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.
420 km from Nara-shi to Nara-shi, about 6 h 29 of riding. On the way it passes Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb, Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji, Kôyasan - Kongôbu-ji and Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
34 km on Nara Palace Site → Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb.
For most of the eighth century, Nara was the capital of Japan. The city, then called Heijō-kyō, was laid out on a grid modelled on the Chinese capital Chang'an, and at its northern end stood the imperial palace, Heijō-kyū, a vast compound of halls, offices and gardens. When the court moved away at the end of the century, the palace was abandoned and the land eventually returned to rice fields. Today the Nara Palace Site is a huge open space on the western side of the modern city, part of the UNESCO-listed Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara.
Read the complete Nara Palace Site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Nara Palace Site is where the day begins. Next is Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb.
In the gentle hills of Asuka, south of Nara, the first capitals of Japan rose and fell in the sixth and seventh centuries, and the land is still dotted with the tombs of the powerful. Kengoshizuka is one of them, a mound on a low ridge that excavations revealed to be octagonal in shape, a form used for imperial tombs in that period. Inside were found twin burial chambers cut from stone, and many scholars believe it to be the tomb of Empress Saimei, who reigned twice in the seventh century, with her daughter buried beside her. Restoration work in recent years has given the mound back its original shape, faced with stones, so it is far more legible than many overgrown kofun.
Read the complete Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji.
Ōminesan-ji is a temple on the summit of Mount Sanjō, one of the peaks of the Ōmine range in the heart of the Kii peninsula, and it holds a special place in Japanese religion. It is a centre of Shugendō, the mountain ascetic tradition that blends Buddhism, Shinto and older mountain worship, and its practitioners, the yamabushi, undergo arduous training on the ridges. The temple is famous for another reason too: the mountain is still closed to women by tradition, one of the last such places in Japan, which has become a subject of ongoing debate.
Read the complete Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 79 km into the recorded legs you reach Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji. Next is Kôyasan - Kongôbu-ji.
Getting to Kōyasan feels like a pilgrimage even on a motorcycle. The roads climb out of the Kinokawa valley through dense cedar forest, switchback after switchback, until you emerge onto a high basin at around eight hundred metres where a whole town of temples has grown up. The monk Kūkai, known after his death as Kōbō Daishi, founded the monastery here in the early ninth century as the centre of Shingon Buddhism, and Kongōbu-ji is the head temple of the sect. Its halls, painted sliding doors and the large rock garden are worth an unhurried visit, and the whole mountain is part of the UNESCO listing of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range.
Read the complete Kôyasan - Kongôbu-ji write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kôyasan - Kongôbu-ji, about halfway. Next is Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha.
Deep in the mountains of the Kii Peninsula, where forested ridges fold one behind another like the scenery in a woodblock print, stands the head shrine of the Kumano faith. Kumano Hongū Taisha is one of the three grand shrines of Kumano, and for over a thousand years emperors, aristocrats and ordinary pilgrims have walked here along the network of mountain trails known as the Kumano Kodō, now part of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range listed by UNESCO.
Read the complete Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha sits at 176 km, about halfway. Next is back through Kôyasan - Kongôbu-ji.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kôyasan - Kongôbu-ji write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Kôyasan - Kongôbu-ji comes up about 291 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 343 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji. Next is back through Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb, late in the day. Next is Nara Palace Site.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nara Palace Site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 420 km.
Nara Palace Site → Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb → Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji → Kôyasan - Kongôbu-ji is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kôyasan - Kongôbu-ji → Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha is 80 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha → back through Kôyasan - Kongôbu-ji is 80 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kôyasan - Kongôbu-ji → back through Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji → back through Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb → Nara Palace Site is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.