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

A Nara-period county office near Nagaoka, found in 1990. A wooden tablet here names Nutari fort, a stockade once known only from a single ancient chronicle.

The Hirabayashi Castle Ruins in Murakami, Niigata, a Historic Site since 1978, keep the moated residence and hilltop fort of the Irobe lords, abandoned in 1598.

Furutsu Hachimanyama is the northernmost late-Yayoi hilltop moated settlement on the Japan Sea coast, and its ridge holds Niigata's largest ancient burial mound.

The Matsumoto Kaidō carried sea salt inland from Itoigawa toward Shinano along the Himekawa valley. A surviving mountain stretch is now a National Historic Site.

In Mitsuke, Niigata, the Mimitori Site holds three Jomon villages layered on one hilltop, including a ring settlement with an 18-meter plaza and rare jade beads.

The Miyagawa Shrine Grove in Kashiwazaki, Niigata, a Natural Monument since 1980, is a 5.4-hectare shrine forest at the northern limit of its evergreen Neolitsea.

Standing in the snow country of Joetsu City, Niigata Prefecture, the Great Cedar of Mushikawa is the sacred tree of Hakusan Shrine and one of the largest cedars in Japan. Estimated to be over 1,200 years old, it rises some 30 metres high with a trunk circumference of around 10.6 metres, and was designated a National Natural Monument in 1937. Its sprawling, sculptural form is a classic example of the Japan Sea side urasugi cedar variety, and the moss-carpeted shrine precinct offers a quietly powerful encounter with deep time. Conveniently reached on foot in about ten minutes from Mushigawa-Ōsugi Station on the Hokuhoku Line.

Spanning the city of Tokamachi and the town of Tsunan in Niigata Prefecture, the Honnoki and Tazawa Site Group is a National Historic Site preserving the dawn of the Jomon period. Composed of the Honnoki, Tazawa, and Jin Sites near the confluence of the Shinano and Kiyotsu Rivers, the group contains stone tools and pottery dating from around 15,000 to 12,500 years ago, offering an unusually clear record of how Ice Age communities transitioned from mobile Paleolithic hunting to riverside Jomon life.

An old torreya in Tagami, Niigata, a Natural Monument since 1922, one of the Seven Wonders of Echigo, whose new leaves grow with their surfaces reversed.

Discover the Katsusaka Site, a National Historic Site in Sagamihara, Kanagawa, where you can walk through a reconstructed Middle Jomon settlement (c. 3000 BCE) that gave its name to one of Japan's most flamboyant prehistoric pottery styles.

The precincts of Kotoku-in Temple in the Hase district of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, were designated a National Historic Site in 2004 under the name Kamakura Daibutsuden Ato (Site of the Great Buddha Hall of Kamakura). The vast wooden hall that once enshrined the National Treasure bronze Buddha — whose casting began in 1252 — collapsed several times in storms and earthquakes between the 14th and 15th centuries and was never rebuilt. Today, 53 disc-shaped andesite foundation stones still scatter across the grounds, evoking a five-bay-square hall with a surrounding mokoshi that was among the largest medieval Buddhist structures in Japan. This article introduces the archaeological discoveries of the casting works and foundation pits, the Edo-period restoration led by the priest Yuten Shonin, and the highlights of a visit, including the unique experience of entering the hollow bronze Buddha and exploring nearby Hasedera Temple and the Daibutsu Hiking Trail.

Kamegayatsuzaka in Kamakura, Kanagawa, is an ancient mountain pass linking Yamanouchi in Kita-Kamakura with Ōgigayatsu. Designated a National Historic Site in 1969 as one of the Seven Mountain Passes of medieval Kamakura, it preserves carved cliff walls, the Six Jizō statues, and a quiet path lined with hydrangeas and autumn foliage.

Standing proudly on Bashamichi in central Yokohama, the Former Yokohama Specie Bank Head Office is a Neo-Baroque stone landmark designed by the Meiji master architect Tsumaki Yorinaka and completed in 1904. Doubly designated as an Important Cultural Property and a National Historic Site, it now serves as the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History. Discover the story of the bank that helped finance modern Japan, the great octagonal Ace Dome, the giant Corinthian order, and the building's remarkable survival through earthquake and war.

Sankeien Garden, located in the Honmoku district of Yokohama, is a 175,000-square-meter Japanese garden opened in 1906 by the silk merchant and tea master Hara Tomitaro (Sankei). Seventeen historic buildings—including ten Important Cultural Properties—were relocated from Kyoto, Kamakura, Hida, and other regions to be carefully integrated with the seasonal landscape. Designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty in 2007, the garden offers visitors a complete and rewarding encounter with traditional Japanese architecture and nature.

Tōshōji in Kamakura, a national Historic Site, was the Hōjō family temple where regent Takatoki and over 870 kinsmen died in 1333 as the Kamakura shogunate fell.

The Nagae Sakurayama Kofun Group in Zushi and Hayama, a Historic Site since 2002, is a pair of 4th-century keyhole tombs, among Kanagawa's largest, above Sagami Bay.

Called the gambler's tree for its peeling bark, this rare evergreen has grown for 350 years on a cliff near Odawara and became a national natural monument in 1924.

A National Historic Site at Yugyō-ji in Fujisawa: a stone pillar raised after the 1416 Uesugi Zenshū Rebellion to honor the war dead of both armies, foe and friend.

Two stone pagodas on a Yokosuka hilltop commemorate William Adams, the English navigator who served Tokugawa Ieyasu and received this very land in Hemi as his fief.

Designated a National Historic Site in 1984, Meigetsuin preserves Kamakura's largest yagura tomb, Hojo Tokiyori's grave, and traces of the vanished Zenkoji temple.