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.
From Arashiyama it runs 253 km to Arashiyama; allow about 4 h 06 of riding. It goes by way of Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara, Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji and back through Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kozan-ji is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara comes up about 54 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 126 km into the recorded legs you reach Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji. Next is back through Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara, late in the day. Next is Kozan-ji.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kozan-ji write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Kozan-ji. That is the ride.
Kozan-ji → Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara → Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji → back through Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara → Kozan-ji is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.