Why this ride
From Sakai it runs 61 km to Sakai; allow about 1 h 11 of riding. It goes by way of Nabezuka Kofun, Hokki-ji Area and back through Nabezuka Kofun. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Zenizuka Kofun and Hokki-ji Area
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 61 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 11
- 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. Zenizuka Kofun
Mozu is an old word for the shrike, a small predatory bird that impales its prey on thorns, and the name belongs to the stretch of Sakai where the biggest tombs lie. A chronicle tells how, when workers were building the tomb of Emperor Nintoku in the fifth century, a deer suddenly fell dead on the site, and a shrike flew out of its ear. The story is a legend, of course, but it gave the district its name, and it hints at how strange and mysterious these monuments seemed even to later Japanese.
Read the complete Zenizuka Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zenizuka Kofun is where the day begins. Next is Nabezuka Kofun.
2. Nabezuka Kofun
Nabezuka is a modest mound in the Kashihara district of Nara prefecture, in the part of Japan where the country's first centralised state took shape. It is the sort of site that does not make the headlines. A rounded hill in a field, perhaps with a few trees, it belongs to the thousands of burial mounds scattered across the Yamato plain, and its main interest is that it forms part of a whole landscape of tombs rather than being a single sight. If you want the big picture, the archaeological museum in Kashihara explains how the mounds changed from large keyholes to small round or square tombs as the centuries passed.
Read the complete Nabezuka Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nabezuka 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 30 km into the recorded legs you reach Hokki-ji Area. Next is back through Nabezuka Kofun.
4. back through Nabezuka Kofun
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nabezuka Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Nabezuka Kofun, late in the day. Next is Zenizuka Kofun.
5. Zenizuka Kofun
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zenizuka Kofun write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Zenizuka Kofun. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Zenizuka Kofun to Nabezuka Kofun
Zenizuka Kofun → Nabezuka Kofun is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nabezuka Kofun to Hokki-ji Area
Nabezuka Kofun → Hokki-ji Area is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hokki-ji Area to back through Nabezuka Kofun
Hokki-ji Area → back through Nabezuka Kofun is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Nabezuka Kofun to Zenizuka Kofun
back through Nabezuka Kofun → Zenizuka Kofun is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.