Why this ride
89 km from Kashihara to Kashihara, about 1 h 47 of riding. The stops in between: Tatsusayama Kofun, Hokki-ji Area and back through Tatsusayama Kofun. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Yashimazuka Kofun and Hokki-ji Area
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 89 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 47
- 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. Yashimazuka Kofun
In the southeastern suburbs of Osaka, among houses, rice paddies and railway lines, rise wooded mounds surrounded by moats. These are kofun, burial mounds built for the elite of ancient Japan between the third and seventh centuries, and the Furuichi group around Fujiidera and Habikino contains some of the largest in the country. Yashimazuka is one of the smaller mounds in the group, standing close to much bigger keyhole-shaped tombs attributed to emperors and empresses. Together with the Mozu group in Sakai, these mounds were listed by UNESCO in 2019 as the Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group.
Read the complete Yashimazuka Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Yashimazuka Kofun is where the day begins. Next is Tatsusayama Kofun.
2. Tatsusayama Kofun
Southern Osaka has a secret that is hard to see from the ground: its suburbs are woven around ancient burial mounds, some of them among the largest tombs ever built. In Sakai, these kofun belong to the Mozu group, which, together with the Furuichi group further east, was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 2019. Tatsusayama is one of the smaller mounds, a wooded hill surrounded by houses and roads, but it is part of the same story. Between roughly the fourth and sixth centuries, the rulers of the Yamato court and their elite were buried in tombs shaped like keyholes when seen from above, with moats around them and clay figures called haniwa placed on their slopes.
Read the complete Tatsusayama Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tatsusayama Kofun comes up about 14 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hokki-ji Area.
3. Hokki-ji Area
Ikaruga, a quiet town on the western edge of the Nara basin, is where Japanese Buddhist architecture begins. The temple of Hōryū-ji, founded by Prince Shōtoku in the early seventh century, has wooden buildings counted among the oldest surviving in the world, and in 1993 the Buddhist Monuments in the Hōryū-ji Area became, along with Himeji Castle, the first Japanese sites on the UNESCO list. A short distance north, among rice fields and houses, Hokki-ji is a smaller temple with a single treasure: a three-storey pagoda completed in the early eighth century, the oldest of its type in Japan. Seen across the fields with the hills behind, it is a lovely, peaceful sight.
Read the complete Hokki-ji Area write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 44 km into the recorded legs you reach Hokki-ji Area. Next is back through Tatsusayama Kofun.
4. back through Tatsusayama Kofun
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tatsusayama Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Tatsusayama Kofun, late in the day. Next is Yashimazuka Kofun.
5. Yashimazuka Kofun
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Yashimazuka Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Yashimazuka Kofun. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Yashimazuka Kofun to Tatsusayama Kofun
Yashimazuka Kofun → Tatsusayama Kofun is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tatsusayama Kofun to Hokki-ji Area
Tatsusayama Kofun → Hokki-ji Area is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hokki-ji Area to back through Tatsusayama Kofun
Hokki-ji Area → back through Tatsusayama Kofun is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tatsusayama Kofun to Yashimazuka Kofun
back through Tatsusayama Kofun → Yashimazuka Kofun is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.