Day 45 - Kibi Plain and Kurashiki roundtrip 吉備路と倉敷の巡り

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 45

Today I explored an other bicycle friendly region of Japan, the Kibi plain and ended the day in Kurashiki, a surprisingly nice old town with a strong Meiji era flair and quite distinct from other old towns I have seen so far in Japan. 

Bicycle: 46 km
Train: 18 km
Riding time: 3;20  h 
Total ascent: 194  m

Route: Okayama through Kibi plain to Kurashiki

Weather: Sun and clouds, 17 C


 As this is a bicycle travel through Japan, today I went to a famous bicycle tourism spot in Japan, the Kibi plain. I had planned out the ride on Garmin, but only approximately, as the bike maps I had found were not clear to the detail. However this bicycle road is extraordinarily (for Japan) well signposted. It seems that there have been done even some improvements to the sign posts recently, as the person writing in the link above complained about signage going away after about half of the ride. This now has definitely been fixed:

I did not find the very start, but found it at km 9 into my ride. From there onwards it was easy to follow. (If you want to follow the path from the Garmin map below, I left it again at km 29, which is shortly before its end, as I wanted to ride on to Kurashiki). The path is entirely on very small streets or on bicycle only lanes, and I have not encountered a single car on the path. The course is actually nicer than many "normal" Japanese bicycle lanes, because it is not "just" along a river, but actually nicely winding through the - flat - landscape and stopping by a number of temples and shrines. 

The first shrine was Kibitsuhiko shrine, well visited by local families with their 3, 5 and 7 year old kids for the festival. The girls are always in very colourful (and long sleeved, as not yet married) kimonos while the boys are in more somber and somewhat samurai style kimonos. Some even with a sword. 

Shortly after, the next shrine, in a previously competing fiefdom, Kibitsu shrine: 

This one was even more popular with the local families and the festival was done in big groups of maybe 10 kids plus their associated adults. (While I think that in the previous shrine, it was a more personal ceremony). The shrine itself seemed to be more popular, by the looks of its large parking lot. Maybe this was also helped by the fact of a nice temple right next to it, connected to the shrine through a long, roofed passageway. 

Further down the road first the birth place of a famous Nara time politician and nobleman and not too far his burial mount. 

Continuing the ride, the second temple with the first pagoda of the day appeared. It is probably even more scenic to approach it from Soja instead of from Okayama direction, but it was nice all the same:

Within the temple grounds was a small shop that claimed to sell food, but it essentially only had omiyage or icecream, which would not have been enough for my appetite, but a quick look on Tabelog found me a cafe really close by where I had Omurice. 

After that the bicycle lane still continued through this nice landscape until reaching Soja, where I turned towards Kurashiki. I have to admit that I did not have high expectations of Kurashiki (and old town), partially because I just had visited Imaicho a few days ago and partially because the modern town of Kurashiki is just like any other modern, ugly Japanese town. However I was very pleasantly surprised. The old part of Kurashiki is extraordinarily well maintained, even the electric cables are all out of sight, it is not only one road, but actually a small quarter of the city and it is different than other old towns in Japan (like Imaicho, Kanazawa, Sawara, Kawagoe...). It has a very distinctive Meiji era flair about it, with a few clearly European inspired buildings in the context of a palpably rich merchants town.

In the center of this small town, runs a channel on which one can even make some very small gondola tours with the gondolier even signing classic Japanese songs. 

Some of the small roads even reminded me of Malaga:

As my visit to Kurashiki took its time, it was getting late (16:00) when I finished and, more importantly cold, so I decided to take the train back to Okayama and then up my mountain to my hotel. 

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

For details on the bicycle tour today in Okayama, checkout the below maps:

 

Day 44 - Osaka to Okayama 大阪から岡山へ

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 44

This blog post is about how to get from Osaka to Okayama... as I haven't done much else today in the travel department. 

Bicycle: 5 km
Train: 184 km
Riding time: 30 min 
Total ascent: 86  m

Route: Osaka to Okayama

Weather: Rainy in Osaka, Fog in Okayama, 15 C


After meeting my colleagues yesterday evening,  today it was the turn of my boss and a few other people in the Osaka office. So most of today I spent in the office, which was perfect as outside it was raining... After lunch I came back to my hotel, picked up my T-bag and the bicycle, which was parked very nicely in a covered car parking lot, road the few meters to the station and boarded the next Shinkansen to Okayama. At that point in Osaka it was no longer raining, but looking out the window of the train it seemed that it was raining in Okayama, as it was very gray outside. However looking more closely out of the train, no one was using an umbrella, so instead of taking a taxi to my hotel, which was my first inclination, I road up here. 

When I reserved the hotel, I hadn't noticed... but it is on a rather high and steep hill. And the route I took was specially steep and through a graveyard. Partially the road was so steep that even pushing the bicycle up was hard work. I guess that the name of Okayama 岡山 "hill mountain" should have made me suspicious.

But we made it, and I was rewarded with an enormous hotel room, where I will stay the next 2 nights:

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

For details on the bicycle tour today in Okayama, checkout the below maps:

Part 8 (Day 38 - Day 43) - From Lake Biwa to the origins of Japan 琵琶湖から日本の出身へ - Summary

Bicycle touring Japan - Lake Biwa and Nara - Part 8

In this post I review probably one of the best parts of my ride through Japan, because it was a long stretch, continuously riding in a region with a wealth of interesting sightseeing spots, and this although I did NOT do any sightseeing in Kyoto and Nara city. 

Bicycle: 284.5  km

Other transport: 420 km (to get to the starting point, but no further transport until reaching Osaka)

Region: Shiga, Nara and Osaka prefecture, from Maibara on Biwa lake through Uji to Nara and then deeper into Nara prefecture and out to Osaka

Total riding time: 18:53 h

Total ascent: 1,152 m 

Nearly a full week on the bicycle, without taking any bus, train, taxi or other mode of transport, skipping the more touristy parts like Kyoto and Nara and visiting the wonderful and more secluded areas around Lake Biwa and into inner Nara prefecture was probably, together with the Shimanami Kaido ride, one of the best experiences on my 2 months ride through Japan. 

With a region so rich in history and spots to visit, one picture isn't really enough:

From upper left to lower left, clockwise: Phoenix hall in Uji, historical building in Imaicho, pagoda at Hasedera, castle in Hikone

Here an approximate map of the ride as Google shows it, the actual rides are, as always in the day-to-day descriptions:

The actual routes I took are in the Strava or Garmin feed of each day:

• Day 38 - Tokyo to Maibara and on to Omi Hachiman
• Day 39 - Omi Hachiman to Uji
• Day 40 - Uji to Nara
• Day 41 - Nara to Yamatoyagi
• Day 42 - Around Yamatoyagi
• Day 43 - Yamatoyagi to Osaka

And here an overview of the costs.

In my original plan for Kyoto & Nara and for Shiga prefecture, I had envisioned to do a very similar ride through Nara, but coming from Mie prefecture. That wasn't possible as I had to go back to Tokyo for a few days after visiting Ise, so I did the trip the other way round. In Shiga, my original plan did foresee a full circle of the lake. Which might have been nice too, specially as there are relatively good cycling infrastructure around the lake. Actually lake Shiga was (again together with the Shimanami Kaido) one of the areas where I met the highest number of cyclists. On lake Shiga it seemed to be mainly race bike riders who came out to the lake for the day from Kyoto for a ride. And they do have a point: 

But the lake is also home to this very nice, old preserved castle.

Specially around Lake Biwa and also along the river from Kyoto to Nara, there are good bicycle lanes. The one on the Kizugawa even had a fee of 10 yen to cross one of the bridges. The only time I paid for a cycling lane (as the bridge fees of the Shimanami Kaido got [temporarily] waived). 

Thanks to staying in Uji itself I was able to get to the Phoenix hall right in the morning before the bus loads of tourists arrived. Even though the first few visits to the inside of the Phoenix hall was already full, but that wasn't probably a bad thing, as this way I could enjoy the garden around and the view of the hall with few tourists and then visit the inside in a small group when the park started to fill up with groups. 

On this trip I did not visit any place in central Nara, but did ride straight out of town to temples lying outside and specially to the UNESCO world cultural heritage site of Horyuji. While that one was nice, there were so many other nice temples in that one day, that it is really hard to decide.

But no need to decide... I simply visited them all. Luckily I don't get "templed out" quickly.

Further into Nara prefecture, in Yamatoyagi I discovered a really nice area. Yet unspoiled by tourists but full of interesting sights, small villages and nice landscape.

On my last evening in my hostel in Yamatoyagi I met a woman from Sapporo very enthusiastic about Nara region. She comes here frequently and never runs out of spots to visit. And while my interest (and understanding) of Japanese history is poor, I certainly can understand her. Not only after the trip to Hasedera and Asuka, but also what I have seen in Nara, between Nara and Yamatoyagi and also considering all the other places still to be seen here in the region which I will skip this time. 

It seems that Nara prefecture only has a set amount of money to spend on tourist information and promotion. And as there are already so many interesting places in Nara town itself, plus the UNESCO world heritage site in Horyuji, there was no money left to make the region more inland around Sakurai and Asuka known. This is actually great news for tourists searching for a place still authentically Japanese and beautiful. What you can find here:

• Hasedera temple
• Imaicho - old city
• The oldest Buddha in Japan
• Asuka - a history laden small village said to be the cradle of Japan

It was great to have an entire part of this journey by bicycle only. No folding up the brompton, just getting on the bicycle every morning and riding around. 

Both in Nara and in Yamatoyagi I went to two very old fashioned neighbourhood sentos. The one in Yamatoyagi felt like nothing had changed, including the clients, in the last 50 years. 

Both the accommodation in Nara, and even more so the one in Yamatoyagi were really nice. Old Japanese houses revived as guesthouses.

Before leaving Nara prefecture I went to see the small village of Imaicho, which essentially is a part of Yamatoyagi and is definitely one of the best preserved old cities in Japan. Much better than Takayama which is so famous. Really strange that so many tourists who are in Kyoto/Nara anyway, make the enormous detour to Takayama, when Imaicho is there just a few train stops down from Kyoto/Nara/Osaka. But well, much better for me.

The final ride from Yamatoyagi to Osaka was rather eventless with Osaka spreading through the entire plain and a bit boring, after all the nice riding through Shiga, Kyoto and Nara prefecture.

For the entire week I was also very lucky with the weather. The only day with rain was the day AFTER in Osaka, which I however mainly spent at work and then off by train to Okayama. And well, the ride from Uji to Nara was quite cold and very windy. Actually I could not really enjoy the Heijo palace in Nara because I (and most other visitors) was essentially freezing. But luckily on the next day already weather had made a U-turn and nice riding temperatures returned.

As I had passed through home before Day 38, I made a few changes to the stuff I am bringing with me, but nothing really dramatic. Essentially what I started packing for the initial ride in Hokkaido is still perfectly valid even now in early November (but obviously much more in the South of Japan).

Day 43 - Yamatoyagi to Osaka 大和八木から大阪へ

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 43

This blog post is about the last day of cycling in Kansai, leaving Nara prefecture after having visited the nice old town of Imaicho and then riding all the way to Shin-Osaka station. 

Bicycle: 56 km
Riding time: 4:13 h 
Total ascent:  226 m

Route: Yamatoyagi to Osaka

Weather: Sunny and some clouds, later overcast, 18 - 21 C


Today for the last day in Nara prefecture, I visited the small city center of Imaicho, which was really close from where I had been staying the last two nights in Yamatoyagi, just a few blocks away. 

Imaicho is a really surprising example of a small town (or quarter) still very well conserved. Yes, not all houses are old, but most. Work is ongoing to reform some houses, but most are already in quite good shape. But what I really liked about it is the near absence shops for tourists and tourists as well. This quarter still seems to be inhabited by pretty normal people who have been living there for ages and doing their everyday chores. Yes, there are a few shops for tourists, but very low key. And it is not just one street (like in Takayama or also other places), but really an entire city quarter. After coming here, I really wonder why tourists would trek all the way to Takayama to see ONE street of old houses, that are mostly occupied by touristy shops, instead of just taking a train for maybe less than 1 h from Nara (where many tourists might be going anyway) and visit Imaicho. But much better they don't and this small town can conserve just a little longer its nonchalance of existence. 

I started the visit at the information center (although it actually didn't have that much information), which is just outside of the quarter of Imaicho in this very impressive building:

There I received a map and went on to discover the different old buildings in town:

But I think what I liked most was simply the atmosphere of the streets:

In  small shop I got some Omiyage for my Osaka colleagues and then continued on my way to Osaka. 

As in the last few days, I saw more old houses and also not so old houses with very impressive roof tiling. 

I had some problem yesterday planning the route in Garmin, as "popularity" tracing wanted me to go over a 500 m mountain and "Follow street" somehow didn't work. This is not the first time that neither of the two work and I have no idea why. But still I had been able to find nice small roads out of Nara prefecture. Over the small mountain (about 100 m and actually it was over before I noticed), for the last km or so there was only a rather big road, but then down in Osaka I relatively quickly came onto a typical Japanese cycle lane on top of a river dike:

Riding once across the entire city of Osaka took quite some time, maybe 2.5 h or more. Some of it was through nice (well, normal) living quarters, but the more central parts I had sometimes problems finding smaller roads, specially on the last km prior to reaching my hotel close to Shin Osaka station. But I mad it here without problems. Before I made just a small detour to see Osaka castle from outside and  take a few pictures with beginning autumn colours:

In the evening I had dinner with two colleagues from Osaka office and now getting ready to meet my boss tomorrow.

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

For details on the bicycle tour today in Nara and Osaka, checkout the below maps:

Day 42 - Roundtrip through the cradle of Japan - 大和八木の巡り

Bicycle touring Japan - Day 42

Today's cycling tour was through the cradle of Japan around Asuka and Sakurai and I finally saw some reasonable koyo... but still a bit early. 

Bicycle: 36 km
Riding time: 2:10 h 
Total ascent:  209 m

Route: Yamatoyagi to Hasedera, Asuka, Kashihara and back to Yamatoyagi

Weather: Sunny, 19 C


Today my trip lead me to the historical roots of Japan, it included a trip to the oldest temple (grounds) in Japan (596 AD), the oldest Buddha statue made in Japan (609 AD), a shrine dedicated to Japans first emperor (660 BC) and the Kannon statue that has been used as basis for most others in Japan. And all this in the region around Asuka, where Japan originated, before settling onto Nara as the first stable capital back in 710 BC. 

I had a quiet start in the morning and as first destination made my way up the valley to Hasedera. 

When I originally had planned my visit to the valley around Nara, I had planned to visit Hasedera coming from Ise, with the idea that this way I did not need to ride up the valley. Well, actually it wasn't that bad. I had a nice country/village road for most of the time and also the ascent was very gradual except the last very few meters. 

Up to the temple I went through this covered passage:

I started with the visit to the Kannon statue, which is the 8th pilgrimage point on the 33 temple pilgrimage through Kansai. So people were very enthusiastically praying, while I did my silent touristic visit. What was great is that one could access to the feet of the Kannon (stroke them) and then surround the Kannon, so I came really up very close. As the statue is 12 m tall it is towering over you.

After the visit to Kannon, there is still the entire temple with great views over the surrounding mountains.

There was some koyo already, but overall still to early!

Here was also the one and only pagoda of today:

Coming up the stairs I had seen that there was a place to get some matcha and Japanese sweets, so I had a second breakfast here:

I really enjoyed this temple, its relaxed atmosphere, the nice landscape, koyo and the spiritual experience getting so close to a highly venerated Kannon.

After this relaxing visit and a good soup lunch at a local restaurant, I returned to my bike and rolled down the hill and on to Asuka through the country side. In the villages here around Yamatoyagi there are still a lot of old houses, mainly in good shape attesting to the wealth of their current owners. Tomorrow I will go and see an entire small city center which seems to be still old, but even today just riding through the countryside there were many nice streets with old houses.

Close to Asuka temple also a bicycle lane started. As yesterday, there is good (well, good in Japanese terms where there is often nothing) signage for these lanes. It is Japanese only (or mainly) though. It also seems that the city of Kashihara promotes cycling strongly, as a good number of the visitors had come on rental cycles and there were big cycle parking lots available. Today the area around the temple was not very well visited, I think because the two museums on Manyo culture and the archaeological museum were both closed due to Monday. 

The Asuka temple is actually quite small and would just seem to be a very normal, smaller temple. The buildings are not specially old either, but the Buddha inside is the oldest Buddha statue in Japan, cast in 609 BC. Yes, "cast", because it is not a wooden statue, but rather one made of copper and gold. 

Looking at the offerings he got, he seemed to prefer a very healthy diet with a lot of vegetables. (In the plastic bags on the left are dried mushrooms). And he definitely maintained a slimmer figure than the two Buddhas yesterday that indulged in eggs. But not as slim as the Indian-inspired Buddha in Horyuji, also yesterday. 

The temple itself, while not spectacular, lies in this very nice, slightly undulated landscape:

The last sightseeing spot for today was the Kashihara shrine. While itself only slightly above 125 years old, it does enshrine the first (mythical) emperor of Japan, Jimmu, who it is said ascended to the throne exactly where during the Meiji time some 2200 years later, this shrine was built. 

The shrine itself lies in a big forest-park and is very somber, but was brightened up today by a few colourful clad children that had come with their parents for the 7-5-3 matsuri. 

When I planned out the trip yesterday, I had one more destination in mind, Imaicho, a historical quarter of the city where I am. But I wanted to finish today in relax, so left this for tomorrow. I did however ride through it tangentially and was impressed. Tomorrow also the museum house will be open, so perfect timing.

After the two traditional sentos yesterday and the day before, today I decided for a modern super-sento, not too far away from my hostel. It was quite nice with 3 rotenburos plus one "lying rotenburo" (i.e. you can lie flat in the water which only covers you half, so you can enjoy the hot water and the cold air at the same time). I essentially spent the evening there, soaking and then having dinner.

Tomorrow Imaicho and then off to Osaka and good bye to Nara prefecture.

Bicycle touring Japan - Ride maps

For details on the bicycle tour today in Nara, checkout the below maps: