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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Yoshino and Ômine - Yoshinoyama and Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
493 km
Riding-time estimate
6 h 39
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.

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Why this ride

493 km from Yoshino-chō to Yoshino-chō, about 6 h 39 of riding. On the way it passes Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I, Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K and back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I. It suits an unhurried touring pace.

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Yoshino and Ômine - Yoshinoyama

    Cherry trees are the whole point of Yoshino, and they are planted by the thousand up the side of a ridge in the mountains of Nara Prefecture, about five kilometres from the little town of Yoshino and an hour or two from Osaka. Over some three hundred years, pilgrims planted the sacred shidarezakura and the mountain cherry as offerings to the god of the mountain, and in the first half of April the slopes turn pink, white and green in four layers from the bottom to the top, a wave of flowering that rises up the hillside over about a fortnight.

    Read the complete Yoshino and Ômine - Yoshinoyama write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Yoshino and Ômine - Yoshinoyama is where the day begins. Next is Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I.

  2. 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.

    Read the complete Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I comes up about 104 km into the recorded legs. Next is Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K.

  3. 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 245 km into the recorded legs you reach Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - K. Next is back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I.

  4. 4. back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I, late in the day. Next is Yoshino and Ômine - Yoshinoyama.

  5. 5. Yoshino and Ômine - Yoshinoyama

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Yoshino and Ômine - Yoshinoyama write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Back at Yoshino and Ômine - Yoshinoyama. That is the ride.

Leg by leg

Yoshino and Ômine - Yoshinoyama to Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I

Yoshino and Ômine - Yoshinoyama → Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I is 104 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 - Yoshinoyama

back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I → Yoshino and Ômine - Yoshinoyama is 107 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.

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