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Motoyakushiji Temple Site and Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
316 km
Riding-time estimate
5 h 09
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-shi it runs 316 km to Kashihara-shi; allow about 5 h 09 of riding. On the way it passes Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja, Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi, Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K and back through Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 850 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja.

  2. 2. 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

    Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi.

  3. 3. 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

    about 89 km into the recorded legs you reach Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi. Next is Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K.

  4. 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.

    Read the complete Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K, about halfway. Next is back through Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi.

  5. 5. back through Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    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

    back through Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi sits at 113 km, about halfway. Next is back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja.

  6. 6. 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 comes up about 290 km into the recorded legs. Next is Motoyakushiji Temple Site.

  7. 7. 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

    Motoyakushiji Temple Site closes the day.

Leg by leg

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 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi to Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K

Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi → Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K to back through Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi

Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K → back through Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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

back through Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi → back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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

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

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