Tôshôdai-ji and Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Tôshôdai-ji

   Toshodai-ji exists because a blind monk would not give up. Ganjin, a Chinese master of Buddhist law, was invited to Japan in the eighth century to teach proper monastic ordination, and he tried to cross the sea five times, defeated by storms, pirates and official obstruction, until he went blind. On the sixth attempt, in 753, he arrived in Japan, and in 759 he founded this temple in Nara. His own ordination hall still stands in the grounds, and a dry-lacquer statue of him, said to be a faithful likeness, is kept at the temple and shown only occasionally.

   Read the complete Tôshôdai-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Tôshôdai-ji is where the day begins. Next is Kôyasan - Jison-in.

2. 2. Kôyasan - Jison-in

   Before you ride up to Mount Koya, the great mountain monastery of Shingon Buddhism, stop at its doorstep. Jison-in sits in the Kii river valley at Kudoyama, below the mountain, and it was founded by Kukai, the monk also known as Kobo Daishi, in the early ninth century as the administrative office and supply base for the new monastery above. Its most loved story concerns his mother. Women were barred from Koyasan for over a thousand years, so she lived here, and tradition says Kukai walked down nine times a month to visit her. That, the locals will tell you, is where the name Kudoyama, nine-times mountain, comes from.

   Read the complete Kôyasan - Jison-in write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Kôyasan - Jison-in comes up about 58 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha.

3. 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 159 km into the recorded legs you reach Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha. Next is back through Kôyasan - Jison-in.

4. 4. back through Kôyasan - Jison-in

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Kôyasan - Jison-in write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Kôyasan - Jison-in, late in the day. Next is Tôshôdai-ji.

5. 5. Tôshôdai-ji

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Tôshôdai-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Tôshôdai-ji. That is the ride.