Why this ride
164 km from Arashiyama to Arashiyama, about 3 h 22 of riding. It goes by way of Byodo-in, Nara Palace Site, Fujiwara Palace Site and back through Nara Palace Site. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Tenryu-ji and Fujiwara Palace Site
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 164 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 22
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Byōdō-in → Nara Palace Site
The ride follows Byodo-in → Nara Palace Site for 30 km.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 30 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Tenryu-ji
People come to Arashiyama for the bamboo, and they leave with the memory of a garden. Tenryu-ji, the great Zen temple at the foot of the hills on the west side of Kyoto, was founded in 1339 by the shogun Ashikaga Takauji, who built it to console the spirit of the emperor Go-Daigo, his former rival. The garden, designed by the Zen master Muso Soseki, is older than almost every other thing you will see in the area: a pond with rocks arranged like a mountain landscape, with the hills of Arashiyama pulled into the view as borrowed scenery. It has survived fire after fire, though most of the halls themselves are later rebuilds.
Read the complete Tenryu-ji write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tenryu-ji 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 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Nara Palace Site.
3. 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
about 54 km into the recorded legs you reach Nara Palace Site. Next is Fujiwara Palace Site.
4. 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
Fujiwara Palace Site, about halfway. Next is back through Nara Palace Site.
5. 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 sits at 111 km, about halfway. Next is back through Byodo-in.
6. 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 comes up about 138 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tenryu-ji.
7. Tenryu-ji
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tenryu-ji write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tenryu-ji closes the day.
Leg by leg
Tenryu-ji to Byodo-in
Tenryu-ji → Byodo-in is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Byōdō-in to Nara Palace Site
Byōdō-in → Nara Palace Site is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nara Palace Site to Fujiwara Palace Site
Nara Palace Site → Fujiwara Palace Site is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fujiwara Palace Site to back through Nara Palace Site
Fujiwara Palace Site → back through Nara Palace Site is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Nara Palace Site to back through Byodo-in
back through Nara Palace Site → back through Byodo-in is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Byodo-in to Tenryu-ji
back through Byodo-in → Tenryu-ji is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.