Why this ride
A 348 km round trip from Sakurai - roughly 5 h 35 in the saddle. It goes by way of Byodo-in, Himeji-jo and back through Byodo-in. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Sakafuneishi Ritual Site and Himeji-jo
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 348 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 35
- 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. Sakafuneishi Ritual Site
Sitting in a quiet field in Asuka is a carved piece of granite that has puzzled people for centuries. Sakafuneishi, the sake boat stone, is a granite block about five metres long, with a shallow basin and a channel cut into the top, and it looks like a boat, which is where the name comes from. It was carved in the seventh century and probably belonged to a ritual or water-related setting, perhaps used for purification ceremonies or for the supply of water in a nearby garden or palace. Nobody knows for sure, and that is part of its appeal.
Read the complete Sakafuneishi Ritual Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sakafuneishi Ritual Site is where the day begins. Next is Byodo-in.
2. 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
Byōdō-in comes up about 52 km into the recorded legs. Next is Himeji-jo.
3. Himeji-jo
Himeji Castle is the one that survived. Japan has a lot of reconstructed keeps, concrete inside and gift shop on the ground floor, but the big white donjon here is the real thing, largely as it stood in the early 1600s when Ikeda Terumasa rebuilt the place on the hill. It came through the bombing of 1945 and the Kobe earthquake of 1995 with the timbers intact, and it has been a World Heritage site since 1993. The plaster is so brilliantly white that people call it Hakuro-jo, the White Heron, and on a clear morning from the east side you can see why: the roofs stack up like a bird lifting off.
Read the complete Himeji-jo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 175 km into the recorded legs you reach Himeji-jo. Next is back through Byodo-in.
4. back through Byodo-in
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Byodo-in, late in the day. Next is Sakafuneishi Ritual Site.
5. Sakafuneishi Ritual Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sakafuneishi Ritual Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Sakafuneishi Ritual Site. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Sakafuneishi Ritual Site to Byodo-in
Sakafuneishi Ritual Site → Byodo-in is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Byōdō-in to Himeji-jo
Byōdō-in → Himeji-jo is 123 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Himeji-jo to back through Byodo-in
Himeji-jo → back through Byodo-in is 122 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Byodo-in to Sakafuneishi Ritual Site
back through Byodo-in → Sakafuneishi Ritual Site is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Asuka-dera Temple Site and Himeji-jo · 347 km
- Asuka Palace Site and Himeji-jo · 350 km
- Asuka Water Clock Site and Himeji-jo · 348 km
- Asuka Pond Garden Site and Himeji-jo · 348 km