Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun and Horyu-ji Area

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs o.

2. 2. Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs o

   Konda Gobyoyama is the name of the great tomb that dominates the Furuichi end of this group, and it is the burial mound attributed to the emperor Ojin, a ruler of semi-legendary standing whom the chronicles place around the end of the fourth century. At over four hundred metres long, it is the second largest tomb in Japan, bigger by volume than many pyramids, and beside it stands the shrine of Konda Hachimangu, whose forest and approach give the place a gentle atmosphere. The pairing is typical of Japan. A shrine to the war god Hachiman, who is identified with Ojin, sits beside an earthen tomb that nobody is permitted to enter.

   Read the complete Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs o write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs o comes up about 14 km into the recorded legs. Next is Horyu-ji Area.

3. 3. 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

   about 30 km into the recorded legs you reach Horyu-ji Area. Next is back through Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs o.

4. 4. back through Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs o

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs o write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs o, late in the day. Next is Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun.

5. 5. 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 at Richu-tenno-ryo Kofun. That is the ride.