Ojin-tenno-ryo Kofun and Hokki-ji Area

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Ojin-tenno-ryo Kofun

   Emperor Ojin's tomb is the largest in Japan by volume, even if the Nintoku tomb near Sakai is longer, and it feels it. The mound is some four hundred metres long, a keyhole of earth with a double moat that holds water the colour of old jade, and the whole thing is so overgrown it reads from a distance as a wooded hill dropped into a town. Only the imperial household agency decides who sets foot on the mound, which means nobody does. What you get is a path around the outside, a worship platform at the front, and a very particular kind of silence.

   Read the complete Ojin-tenno-ryo Kofun write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Ojin-tenno-ryo Kofun is where the day begins. Next is Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun.

2. 2. Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun

   You cannot really see a kofun. That is the first lesson of Richu-tenno-ryo, one of the great keyhole-shaped tombs of the Mozu group in Sakai, south of Osaka. These are burial mounds built in the fifth century for the early rulers of Japan, shaped like a keyhole with a round back and a wide front, and surrounded by moats. The Richu mound is about three hundred and sixty metres long, among the largest in the country, and you walk around the water on a path, catching glimpses through the trees of a green hill that looks like a wooded island. From the ground it simply looks like a park.

   Read the complete Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun comes up about 14 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hokki-ji Area.

3. 3. Hokki-ji Area

   Ikaruga, a quiet town on the western edge of the Nara basin, is where Japanese Buddhist architecture begins. The temple of Hōryū-ji, founded by Prince Shōtoku in the early seventh century, has wooden buildings counted among the oldest surviving in the world, and in 1993 the Buddhist Monuments in the Hōryū-ji Area became, along with Himeji Castle, the first Japanese sites on the UNESCO list. A short distance north, among rice fields and houses, Hokki-ji is a smaller temple with a single treasure: a three-storey pagoda completed in the early eighth century, the oldest of its type in Japan. Seen across the fields with the hills behind, it is a lovely, peaceful sight.

   Read the complete Hokki-ji Area write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 45 km into the recorded legs you reach Hokki-ji Area. Next is back through Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun.

4. 4. back through Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun, late in the day. Next is Ojin-tenno-ryo Kofun.

5. 5. Ojin-tenno-ryo Kofun

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Ojin-tenno-ryo Kofun write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Ojin-tenno-ryo Kofun. That is the ride.