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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Kurizuka Kofun and Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
196 km
Riding-time estimate
3 h 22
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.

Open this ride in CurveScout

Why this ride

From Kashihara it runs 196 km to Kashihara; allow about 3 h 22 of riding. On the way it passes Motoyakushiji Temple Site, Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja, Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi and back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 850 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Kurizuka Kofun

    South of Nara city, the plain is flat and green, with rice paddies in every direction and low, rounded mountains standing on its rim, and the first Japanese states grew here. Kashihara, on the southern side of the basin, sits near the old capitals of Asuka and Fujiwara, where the court and the first lasting Buddhist temples took shape in the sixth and seventh centuries. Kurizuka is one of the many kofun, ancient burial mounds, scattered around the district, and it is a modest, tree-covered hump rather than a spectacular monument.

    Read the complete Kurizuka Kofun write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Kurizuka Kofun is where the day begins. Next is Motoyakushiji Temple Site.

  2. 2. Motoyakushiji Temple Site

    In the late seventh century, before Nara became the capital, the Japanese court was based in the Asuka region, south of the Nara basin, and the Emperor Tenmu ordered the construction of a great temple, Yakushi-ji, dedicated to the Buddha of healing, to pray for the recovery of his sick empress. The temple was built in the new capital of Fujiwara-kyō, and when the court moved to Nara in 710, a new Yakushi-ji was built there. The original temple, known as Motoyakushiji, the original Yakushi-ji, was gradually abandoned.

    Read the complete Motoyakushiji Temple Site write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Motoyakushiji Temple Site comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja.

  3. 3. 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

    about 50 km into the recorded legs you reach Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja. Next is Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi.

  4. 4. Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi

    The Ômine Okugakemichi is not a road at all, at least not one you can ride. It is a mountain trail that runs for about a hundred kilometres along the spine of the Ômine range in the Kii peninsula, linking Yoshino in the north with Kumano in the south, over peaks, ridges and rock faces. For more than a thousand years, yamabushi, the mountain ascetics of the Shugendo tradition, have walked it as a spiritual practice, combining Buddhist, Shinto and older mountain beliefs, with rituals at sacred rocks, waterfalls and cliffs along the way. It is part of the UNESCO-listed Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range, inscribed in 2004.

    Read the complete Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi, about halfway. Next is back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja.

  5. 5. back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    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

    back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja sits at 100 km, about halfway. Next is back through Motoyakushiji Temple Site.

  6. 6. back through Motoyakushiji Temple Site

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Motoyakushiji Temple Site write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    back through Motoyakushiji Temple Site comes up about 172 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kurizuka Kofun.

  7. 7. Kurizuka Kofun

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Kurizuka Kofun write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Kurizuka Kofun closes the day.

Leg by leg

Kurizuka Kofun to Motoyakushiji Temple Site

Kurizuka Kofun → Motoyakushiji Temple Site is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Motoyakushiji Temple Site to Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja

Motoyakushiji Temple Site → Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja to Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi

Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja → Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi to back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja

Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi → back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja to back through Motoyakushiji Temple Site

back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja → back through Motoyakushiji Temple Site is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Motoyakushiji Temple Site to Kurizuka Kofun

back through Motoyakushiji Temple Site → Kurizuka Kofun is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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