Why this ride
From Kōya it runs 245 km to Kōya; allow about 5 h 35 of riding. It goes by way of Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi, Nisanzai Kofun, Horyu-ji Area and back through Nisanzai Kofun.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K and Horyu-ji Area
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 245 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 35
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi.
2. 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 comes up 35 km in. Next is Nisanzai Kofun.
3. Nisanzai Kofun
In the middle of the sprawling city of Sakai, south of Osaka, a large keyhole-shaped mound rises above a ring of moats, covered in dense forest and surrounded by houses, roads and shops. This is the Nisanzai Kofun, a monumental tomb built in the fifth century for a member of the ruling elite of early Japan. It is one of the largest of the Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group, a collection of burial mounds listed by UNESCO in 2019, which includes the enormous Daisen Kofun, traditionally attributed to the emperor Nintoku and one of the largest tombs in the world by area.
Read the complete Nisanzai Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
70 km in you reach Nisanzai Kofun. Next is Horyu-ji Area.
4. Hōryū-ji Area
The buildings at Hōryū-ji are around thirteen hundred years old, and some of them are among the oldest wooden structures anywhere in the world. Founded in the early seventh century by Prince Shōtoku, a regent remembered as a champion of Buddhism and a founding figure of the Japanese state, the temple was rebuilt after a fire later in the same century, and parts of that rebuilding still stand. In 1993 it became one of the first sites in Japan to be listed by UNESCO, as the Buddhist Monuments in the Hōryū-ji Area.
Read the complete Horyu-ji Area write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Horyu-ji Area, about halfway. Next is back through Nisanzai Kofun.
5. back through Nisanzai Kofun
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nisanzai Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Nisanzai Kofun sits at 141 km, about halfway. Next is back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi.
6. back through 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 through Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi comes up 176 km in. Next is Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K.
7. 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
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K closes the day.
Leg by leg
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K to Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K → Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi to Nisanzai Kofun
Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi → Nisanzai Kofun is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nisanzai Kofun to Horyu-ji Area
Nisanzai Kofun → Horyu-ji Area is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hōryū-ji Area to back through Nisanzai Kofun
Hōryū-ji Area → back through Nisanzai Kofun is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Nisanzai Kofun to back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi
back through Nisanzai Kofun → back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi to Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K
back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kôya Sankeimichi → Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.