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

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
369 km
Riding-time estimate
4 h 38
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

A 369 km round trip from Yoshino-chō - roughly 4 h 38 in the saddle. The stops in between: Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I, Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N and back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.

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 - N.

  3. 3. Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N

    The Kumano Kodō is a web of ancient pilgrimage trails across the mountains of the Kii Peninsula, south of Osaka, leading to the three grand shrines of Kumano: Hongū, Hayatama and Nachi. For over a thousand years, emperors, aristocrats and ordinary pilgrims walked these paths through cedar and cypress forest, stopping at small subsidiary shrines along the way. The Nakahechi, the most popular of the routes, leaves the coast near Tanabe and climbs inland through the hills. It is part of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range, listed by UNESCO in 2004, one of only two pilgrimage routes on the list along with the Camino de Santiago, with which it is twinned.

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

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    about 183 km into the recorded legs you reach Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N. 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 - N

Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I → Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N is 79 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.

Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N to back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I

Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - N → back through Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - I is 79 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.

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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