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.
319 km from Kashihara to Kashihara, about 4 h 31 of riding. On the way it passes Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji, Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha and back through Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji. 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.
The name Nishiumazuka means west horse mound, and horses do figure in the story of the Furuichi tombs. Excavations around the giant tomb of Emperor Ojin turned up harness fittings and even buried horses in nearby tombs, and historians read this as a sign of the new cavalry culture arriving in Japan from the Korean peninsula in the fifth century. Horses meant armies, and armies meant a different kind of kingship, which is the story these mounds tell if you read them closely.
Read the complete Nishiumazuka Kofun write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Nishiumazuka Kofun is where the day begins. 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.
Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji comes up about 67 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 160 km into the recorded legs you reach Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha. 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.
back through Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji, late in the day. Next is Nishiumazuka Kofun.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nishiumazuka Kofun write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Nishiumazuka Kofun. That is the ride.
Nishiumazuka Kofun → Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji → Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha is 93 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha → back through Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji is 93 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji → Nishiumazuka Kofun is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.