Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja and Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
496 km
Riding-time estimate
6 h 46
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.
From Yoshino-chō it runs 496 km to Yoshino-chō; allow about 6 h 46 of riding. The stops in between: Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I, Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K and back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
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.
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 Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I.
2. Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I
The Iseji is the eastern branch of the old pilgrimage roads to the three great Kumano shrines, running down the coast of the Kii Peninsula from the Grand Shrines of Ise to Kumano. For centuries, pilgrims followed it through forests and over passes, and stretches of its stone paving still survive in the hills, laid to keep the path usable in one of the rainiest parts of Japan. Owase, a little up the coast, regularly ranks among the wettest towns in the country, and the moss on the stones and the dripping cedar forests show it. The Iseji forms part of the UNESCO listing of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I comes up about 106 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 247 km into the recorded legs you reach Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K. Next is back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I.
4. back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja to Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I
Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja → Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I is 106 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I to Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I → Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K is 141 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K to back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I
Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K → back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I is 141 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I to Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja
back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I → Yoshino and Ômine - Kimpu-jinja is 108 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.