Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi and Jisho-ji

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi

   Kōyasan is a city in the sky. In 816 the monk Kūkai, known after his death as Kōbō Daishi, received permission from the emperor to found a monastery on a high, forested plateau in the Kii mountains, and from that start the settlement grew into the headquarters of Shingon Buddhism, with over a hundred temples tucked among the cedars. A few thousand people live in the town, and many of the temples take pilgrims and visitors as guests, serving a vegetarian temple meal called shojin ryori and waking guests for morning prayers. At the far end of the main street begins Okunoin, the great cemetery, where a two-kilometre path winds beneath tall cedars past tens of thousands of moss-covered gravestones to the mausoleum of Kūkai, who is believed to be in eternal meditation rather than dead.

   Read the complete Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi is where the day begins. Next is Hokki-ji Area.

2. 2. 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

   Hokki-ji Area comes up about 71 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jisho-ji.

3. 3. Jisho-ji

   Jisho-ji, known to most of the world as Ginkaku-ji, the Silver Pavilion, sits at the foot of the Higashiyama hills in the northeast of Kyoto. It began in the 1480s as the retirement villa of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, a man who lost interest in governing during a period of civil collapse and devoted himself to art, tea and gardens instead. After his death it became a Zen temple. The pavilion was never actually covered in silver, despite the name, and visitors still argue about whether the plan was dropped for lack of money or for taste.

   Read the complete Jisho-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 126 km into the recorded legs you reach Jisho-ji. Next is back through Hokki-ji Area.

4. 4. back through Hokki-ji Area

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   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

   back through Hokki-ji Area, late in the day. Next is Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi.

5. 5. Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi. That is the ride.