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

Early Upper Palaeolithic sites on Tanegashima, Kagoshima, a Historic Site since 2022, with pit traps and stone clusters beneath ash of about 35,000 years ago.

Kandelia mangrove forests on Tanegashima, Kagoshima, a Natural Monument since 2015 and enlarged in 2022, at the northern limit of natural mangroves in Asia.

The southern limit of wild Edohigan cherries on Mount Kurino in Yusui, Kagoshima, a Natural Monument since 1923, flowering pale pink before the leaves in late March.

The Biro Island Subtropical Plant Community in Shibushi Bay, a Special Natural Monument since 1956, is an uninhabited island clad in palm and subtropical forest.

A grove of plum trees at Fujikawa Tenjin in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima, a Natural Monument since 1941, whose branches root where they touch the ground like reclining dragons.

Tidal flats of the Manose River estuary in Minamisatsuma, Kagoshima, a Natural Monument since 2007, with Japan's largest hamabo stand, fiddler crabs and over 130 bird species.

A 209.5-metre cave in the Shirasu pyroclastic deposits of Soo, Kagoshima, a Natural Monument since 2021 and one of the largest caves of its kind in Japan.

The habitat of an endemic river plant on Yakushima, Kagoshima, a Natural Monument since 2010, growing only on granite boulders in the Isso River and its tributary.

The habitat of yakkoso, a parasitic plant on chinquapin roots, in Hioki, Kagoshima, a Natural Monument since 1922, whose stems resemble an Edo footman each autumn.

A natural forest of an oak endemic to the Ryukyus behind Yamatohama village on Amami Oshima, a Natural Monument since 2008, protected as a sacred mountain.

The summit of Akita-Komagatake, an active volcano in Akita, was designated a Natural Monument in 1926 for its alpine flora, including komakusa on volcanic gravel.

Four Jomon stone circles sit side by side on a river terrace in Akita, a grouping unique in Japan. The 4,000-year-old Isedotai Site is a World Heritage component.

In Yokote, Akita, the Ōtoriiyama Site is the eleventh-century hilltop stronghold of the Kiyohara clan, with double earthen ramparts, dry moats and rare earthenware.

Ichinomegata, a freshwater maar lake on Akita's Oga Peninsula, formed when magma met groundwater in a violent blast. Its andesite holds rare mantle rock.

Hillocks among rice fields in Nikaho, Akita, once islands in a lagoon admired by Basho, raised by an 1804 earthquake; a Natural Monument since 1934.

An area on Mount Gomado in Tagami, Niigata, a Natural Monument since 1922, where torreya with reversed new leaves, a Seven Wonders of Echigo tree, grows wild.

In Itoigawa, Niigata, the Teraji Site preserves Jomon workshops where jadeite was carved for over two thousand years, beside a rare four-post stone arrangement.

A henon bamboo grove in Niigata, a National Natural Monument since 1922 for its rare reverse bamboo whose branches bend downward, tied by legend to the monk Shinran.

On a 90-metre hill behind No Hakusan Shrine, warm-climate evergreens grow beside cold-climate deciduous trees, an unusual mix designated a Natural Monument in 1937.

Central Niigata's Hakusan Park opened in 1873, among Japan's first public parks. Its ponds and Meiji stonework survive, and in 2018 it became a national scenic site.

The complete kokuhō catalogue — browse by prefecture, period, and category.

Nationwide jūyō bunkazai — architecture, sculpture, painting, crafts, and documents.

UNESCO-inscribed cultural and natural sites across the archipelago.