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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Nonaka Kofun and Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
197 km
Riding-time estimate
3 h 21
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.

Open this ride in CurveScout

Why this ride

197 km from Kashihara to Kashihara, about 3 h 21 of riding. On the way it passes Motoyakushiji Temple Site, Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja, Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi and back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 850 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Nonaka Kofun

    Nonaka Kofun sits quietly in the town of Fujiidera in southeast Osaka, one of the larger tombs of the Furuichi group, and unlike many of its neighbours it has a story that archaeologists keep returning to. When it was excavated in the 1960s, workers found huge amounts of weapons and armour inside and around the mound: helmets, iron arrowheads, swords and stacks of iron plate. The place seemed to be a kind of arsenal buried beside the tomb of someone powerful. It makes you think about what the fifth-century Yamato court considered precious.

    Read the complete Nonaka Kofun write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Nonaka Kofun is where the day begins. Next is Motoyakushiji Temple Site.

  2. 2. Motoyakushiji Temple Site

    In the late seventh century, before Nara became the capital, the Japanese court was based in the Asuka region, south of the Nara basin, and the Emperor Tenmu ordered the construction of a great temple, Yakushi-ji, dedicated to the Buddha of healing, to pray for the recovery of his sick empress. The temple was built in the new capital of Fujiwara-kyō, and when the court moved to Nara in 710, a new Yakushi-ji was built there. The original temple, known as Motoyakushiji, the original Yakushi-ji, was gradually abandoned.

    Read the complete Motoyakushiji Temple Site write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Motoyakushiji Temple Site comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja.

  3. 3. 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

    about 50 km into the recorded legs you reach Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja. Next is Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi.

  4. 4. Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi

    The Ômine Okugakemichi is not a road at all, at least not one you can ride. It is a mountain trail that runs for about a hundred kilometres along the spine of the Ômine range in the Kii peninsula, linking Yoshino in the north with Kumano in the south, over peaks, ridges and rock faces. For more than a thousand years, yamabushi, the mountain ascetics of the Shugendo tradition, have walked it as a spiritual practice, combining Buddhist, Shinto and older mountain beliefs, with rituals at sacred rocks, waterfalls and cliffs along the way. It is part of the UNESCO-listed Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range, inscribed in 2004.

    Read the complete Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi, about halfway. Next is back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja.

  5. 5. back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    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

    back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja sits at 101 km, about halfway. Next is back through Motoyakushiji Temple Site.

  6. 6. back through Motoyakushiji Temple Site

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Motoyakushiji Temple Site write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    back through Motoyakushiji Temple Site comes up about 174 km into the recorded legs. Next is Nonaka Kofun.

  7. 7. Nonaka Kofun

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Nonaka Kofun write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Nonaka Kofun closes the day.

Leg by leg

Nonaka Kofun to Motoyakushiji Temple Site

Nonaka Kofun → Motoyakushiji Temple Site is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Motoyakushiji Temple Site to Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja

Motoyakushiji Temple Site → Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja to Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi

Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja → Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi to back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja

Pilgrimage Routes - Ômine Okugakemichi → back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja to back through Motoyakushiji Temple Site

back through Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja → back through Motoyakushiji Temple Site is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Motoyakushiji Temple Site to Nonaka Kofun

back through Motoyakushiji Temple Site → Nonaka Kofun is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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