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.
160 km from Kashihara to Kashihara, about 2 h 42 of riding. On the way it passes Yakushi-ji, Daikandaiji Temple Site, Kasuga-Taisha and Kasugayama Primeval Fore and back through Daikandaiji Temple Site. The line favours views over speed.
On the plain south-east of Osaka, among suburbs, railway lines and car dealerships, the land is dotted with huge grassy mounds shaped like keyholes, surrounded by water-filled moats, and covered in trees. They are kofun, the burial mounds of Japan's early rulers and aristocrats, and the Tsudoshiroyama Kofun is one of them, in the Furuichi group, about two kilometres from the town of Kashiwara and not far from Habikino and Fujiidera. The group, together with the Mozu group in Sakai, was inscribed by UNESCO in 2019.
Read the complete Tsudo-shiroyama Kofun write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Tsudo-shiroyama Kofun is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Yakushi-ji comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Daikandaiji Temple Site.
Daikandaiji does not exist any more. That is the interesting thing about it. In the seventh century this was one of the biggest temples in the young Yamato state, a royal foundation near Asuka with a vast compound that, according to the old records, ranked among the top few in the country. When the capital moved north to Nara early in the eighth century, the temple went with it, reborn as Daianji, and the original site was left to farmland. What remains is an open field with low foundation stones, a few information boards, and the quiet that follows a big idea.
Read the complete Daikandaiji Temple Site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 55 km into the recorded legs you reach Daikandaiji Temple Site. Next is Kasuga-Taisha and Kasugayama Primeval Fore.
Kasugayama is a forest that has been protected since the ninth century, which is why it feels different from any other woodland in the region. Hunting and logging were banned here in 841, because the hill is sacred to the Kasuga shrine, and the result is a primeval stand of cedar, cypress, oak and evergreens on the slopes just east of Nara. Deer roam through it, as they do through the park below, and in autumn their calls echo through the trees. In the shrine's grounds, thousands of stone lanterns line the paths, donated by worshippers over the centuries, and thousands of bronze lanterns hang from the eaves, lit twice a year during the lantern festivals.
Read the complete Kasuga-Taisha and Kasugayama Primeval Fore write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kasuga-Taisha and Kasugayama Primeval Fore, about halfway. Next is back through Daikandaiji Temple Site.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Daikandaiji Temple Site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Daikandaiji Temple Site sits at 111 km, about halfway. Next is back through Yakushi-ji.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Yakushi-ji write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Yakushi-ji comes up about 133 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tsudo-shiroyama Kofun.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tsudo-shiroyama Kofun write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Tsudo-shiroyama Kofun closes the day.
Tsudo-shiroyama Kofun → Yakushi-ji is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yakushi-ji → Daikandaiji Temple Site is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Daikandaiji Temple Site → Kasuga-Taisha and Kasugayama Primeval Fore is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kasuga-Taisha and Kasugayama Primeval Fore → back through Daikandaiji Temple Site is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Daikandaiji Temple Site → back through Yakushi-ji is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Yakushi-ji → Tsudo-shiroyama Kofun is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.