The Great Buddha of Nara at Tōdai-ji was the work of Emperor Shōmu, who also ordered a temple in every province and moved his capital from Heijō Palace to Kuni-kyō and Shigaraki.
After smallpox, rebellion and poor harvests, Shōmu turned to Buddhism for protection. This route follows him from Nara through two short-lived capitals and a provincial temple in today's Tokyo, back to the Eye-opening Ceremony of 752. Some sites are only ruins or remain approximate.
Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi) was born in Shikoku, studied in Xi'an and founded Shingon Buddhism at Jingo-ji, Tō-ji and Mount Kōya, where he is entombed at Okunoin.
The route follows the monk from his birthplace at Zentsū-ji to Qinglong Temple in Tang China, then back to the temples near Kyoto and the mountain retreat he asked for in 816. It ends at his mausoleum, where monks still bring him meals.
Where was Yamatai, the kingdom of Queen Himiko? The two leading answers are Yoshinogari in Saga, northern Kyushu, and Makimuku beside the Hashihaka Kofun in Sakurai, Nara.
The route follows the Wei Zhi account of Himiko from Iki Island and the Shikanoshima gold seal to the two rival sites, and ends at the burial mound often linked with her grave. The location of Yamatai is still unsettled.
Minamoto no Yoritomo founded Japan's first shogunate in Kamakura. This route follows him from his exile in Izu and Mishima Taisha to Ōkura, Hiraizumi and Tsurugaoka Hachimangū.
The stops trace his rise from exile in 1160, his first residence in Kamakura, the fall of Hiraizumi in 1189, the shogunate of 1192, his grave and the Hōjō regents who followed. Some sites, including the exile and the grave, are traditional identifications.
Sakamoto Ryōma, the Tosa samurai of the last shogunate years, is remembered across Kōchi, Nagasaki and Kyoto: from his birthplace memorial to Kameyama Shachū, the Teradaya inn and the Ōmiya Inn.
The route follows him from his birth in 1836 through the founding of Kameyama Shachū in 1865, the Teradaya raid of 1866 and his death at the Ōmiya Inn in 1867, then ends at the Katsurahama museum that keeps his letters.
The Satsuma Rebellion of 1877 began in Kagoshima, besieged Kumamoto Castle, was fought out at Tabaruzaka and ended on Shiroyama, where Saigō Takamori died. This route follows the samurai army from its first march to its last stand.
Six stops run from Kagoshima Castle through Kumamoto, Hitoyoshi and Mount Enodake and back to Kagoshima. Three are exact landmarks you can visit; the battlefield and retreat stops are approximate.
The Siege of Odawara of 1590 was fought at Odawara Castle in Kanagawa, with Toyotomi Hideyoshi's one-night castle at Ishigakiyama and Hōjō outposts at Hachigata, Hachiōji and Oshi.
Hideyoshi's army surrounded the Hōjō capital while other forces took its castles across the region one by one. This route follows the campaign through five castle sites, from the siege to the last holdouts, and most can still be visited as parks or ruins.
Francis Xavier, the missionary, came ashore at Kagoshima in 1549 and spent more than two years in Japan, preaching in Hirado and Yamaguchi before a failed trip to Kyoto.
The route follows his path through Kagoshima, Hirado, Yamaguchi and Kyoto, with dates from his life. Pins mark towns and areas, since the exact spots are not recorded.
The Nakasendō is the old "Central Mountain Route" between Edo and Kyoto, and its best-known stretch runs through the Kiso Valley, from Narai-juku to Tsumago and Magome in Nagano and Gifu.
This route follows six stops west along the Kisoji, the valley road that became part of the Nakasendō: the highest post town, a checkpoint, a town rebuilt after a flood, and two villages restored so well that you can still walk the road between them. Station numbers are counted from Edo.
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (Kaguya-hime) never names its setting, but Japanese towns from Kōryō and Takatori in Nara to Fuji City and Lake Yogo claim a link, and the tale ends on Mount Fuji.
The route follows the story from the shining bamboo stalk, through the Moon princess's farewell, to the Emperor burning her letter on the summit. Four of the five stops are rival local claims, not proven sites.
Egil's saga is set in Iceland, Norway and England, and begins at Borg, the farm where Skallagrim settled near today's Borgarnes. Its hero Egill is a poet and warrior whose road runs through the ale feast on Atløy, the battle of Vínheiðr, the Gulating assembly and York.
The route follows the saga from Skallagrim's settlement to Egill's old age, ending with the legend of his hidden silver near Mosfellsbær. Several places are only approximate, because the saga's sites are not firmly identified.
The Medici ruled Florence from Palazzo Vecchio, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, the Uffizi and the Pitti Palace, and plotters struck at them in the Duomo in 1478. This route follows the family from Cosimo's cell in 1435 to Vasari's private corridor of 1564.
Seven stops, all in the old centre and almost all open to visitors, show how a banking family turned into a ducal court, and how they left offices, tombs and a museum behind.
Inspector Montalbano is set in the fictional town of Vigàta, based on Camilleri's native Porto Empedocle, but the series is largely filmed in the province of Ragusa: Scicli's town hall, the beach at Punta Secca, the ruined Fornace Penna and Ragusa Ibla.
This route follows six filming locations, from Montalbano's offices and home to Donnafugata Castle and the Guerrieri Viaduct in Modica. Camilleri set his books in a fictionalised province of Agrigento, so these are screen stand-ins, not the novels' own places.
Danny Boyle's The Beach (2000) follows a young backpacker from Bangkok's Khao San Road to a secret island beach, shot at Maya Bay on Ko Phi Phi Le, from Alex Garland's 1996 novel.
The route runs from Khao San Road through Ko Samui, a Khao Yai waterfall and Maya Bay to Ko Pha Ngan. Several stops are stand-ins: hotel interiors were shot in Phuket, the waterfall jump in Khao Yai, and the island itself is invented.
Rocky is set and largely filmed in Philadelphia: Rocky Balboa's Kensington home, the Italian Market on 9th Street, Pat's King of Steaks, the Art Museum steps and the Spectrum arena in South Philadelphia all appear in the 1976 film.
The route follows the story from the opening fight on 25 November 1975 to the New Year's Day title bout. The Spectrum is gone, and the fight itself was shot in Los Angeles.
First Blood turns Hope, British Columbia into Hope, Washington: Wallace Street is the main street, the 3rd Avenue railway crossing is the motorcycle leap, and the Othello Tunnels stand in for Chapman Gorge. The 1982 film was shot almost entirely in and around the town, with its mountains and canyon doing the work of the story's backcountry.
The route follows John Rambo from the Pitt River cabin where he learns his old army buddy has died, through his arrest and escape in Hope, the manhunt above Coquihalla Canyon, and the National Guard headquarters at Golden Ears Park, ending at the gas station and gunshop of the final showdown. Some stops are exact streets and trails; several were film sets, and the Kawkawa Bridge has been demolished.
GTA: San Andreas turns California and Nevada into one state: Los Santos is Los Angeles, San Fierro is San Francisco, Las Venturas is Las Vegas. The 2004 game follows CJ from Grove Street to stand-ins for the Golden Gate, Hoover Dam and the Las Vegas Strip.
This route visits seven real stand-ins behind the game, from Compton and the Hollywood Sign to Mount Diablo, the Golden Gate Bridge, Area 51, Hoover Dam and the Las Vegas Strip. Every pin marks the real place, and each stop names the in-game location it doubles for. Expect city traffic, desert heat and long drives between stops.
Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey was filmed in Morocco, Greece, Italy, Iceland, Scotland and Malta, with Aït Benhaddou as Troy, Favignana as the goat island and the Aeolian Islands as Aeolia.
Matt Damon's Odysseus spends twenty years getting home. His crew is eaten by a Cyclops, crushed by Laestrygonians and sent to the underworld; Calypso keeps him on Ogygia, and Ithaca is full of suitors when he finally washes ashore.
This route follows the film's locations in story order, from the fall of Troy to the castle above Favignana that served as Ithaca. Every stop is a real place, but the mythical islands and monsters are not.
Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West cross the American West from Colorado Springs and Denver to Yellowstone and drowned San Francisco. A thousand years after the old world fell to Faro's machines, Nora outcast Aloy travels to uncover what destroyed it.
This route follows both Horizon games from the red rocks above Colorado Springs to the drowned streets of San Francisco, pairing each stop with the real landmark behind it. Guerrilla compresses the map — in-game locations are not exactly where they are in the real world — so the pins mark real stand-ins, not exact game coordinates.
Akito wakes after a traffic crash in a Shibuya emptied by a masked occultist's fog, sharing his body with the spirit KK and able to see the Marebito that now fill the streets. Tango Gameworks built the district as a condensed, walkable stage rather than a straight copy, keeping landmarks, borrowing back streets and folding in a few districts from elsewhere in Tokyo.
The route follows the game from the scramble crossing and the station through Center Gai, Dōgenzaka and the 109 stand-in, then north to a borrowed Yanaka Ginza and across town to the Tokyo Tower finale. Pins mark the real places; the game's map moves some of them closer together.
Sean Devlin, an Irish race car driver, joins the French Resistance after the Nazis murder his best friend and turn occupied Paris black and white. Pandemic Studios' 2009 open-world game sends him across the city's landmarks on a campaign of sabotage and revenge, hunting the SS commander Kurt Dierker.
The five stops follow the landmarks the story uses, from the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Élysées to Notre-Dame, the Catacombs and the Eiffel Tower. Each carries the real occupation history of the site between 1940 and 1944, and what a visitor finds there today.
Parasite's Seoul is a city of stairs: Dwaeji Super in Ahyeon-dong, Sky Pizza in Noryangjin, the road to the Parks' villa in Seongbuk and the Jahamun Tunnel. The Kims' semi-basement was a set in Goyang, since demolished.
The route runs from a corner store in Ahyeon-dong to the Jahamun Tunnel and the Goyang flood set. Both family homes were sets, so the houses themselves are not on the map.
In 2035 Artyom leaves the Moscow Metro on a stolen train, the Aurora, and finds that Russia beyond the city is still alive. The sequel to Metro 2033 turns a Moscow underground story into a rail journey across the whole country.
The route follows the Volga, the Ark at Yamantau, the Caspian and Novosibirsk to Lake Baikal. The game's places are invented versions of real ones, so every pin is an area, not a level.
Genshin Impact's Liyue is a fantasy nation, but its cliffs, pools and harbour were built from real Chinese places.
The route follows the landscapes its developers named as models, from Yangshuo and Huanglong to Zhangjiajie, Fenghuang and Huangshan. Three of them, Zhangjiajie, Huanglong and Guilin, also hosted official in-park collaborations in 2020. The pins mark the real models, not game locations.
