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.
A 92 km round trip from Sakai - roughly 1 h 51 in the saddle. The stops in between: Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area, Tôdai-ji and back through Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Most of the great keyhole tombs of Sakai are surrounded by houses, and the ordinary life of the neighbourhood goes on right up to the moat. Nagayama Kofun is one of the smaller ones, a mound that rises behind residential streets, with a path along the edge and a ring of trees. Locals use the moat's edge for the morning walk, children play on the grass nearby, and old men fish for carp in the water. It is a mixed picture of an ancient monument living quietly inside the modern city.
Read the complete Nagayama Kofun write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Nagayama Kofun is where the day begins. Next is Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area.
If you want to stand in front of the oldest wooden buildings in the world, this is the place. Hōryū-ji, a Buddhist temple in the town of Ikaruga south-west of Nara, was founded by Prince Shōtoku in the early seventh century, and although it burned and was rebuilt not long after, its central buildings, including the main hall and the five-storey pagoda, date from around the end of the seventh century. They were among the first sites in Japan inscribed by UNESCO, in 1993.
Read the complete Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tôdai-ji.
Nothing quite prepares you for the scale of Tōdai-ji. You walk through the great Nandaimon gate, past two fierce wooden guardian kings carved in the thirteenth century by Unkei, Kaikei and their workshop, and there it is: the Daibutsuden, the Great Buddha Hall, for centuries the largest wooden building in the world, even though the current structure, rebuilt in the early eighteenth century, is smaller than the original. Inside sits the Daibutsu, a bronze Buddha some fifteen metres tall, commissioned by Emperor Shōmu and consecrated in 752 with a ceremony that drew monks from as far away as India. The temple is part of the UNESCO listing of Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara.
Read the complete Tôdai-ji write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 46 km into the recorded legs you reach Tôdai-ji. Next is back through Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area, late in the day. Next is Nagayama Kofun.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nagayama Kofun write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Nagayama Kofun. That is the ride.
Nagayama Kofun → Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area → Tôdai-ji is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tôdai-ji → back through Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area → Nagayama Kofun is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.