Why this ride
From Kashihara it runs 126 km to Kashihara; allow about 2 h 31 of riding. On the way it passes Zenizuka Kofun, Kôyasan - Jison-in and back through Zenizuka Kofun. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Nabezuka Kofun and Kôyasan - Jison-in
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 126 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 31
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Nabezuka Kofun
Nabezuka is a modest mound in the Kashihara district of Nara prefecture, in the part of Japan where the country's first centralised state took shape. It is the sort of site that does not make the headlines. A rounded hill in a field, perhaps with a few trees, it belongs to the thousands of burial mounds scattered across the Yamato plain, and its main interest is that it forms part of a whole landscape of tombs rather than being a single sight. If you want the big picture, the archaeological museum in Kashihara explains how the mounds changed from large keyholes to small round or square tombs as the centuries passed.
Read the complete Nabezuka Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nabezuka Kofun is where the day begins. Next is Zenizuka Kofun.
2. Zenizuka Kofun
Mozu is an old word for the shrike, a small predatory bird that impales its prey on thorns, and the name belongs to the stretch of Sakai where the biggest tombs lie. A chronicle tells how, when workers were building the tomb of Emperor Nintoku in the fifth century, a deer suddenly fell dead on the site, and a shrike flew out of its ear. The story is a legend, of course, but it gave the district its name, and it hints at how strange and mysterious these monuments seemed even to later Japanese.
Read the complete Zenizuka Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zenizuka Kofun comes up about 14 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kôyasan - Jison-in.
3. Kôyasan - Jison-in
Before you ride up to Mount Koya, the great mountain monastery of Shingon Buddhism, stop at its doorstep. Jison-in sits in the Kii river valley at Kudoyama, below the mountain, and it was founded by Kukai, the monk also known as Kobo Daishi, in the early ninth century as the administrative office and supply base for the new monastery above. Its most loved story concerns his mother. Women were barred from Koyasan for over a thousand years, so she lived here, and tradition says Kukai walked down nine times a month to visit her. That, the locals will tell you, is where the name Kudoyama, nine-times mountain, comes from.
Read the complete Kôyasan - Jison-in write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 62 km into the recorded legs you reach Kôyasan - Jison-in. Next is back through Zenizuka Kofun.
4. back through Zenizuka Kofun
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zenizuka Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Zenizuka Kofun, late in the day. Next is Nabezuka Kofun.
5. Nabezuka Kofun
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nabezuka Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Nabezuka Kofun. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Nabezuka Kofun to Zenizuka Kofun
Nabezuka Kofun → Zenizuka Kofun is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Zenizuka Kofun to Kôyasan - Jison-in
Zenizuka Kofun → Kôyasan - Jison-in is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kôyasan - Jison-in to back through Zenizuka Kofun
Kôyasan - Jison-in → back through Zenizuka Kofun is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Zenizuka Kofun to Nabezuka Kofun
back through Zenizuka Kofun → Nabezuka Kofun is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.