Kumano Sanzan - Fudarakusan-ji and Kôyasan - Niukanshôfu-jinja
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
423 km
Riding-time estimate
6 h 56
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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 423 km round trip from Shingū - roughly 6 h 56 in the saddle. It goes by way of Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the, Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N, Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K and Kôyasan - Niukanshôfu-jinja. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Kumano Sanzan - Fudarakusan-ji
Fudarakusan-ji is a small temple on the coast of the Kii Peninsula, in the town of Nachikatsuura, and its odd history is a sea journey. In the old days some monks believed Fudaraku, the paradise of the bodhisattva Kannon, lay far across the ocean to the south, and from this beach they set off in boats nailed shut, with a little food and water, to sail toward it and not come back. The practice is called Fudaraku Tokai, and the temple remembers the monks who made the voyage, which gives the sea in front of it a haunting quality.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kumano Sanzan - Fudarakusan-ji is where the day begins. Next is Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the.
2. Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the
The Kumano Kodō, the ancient pilgrimage routes, link it with two other great shrines, Hayatama in Shingū and Nachi with its tall waterfall, and with the sacred mountains of Kōyasan and Yoshino further north. UNESCO listed the whole network in 2004 as one of only two pilgrimage routes on its register, the other being the road to Santiago de Compostela.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the comes up about 44 km into the recorded legs. Next is Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N.
3. Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N
The Kumano Kodō is a web of ancient pilgrimage trails across the mountains of the Kii Peninsula, south of Osaka, leading to the three grand shrines of Kumano: Hongū, Hayatama and Nachi. For over a thousand years, emperors, aristocrats and ordinary pilgrims walked these paths through cedar and cypress forest, stopping at small subsidiary shrines along the way. The Nakahechi, the most popular of the routes, leaves the coast near Tanabe and climbs inland through the hills. It is part of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range, listed by UNESCO in 2004, one of only two pilgrimage routes on the list along with the Camino de Santiago, with which it is twinned.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 80 km into the recorded legs you reach Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N. Next is Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K.
4. Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K
Mount Kōya is one of Japan's great sacred places, a high basin in the mountains of northern Wakayama where the monk Kūkai founded a monastic centre for Shingon Buddhism in the early ninth century. Today it is a town of over a hundred temples, many of which take in overnight guests, set among towering cedars. South of the summit plateau, deep in the forested ridges, run the old pilgrim trails that link Kōya with the Kumano shrines, part of the network inscribed by UNESCO as the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K, about halfway. Next is Kôyasan - Niukanshôfu-jinja.
5. Kôyasan - Niukanshôfu-jinja
In the foothills below Mount Kōya, in the village of Kudoyama, stands the Niukanshōfu shrine, dedicated to the deities who protect the sacred mountain. In the ninth century, the monk Kūkai, known after his death as Kōbō Daishi, founded a monastery on the plateau of Kōyasan as the centre of Shingon Buddhism, and he established an administrative office here, at the foot of the mountain, to manage the supply of the monastery. Nearby, the temple of Jison-in is associated with Kūkai's mother, who according to tradition lived here because women were not allowed on the mountain, and her son came down to visit her. The shrine and temple mark the start of the Chōishi-michi, the pilgrim path to Kōyasan, marked every 109 metres by stone posts, which climbs about twenty kilometres to the monastery. The sites are part of the UNESCO listing of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K comes up about 263 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N.
7. back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 341 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N. Next is back through Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the.
8. back through Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 423 km.
Leg by leg
Kumano Sanzan - Fudarakusan-ji to Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the
Kumano Sanzan - Fudarakusan-ji → Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the to Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N
Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the → Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N to Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N → Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K is 79 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K to Kôyasan - Niukanshôfu-jinja
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K → Kôyasan - Niukanshôfu-jinja is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kôyasan - Niukanshôfu-jinja to back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K
Kôyasan - Niukanshôfu-jinja → back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K to back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N
back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K → back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N to back through Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the
back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N → back through Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the to Kumano Sanzan - Fudarakusan-ji
back through Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the → Kumano Sanzan - Fudarakusan-ji is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.