Why this ride
A 191 km round trip from Kyoto - roughly 3 h 40 in the saddle. It goes by way of Nara Palace Site, Fujiwara Palace Site, Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja and back through Fujiwara Palace Site. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Nijo-jo and Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 191 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 40
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Nijo-jo → Nara Palace Site
This part of the ride is 40 km of Nijo-jo → Nara Palace Site.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 40 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Nijo-jo
Nijo Castle is not really a castle, in the sense of a stronghold, but a palace dressed up as one. The first shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty, Tokugawa Ieyasu, built it in 1603 as his residence in Kyoto, to show the emperor and the nobles who held real power in Japan, and his grandson Iemitsu added to it in the 1620s. The Ninomaru Palace, the main building, has long corridors with floors that squeak like nightingales when walked on, a feature meant to warn of intruders, and rooms covered in gold-leaf screens painted with tigers, pines and eagles by the Kano school. The style was intended to impress and intimidate visiting lords.
Read the complete Nijo-jo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nijo-jo is where the day begins. Next is Nara Palace Site.
2. Nara Palace Site
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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nara Palace Site comes up about 40 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fujiwara Palace Site.
3. Fujiwara Palace Site
Before Nara, before Kyoto, there was Fujiwara-kyō. In 694, the Empress Jitō moved the Japanese court to a new capital in the southern part of the Nara basin, the first in Japan to be laid out on a Chinese-style grid of streets, with the imperial palace at its centre. It lasted only sixteen years, until the court moved north to Nara in 710, but it marked a turning point in the history of the Japanese state.
Read the complete Fujiwara Palace Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 67 km into the recorded legs you reach Fujiwara Palace Site. Next is Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is back through Fujiwara Palace Site.
5. back through Fujiwara Palace Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fujiwara Palace Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Fujiwara Palace Site sits at 137 km, about halfway. Next is back through Nara Palace Site.
6. back through Nara Palace Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nara Palace Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Nara Palace Site comes up about 150 km into the recorded legs. Next is Nijo-jo.
7. Nijo-jo
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nijo-jo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nijo-jo closes the day.
Leg by leg
Nijo-jo to Nara Palace Site
Nijo-jo → Nara Palace Site is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nara Palace Site to Fujiwara Palace Site
Nara Palace Site → Fujiwara Palace Site is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fujiwara Palace Site to Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja
Fujiwara Palace Site → Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja to back through Fujiwara Palace Site
Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja → back through Fujiwara Palace Site is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fujiwara Palace Site to back through Nara Palace Site
back through Fujiwara Palace Site → back through Nara Palace Site is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Nara Palace Site to Nijo-jo
back through Nara Palace Site → Nijo-jo is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.