

   Read the complete Jisho-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 118 km into the recorded legs you reach Jisho-ji. Next is back through Hokki-ji Area.

4. 4. back through Hokki-ji Area

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Hokki-ji Area write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Hokki-ji Area, late in the day. Next is Kôyasan - Niutsuhime-jinja.

5. 5. Kôyasan - Niutsuhime-jinja

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Kôyasan - Niutsuhime-jinja write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Kôyasan - Niutsuhime-jinja. That is the ride.