Saiho-ji and Yakushi-ji

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Saiho-ji

   Saiho-ji has a nickname that tells the whole story: Kokedera, the moss temple. The garden is carpeted by well over a hundred varieties of moss, in shades from emerald to near yellow, spreading between the trees and around the pond in a soft, damp quilt, and a day of rain makes it glow. The effect is accidental in origin, since the moss spread after the temple was neglected in the nineteenth century, but it fits the garden's older bones, which were laid out in the fourteenth century by the Zen master Muso Soseki. Muso also designed the garden of Tenryu-ji, on the other side of the Katsura river, and you can see a family likeness.

   Read the complete Saiho-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Saiho-ji is where the day begins. Next is Nara Palace Site.

2. 2. Nara Palace Site

   For most of the eighth century, Nara was the capital of Japan. The city, then called Heijō-kyō, was laid out on a grid modelled on the Chinese capital Chang'an, and at its northern end stood the imperial palace, Heijō-kyū, a vast compound of halls, offices and gardens. When the court moved away at the end of the century, the palace was abandoned and the land eventually returned to rice fields. Today the Nara Palace Site is a huge open space on the western side of the modern city, part of the UNESCO-listed Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara.

   Read the complete Nara Palace Site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Nara Palace Site comes up about 43 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fujiwara Palace Site.

3. 3. Fujiwara Palace Site

   Before Nara, before Kyoto, there was Fujiwara-kyō. In 694, the Empress Jitō moved the Japanese court to a new capital in the southern part of the Nara basin, the first in Japan to be laid out on a Chinese-style grid of streets, with the imperial palace at its centre. It lasted only sixteen years, until the court moved north to Nara in 710, but it marked a turning point in the history of the Japanese state.

   Read the complete Fujiwara Palace Site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 70 km into the recorded legs you reach Fujiwara Palace Site. Next is Yakushi-ji.

4. 4. Yakushi-ji

   Yakushi-ji is one of the great temples of Nara, the capital of Japan in the eighth century. It was founded by Emperor Tenmu in the late seventh century, praying for the recovery of his ill empress, and moved to its present site when the capital moved to Nara in 710. Dedicated to Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of healing, it is part of the UNESCO-listed Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara. The East Pagoda, which has stood since the eighth century, is one of the few surviving buildings from that era, and its layered roofs, with smaller roofs between each storey, create a rhythm described by one admirer as frozen music.

   Read the complete Yakushi-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Yakushi-ji, about halfway. Next is back through Fujiwara Palace Site.

5. 5. back through Fujiwara Palace Site

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Fujiwara Palace Site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Fujiwara Palace Site sits at 135 km, about halfway. Next is back through Nara Palace Site.

6. 6. back through Nara Palace Site

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Nara Palace Site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Nara Palace Site comes up about 150 km into the recorded legs. Next is Saiho-ji.

7. 7. Saiho-ji

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Saiho-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Saiho-ji closes the day.