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

Two ring-shaped shell mounds in Chiba form a figure eight, one of Japan's largest Jōmon settlements. Calcium-rich soil preserved human and dog bone for millennia.

The Ryūkakuji Kofun Group preserves 115 mounds north of Inba-numa in Chiba. Its core, Iwaya Kofun, is Japan's largest late-Kofun square tumulus, 78 m per side.

The Abuyama Tomb in Takatsuki, Osaka, a Historic Site since 1983, is a moundless late Kofun grave whose lacquered coffin held a man widely thought to be Kamatari.

A late Kofun keyhole tomb in Takatsuki, Osaka, thought to be the true tomb of Great King Keitai, a Historic Site since 1958, with a reconstructed haniwa rite of 200 figures.

Completed in 1953 by Mirei Shigemori, this stone garden at Kishiwada Castle sets nine rock groups after Zhuge Liang's eight battle formations, best seen from above.

On Osaka's Okawa River stand the remains of Japan's first modern mint, founded in 1871. Senpukan, the old main gate, a guard house and early gas lamps survive here.

On a ridge in Osaka's Chihayaakasaka, these earthworks formed Kusunoki Masashige's main stronghold, besieged in 1333 and lost when its water supply was cut.

Kurohimeyama Kofun, a 114-meter keyhole tomb between Sakai's two World Heritage tomb groups, held 24 sets of iron armor, the largest find from one Japanese tomb.

Over 1,000 years old, with a trunk 12.5 meters around, the Kungai-Kusu camphor at Mitsushima Shrine in Kadoma, Osaka, became a National Natural Monument in 1938.

The Kokufu Site in Fujiidera, Osaka, preserves traces of life from the Ice Age to medieval times, and is where Japan's first scientific excavation began in 1917.

In Habikino, Osaka, the Konda Shiratori kiln complex fired the haniwa that once lined Emperor Ojin's tomb and the other great burial mounds of the Furuichi group.

Sakurai Station Site in Osaka marks an ancient post station and the spot where, by legend, the warrior Kusunoki Masashige parted from his son before battle in 1336.

The Tosa Eleven Martyrs' Tombs in the grounds of Hojuin Temple in Sakai City, Osaka, is a National Historic Site marking the burial place of eleven Tosa Domain samurai who committed seppuku in 1868 to resolve the diplomatic crisis known as the Sakai Incident. Designated in 1938, the site preserves a key memorial of Japan's earliest international confrontation under the Meiji government and the Western witnesses' shock at the practice of harakiri. Combined with a visit to nearby Myokoku-ji Temple, it offers a moving experience of late-Edo and early-Meiji history.

Nanshuji Garden, set on the south side of the abbot's quarters at the Rinzai Zen temple Nanshuji in Sakai, Osaka, is an early-Edo karesansui designated a national Place of Scenic Beauty in 1983. This guide introduces its bold Izumi sandstone and chlorite schist composition, its Momoyama-period design lineage tied to Sen no Rikyu and Furuta Oribe, and practical visitor tips for exploring this quietly powerful Zen garden.

Ana Kannon Kofun in Hita City, Oita Prefecture, is a decorated tumulus dating from the late 6th to early 7th century and designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1933. Inside its multi-room horizontal stone chamber, the walls are adorned with red and green paintings of concentric circles, continuous triangles, ships, birds, and human figures — a celebrated example of the Chikugo River decorated-tomb tradition.

The Ankokuji Settlement Ruins in Kunisaki City, Oita, is a Yayoi-to-early-Kofun-period wetland village designated a National Historic Site in 1992. Famous as the 'Toro of the West' for its remarkably preserved wooden artifacts and carbonized rice, the site is also the type-site for Ankokuji-type pottery. Today it is a public park with reconstructed pit dwellings, raised-floor storehouses, and an adjacent learning hall offering hands-on experiences of ancient Japanese life.

Designated a National Historic Site in 1934, the Inukai Stone Buddhas in Bungo-Ono City, Oita Prefecture, comprise a magnificent Acala Triad carved in deep relief into a welded tuff cliff formed by the Aso pyroclastic flow. The seated central Fudō Myōō, about 3.76 meters tall, is flanked by his two boy attendants and dates to the late Heian to Kamakura period. Its rare features — no flame halo, both eyes wide open, and visible soles in a full lotus pose — preserve older iconographic traditions, making this one of the most distinctive magaibutsu of the Ono River basin.

Located in Kiyokawa-machi, Bungo-ono City, Oita Prefecture, the Iwato Site is a Late Paleolithic National Historic Site dating back approximately 20,000 to 24,000 years. It yielded the kokeshi-shaped stone figurine—widely regarded as Japan's oldest human-form artifact—along with numerous stone tools and a possible stone-piled tomb, offering a rare glimpse into the lives and spiritual world of Ice Age people in the Japanese archipelago.

Designated a National Natural Monument in 1934, the Great Cedar of Ōgosha Shrine stands in a quiet grove just south of Yufuin Station. Over 1,000 years old, 38 m tall, and roughly 14 m in girth at its base, this Cryptomeria japonica giant divides into two trunks at three meters and harbors a sacred image inside a vast hollow.

The graves of the Nakagawa lords of Oka in Taketa and Bungo-Ono, Oita, a Historic Site since 1997, combining Buddhist garden graves and Confucian graves in nature.