Historic Sites, Places of Scenic Beauty, and Natural Monuments of Japan

A late Muromachi pond garden whose waterfall is carved into a 7-meter sandstone outcrop, set in a remote former mining village in northern Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Jinbayama Kofun in Shimonoseki, a Historic Site since 1991, is a 74-metre keyhole tomb thought to be the oldest in its area, with an unrobbed burial below.

The Magnetic Stone of Susa Takayama in Hagi, a Natural Monument since 1936, is gabbro on a summit so magnetic that a compass needle swings when held near.

A two-kilometre ravine in Shimonoseki where late-Cretaceous quartz porphyry forms columnar joints, designated Place of Scenic Beauty and Natural Monument in 1926.

Taisho-do, a National Natural Monument located at the northeastern edge of Akiyoshidai Quasi-National Park in Mine City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, is an extraordinary three-tiered limestone cave designated in 1923. Once known as Ushikakushi-no-Hora (Cow-Hiding Cave) where villagers hid their cattle during times of war, the vast inner chambers were discovered in 1921 by the Oshima father-and-son team. Its rare vertical structure connecting upper, middle, and lower levels, along with countless young, still-growing stalactites, makes it scientifically invaluable. Visitors enjoy a magical subterranean journey with a Magsiver audio guide and the marble-pillared wisteria walkway known as the Romance Road.

Tawarajima is a small basalt islet off Nagato's Mukatsuku Peninsula, designated in 1927 for columnar joints that stand, lean, and curve like stacked rice bales.

The Choshu Domain Maeda Battery site in Shimonoseki, a Historic Site since 2010, held guns taken by the allied fleet in 1864, turning Choshu toward opening Japan.

This Yayoi cemetery on a Yamaguchi sand dune has yielded over 300 well-preserved skeletons whose features differ from the Jomon, reshaping Japan's origin story.

The Nagato Coin Mint Site in Shimonoseki, a Historic Site since 1929, lies in Kakuonji's grounds, where Wado Kaichin coins, moulds and crucibles have been found.

The 53-kilometre Edo-period road from Hagi to Mitajiri in Yamaguchi, a Historic Site since 1989, with stone paving, milestone mounds, an honjin inn and the lord's lodge.

The Kai Kokubunji Temple Ruins in Fuefuki, Yamanashi, a Historic Site since 1922, keep the pierced pagoda base and hall foundation stones where they were laid.

A Sengoku mountain castle on a hill above the Kamanashi River near Nirasaki. Its earthworks reveal the castle engineering of the Takeda clan and its beacon network.

Yamanakako, Kawaguchiko, Saiko, Shojiko, and Motosuko arc along Mount Fuji's northern foot. Shaped by ancient eruptions, the lakes inspired Hokusai's Reverse Fuji.

Mt. Fuji's primeval forest, designated 1926 and expanded 2010 to add the Aokigahara woodland on 864 AD Jōgan lava, covers 30 km² of the volcano's NW flank.

Fuji Wind Cave, a Natural Monument since 1929, is a lava tube from Mount Fuji's eruption of 864. Undeveloped and ice-filled, it holds more ice than any nearby cave.

Stone embankments that tamed the violent Midai River on its alluvial fan. Tied by tradition to Takeda Shingen, the site became a National Historic Site in 2003.

A National Natural Monument since 1937, this site spans six wooded districts of Minobu, including Kuon-ji Temple, where the dollarbird once bred each summer.

The Yagisawa Ohatsuki Ginkgo in Minobu, Yamanashi, bears pollen sacs on its leaves. The only male of Japan's seven designated examples, in 2011 a branch grew seeds.

Yato Castle Ruins crown a wooded 862-meter hill in Yamanashi as earthen ramparts and ditches, a medieval mountain castle tied to the founder of the Kai Genji.

At Jissoji temple in Yamanashi, the Yamataka Jindai Zakura is an Edohigan cherry said to be up to 2,000 years old, a national natural monument named in 1922.