Why this ride
A 265 km round trip from Kōya - roughly 4 h 39 in the saddle. The stops in between: Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb, Byodo-in and back through Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K and Byodo-in
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 265 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 39
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K
Mount Kōya is one of Japan's great sacred places, a high basin in the mountains of northern Wakayama where the monk Kūkai founded a monastic centre for Shingon Buddhism in the early ninth century. Today it is a town of over a hundred temples, many of which take in overnight guests, set among towering cedars. South of the summit plateau, deep in the forested ridges, run the old pilgrim trails that link Kōya with the Kumano shrines, part of the network inscribed by UNESCO as the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range.
Read the complete Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K is where the day begins. Next is Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb.
2. Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb
The mound itself is easy to miss: a small, round hump of grass in a quiet corner of the Asuka countryside, surrounded by rice fields and persimmon trees. What made it famous is what was inside. In 1972, archaeologists opened a stone chamber here and found painted walls, with women in bright, flowing robes, a procession of men, and the guardian animals of the four directions, among them the Blue Dragon and the White Tiger. The paintings date from around the end of the seventh century or the start of the eighth, and show the strong influence of Korea and China on the early Japanese court. It was the first wall painting of its kind found in Japan and caused a sensation.
Read the complete Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb comes up about 76 km into the recorded legs. Next is Byodo-in.
3. Byōdō-in
Take a ten-yen coin out of your pocket in Japan and you are holding a picture of this place. The Phoenix Hall of the Byōdō-in in Uji, with its wings stretching out on either side of a central hall and bronze phoenixes on the roof, is one of the most famous buildings in the country. It was built in 1053 by Fujiwara no Yorimichi, a member of the most powerful aristocratic family of the Heian period, who converted his father's villa into a Buddhist temple. Its reflection in the pond in front was meant to evoke the Pure Land paradise of the Amida Buddha.
Read the complete Byodo-in write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 132 km into the recorded legs you reach Byodo-in. Next is back through Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb.
4. back through Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb, late in the day. Next is Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K.
5. Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K 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 - Kumano Sankeimichi - K. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K to Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K → Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb is 76 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb to Byodo-in
Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb → Byodo-in is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Byōdō-in to back through Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb
Byōdō-in → back through Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb to Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K
back through Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb → Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K is 76 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.