CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
190 km from Nara-shi to Nara-shi, about 3 h 02 of riding. It goes by way of Ingyo-tenno-ryo Kofun, Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb, Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji and back through Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Tôshôdai-ji is where the day begins. Next is Ingyo-tenno-ryo Kofun.
The tomb attributed to Emperor Ingyo stands in Fujiidera, in the eastern suburbs of Osaka, and it belongs to the Furuichi group of kofun, the other half of the World Heritage site shared with Sakai's Mozu tombs. It is a large keyhole-shaped mound, wooded and surrounded by a moat, and like all imperial tombs it is managed by the Imperial Household Agency and closed to visitors. Scholars debate whether the attributions to specific emperors are accurate, since they were made long after the tombs were built, but the scale of the monuments speaks for itself. Nearby, the tomb attributed to Emperor Ojin, Kondagobyoyama, is the second largest in Japan by volume.
Read the complete Ingyo-tenno-ryo Kofun write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ingyo-tenno-ryo Kofun comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb.
In the gentle hills of Asuka, south of Nara, the first capitals of Japan rose and fell in the sixth and seventh centuries, and the land is still dotted with the tombs of the powerful. Kengoshizuka is one of them, a mound on a low ridge that excavations revealed to be octagonal in shape, a form used for imperial tombs in that period. Inside were found twin burial chambers cut from stone, and many scholars believe it to be the tomb of Empress Saimei, who reigned twice in the seventh century, with her daughter buried beside her. Restoration work in recent years has given the mound back its original shape, faced with stones, so it is far more legible than many overgrown kofun.
Read the complete Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 51 km into the recorded legs you reach Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb. Next is Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji.
Ōminesan-ji is a temple on the summit of Mount Sanjō, one of the peaks of the Ōmine range in the heart of the Kii peninsula, and it holds a special place in Japanese religion. It is a centre of Shugendō, the mountain ascetic tradition that blends Buddhism, Shinto and older mountain worship, and its practitioners, the yamabushi, undergo arduous training on the ridges. The temple is famous for another reason too: the mountain is still closed to women by tradition, one of the last such places in Japan, which has become a subject of ongoing debate.
Read the complete Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji, about halfway. Next is back through Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb sits at 119 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ingyo-tenno-ryo Kofun.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ingyo-tenno-ryo Kofun write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Ingyo-tenno-ryo Kofun comes up about 165 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tôshôdai-ji.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tôshôdai-ji write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Tôshôdai-ji closes the day.
Tôshôdai-ji → Ingyo-tenno-ryo Kofun is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ingyo-tenno-ryo Kofun → Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb → Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yoshino and Ômine - Ôminesan-ji → back through Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kengoshizuka Mounded Tomb → back through Ingyo-tenno-ryo Kofun is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ingyo-tenno-ryo Kofun → Tôshôdai-ji is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.