Why this ride
From Uji it runs 263 km to Uji; allow about 4 h 37 of riding. The stops in between: Yamada-dera Temple Site, Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K and back through Yamada-dera Temple Site. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ujigami-jinja and Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 263 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 37
- 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. Ujigami-jinja
Uji is a small city on the river of the same name, south of Kyoto, and it holds two treasures that face each other across the water. On the west bank stands the Byōdō-in, a temple whose Phoenix Hall, built in 1053, appears on the Japanese ten-yen coin. On the east bank, up a quiet lane, is Ujigami-jinja, a modest shrine whose main hall is considered the oldest surviving Shinto shrine building in Japan, dating from the late Heian period, in the eleventh century. Its simple wooden structure, with a cypress-bark roof, stands in a small courtyard surrounded by trees, and it is far less crowded than the Byōdō-in. Both are part of the UNESCO listing of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto.
Read the complete Ujigami-jinja write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ujigami-jinja is where the day begins. Next is Yamada-dera Temple Site.
2. Yamada-dera Temple Site
South of the modern town of Sakurai, in the Asuka region of Nara Prefecture, the grass and low walls of Yamada-dera mark the ruins of what was once a very grand temple. It was founded in the 640s by Soga no Kurayamada Ishikawamaro, a powerful minister of the Soga clan, who was caught up in court intrigue and is said to have taken his own life at the temple in 649, after being accused of treason. The story gives the quiet site a sad edge. In later excavations, archaeologists uncovered the foundation of the main hall and a long covered corridor whose timbers had collapsed and been buried in place, one of the best-preserved examples of seventh-century temple architecture in Japan.
Read the complete Yamada-dera Temple Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Yamada-dera Temple Site comes up about 52 km into the recorded legs. Next is Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K.
3. Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K
Mount Kōya is one of Japan's great sacred places, a high basin in the mountains of northern Wakayama where the monk Kūkai founded a monastic centre for Shingon Buddhism in the early ninth century. Today it is a town of over a hundred temples, many of which take in overnight guests, set among towering cedars. South of the summit plateau, deep in the forested ridges, run the old pilgrim trails that link Kōya with the Kumano shrines, part of the network inscribed by UNESCO as the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range.
Read the complete Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 131 km into the recorded legs you reach Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K. Next is back through Yamada-dera Temple Site.
4. back through Yamada-dera Temple Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Yamada-dera Temple Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Yamada-dera Temple Site, late in the day. Next is Ujigami-jinja.
5. Ujigami-jinja
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ujigami-jinja write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Ujigami-jinja. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Ujigami-jinja to Yamada-dera Temple Site
Ujigami-jinja → Yamada-dera Temple Site is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yamada-dera Temple Site to Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K
Yamada-dera Temple Site → Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K is 79 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K to back through Yamada-dera Temple Site
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K → back through Yamada-dera Temple Site is 79 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Yamada-dera Temple Site to Ujigami-jinja
back through Yamada-dera Temple Site → Ujigami-jinja is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.