Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja and Byodo-in

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja

   Mount Yoshino, in the mountains of Nara Prefecture, is famous throughout Japan for one thing above all: cherry blossom. Some thirty thousand trees cover its slopes, planted over the centuries as offerings, and each spring they bloom in waves from the lower slopes to the summit. Kimpu Shrine, Kimpu-jinja, stands near the top of the mountain, in the area known as Oku Senbon, the inner thousand trees, and it is part of the UNESCO-listed Sacred Sites of the Kii Mountain Range.

   Read the complete Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja is where the day begins. Next is Kôyasan - Kongôbu-ji.

2. 2. Kôyasan - Kongôbu-ji

   Getting to Kōyasan feels like a pilgrimage even on a motorcycle. The roads climb out of the Kinokawa valley through dense cedar forest, switchback after switchback, until you emerge onto a high basin at around eight hundred metres where a whole town of temples has grown up. The monk Kūkai, known after his death as Kōbō Daishi, founded the monastery here in the early ninth century as the centre of Shingon Buddhism, and Kongōbu-ji is the head temple of the sect. Its halls, painted sliding doors and the large rock garden are worth an unhurried visit, and the whole mountain is part of the UNESCO listing of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range.

   Read the complete Kôyasan - Kongôbu-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Kôyasan - Kongôbu-ji comes up about 62 km into the recorded legs. Next is Minegazuka Kofun.

3. 3. Minegazuka Kofun

   East of the great ranges, the Osaka plain narrows toward the Yamato river, and this is where the old tomb country of the Furuichi group begins. Minegazuka is one of the burial mounds scattered through the districts of Habikino, Fujiidera and Kashiwara, all of them tucked into a landscape that is now mostly suburbs, vineyards and small factories. These monuments belong to the same fifth-century family of tombs as the ones around Sakai, and together the two clusters make up a single World Heritage property. The largest mound in this neighbourhood, close by in Habikino, is the tomb traditionally given to the emperor Ojin, one of the largest mounds in the country by volume.

   Read the complete Minegazuka Kofun 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 Minegazuka Kofun. Next is Byodo-in.

4. 4. Byōdō-in

   Take a ten-yen coin out of your pocket in Japan and you are holding a picture of this place. The Phoenix Hall of the Byōdō-in in Uji, with its wings stretching out on either side of a central hall and bronze phoenixes on the roof, is one of the most famous buildings in the country. It was built in 1053 by Fujiwara no Yorimichi, a member of the most powerful aristocratic family of the Heian period, who converted his father's villa into a Buddhist temple. Its reflection in the pond in front was meant to evoke the Pure Land paradise of the Amida Buddha.

   Read the complete Byodo-in write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Byodo-in, about halfway. Next is back through Minegazuka Kofun.

5. 5. back through Minegazuka Kofun

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Minegazuka Kofun write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Minegazuka Kofun sits at 199 km, about halfway. Next is back through Kôyasan - Kongôbu-ji.

6. 6. back through Kôyasan - Kongôbu-ji

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Kôyasan - Kongôbu-ji write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Kôyasan - Kongôbu-ji comes up about 309 km into the recorded legs. Next is Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja.

7. 7. Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja closes the day.