Why this ride
From Tanabe it runs 167 km to Tanabe; allow about 2 h 11 of riding. It goes by way of Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô, Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha and back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N and Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 167 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 11
- 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 - N
The Kumano Kodō is a web of ancient pilgrimage trails across the mountains of the Kii Peninsula, south of Osaka, leading to the three grand shrines of Kumano: Hongū, Hayatama and Nachi. For over a thousand years, emperors, aristocrats and ordinary pilgrims walked these paths through cedar and cypress forest, stopping at small subsidiary shrines along the way. The Nakahechi, the most popular of the routes, leaves the coast near Tanabe and climbs inland through the hills. It is part of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range, listed by UNESCO in 2004, one of only two pilgrimage routes on the list along with the Camino de Santiago, with which it is twinned.
Read the complete Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N 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 - N is where the day begins. Next is Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô.
2. Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô
The Kii Peninsula, south of Osaka, is one of the most heavily forested and least populated parts of Japan, a knot of steep, cedar-covered mountains that has been a place of pilgrimage for more than a thousand years. The pilgrimage routes of Kumano, called the Kumano Kodo, were inscribed by UNESCO in 2004 together with the sacred sites of Koyasan and Yoshino and Omine, and the Ohechi route is the long mountain branch that starts near Tanabe, on the coast, about eleven kilometres from the point on your map.
Read the complete Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô 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 - Ô comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha.
3. Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha
Deep in the mountains of the Kii Peninsula, where forested ridges fold one behind another like the scenery in a woodblock print, stands the head shrine of the Kumano faith. Kumano Hongū Taisha is one of the three grand shrines of Kumano, and for over a thousand years emperors, aristocrats and ordinary pilgrims have walked here along the network of mountain trails known as the Kumano Kodō, now part of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range listed by UNESCO.
Read the complete Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 84 km into the recorded legs you reach Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha. Next is back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô.
4. back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô 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 - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô, late in the day. Next is Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N.
5. Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N 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 - N. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N to Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N → Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô to Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô → Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha to back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô
Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha → back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô to Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N
back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô → Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.