Kozan-ji and Horyu-ji Area

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Kozan-ji

   Kozan-ji hangs on a forested ridge in the Toganoo hills, north-west of Kyoto, and the way there is the best part. Route 162, the old Shuzan Kaido, follows the Kiyotaki river up from the city through a narrow valley of cedar and maple, past the villages of Takao, Makino and Toganoo. The road is narrow and winding, with tight bends and blind corners, and it moves quickly from city to deep woods. In autumn the maples turn scarlet and the traffic can be heavy, so go on a weekday morning, or in early spring when the valley is nearly empty.

   Read the complete Kozan-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Kozan-ji is where the day begins. Next is Kiyomizu-dera.

2. 2. 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 comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is Nara Palace Site.

3. 3. 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

   about 57 km into the recorded legs you reach Nara Palace Site. Next is Fujiwara Palace Site.

4. 4. 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, about halfway. Next is Horyu-ji Area.

5. 5. 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

   Hōryū-ji Area sits at 110 km, about halfway. Next is back through Fujiwara Palace Site.

6. 6. 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 comes up about 132 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Nara Palace Site.

7. 7. 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

   about 159 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Nara Palace Site. Next is back through Kiyomizu-dera.

8. 8. back through 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

   back through Kiyomizu-dera, late in the day. Next is Kozan-ji.

9. 9. Kozan-ji

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Kozan-ji 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 216 km.