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

Once topped by a 60-metre pagoda, Shimotsuke Kokubunji was a provincial state temple built in 741. Its eighth-century foundations survive in Tochigi Prefecture.

Discover the Shimotsuke Yakushiji Temple Ruins in Shimotsuke City, Tochigi — a National Historic Site and one of only three ordination platforms in ancient Japan, alongside Todai-ji and Kanzeon-ji. Explore the rich Nara-period Buddhist heritage, reconstructed corridors, and the story of the exiled monk Dokyo.

Tochigi's 8th-10th century Nasu county office, mistaken for a temple until a 1940 bronze seal triggered excavations that uncovered 30+ buildings across four blocks.

Nikko Sannai is the mountain precinct in Tochigi where two shrines and one temple share the slopes. It became a Historic Site in 1998 and World Heritage in 1999.

Japan's only Special Historic Site and Special Natural Monument, this Guinness-record cedar avenue near Nikko was donated to Tōshōgū in 1648 by Matsudaira Masatsuna.

An Early Jomon site in Utsunomiya where 339 grave pits fill a plaza ringed by pit dwellings and timber halls up to 23 meters long, a ground for burial and ceremony.

Spread across the foothills of Tenri City in Nara Prefecture, the Yamato Tumulus Group is a cluster of 24 ancient mounds dating from the late 3rd to early 4th century—the formative era of the Yamato polity. In 2014, three of its most significant mounds—Nomugi, Nakayama Otsuka, and Shimoikeyama Kofun—were designated a National Historic Site. With its unusual mix of keyhole and square-rear tombs, remarkable finds including special pedestal pottery and a silk-wrapped bronze mirror, and a setting along the ancient Yamanobe-no-michi path, the site offers a rare encounter with the very dawn of the Japanese state.

High in the Omine Range of Nara Prefecture, between Mt. Misen and Mt. Hakkyogatake, lies the native habitat of the Oyamarenge—a rare Japanese magnolia subspecies designated a National Natural Monument in 1928. Each year from late June through mid-July, fragrant white blossoms nicknamed the 'Celestial Maiden Flower' bloom amid primeval forest at nearly 1,800 meters. Reached via a sacred trail that forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage 'Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range,' the habitat unites botanical rarity with deep spiritual heritage.

A pure 9.3-hectare nagi forest on Mount Mikasa behind Kasuga Taisha in Nara, planted as sacred trees a millennium ago. National Natural Monument since 1923.

A 42-hectare Yayoi moated settlement in the Nara Basin whose excavations rewrote Japan's prehistoric chronology, anchored by a 12.5-meter reconstructed pavilion.

Once one of Asuka's four great state temples, this seventh-century site in Nara preserves the rare one-pagoda, twin-hall plan and 28 marble foundation stones.

A late-7th-century round tomb in Asuka with painted Four Symbols, zodiac figures, and East Asia's oldest precise star chart, designated National Treasure in 2019.

In a quiet upland village in eastern Nara lie carved foundation stones of an eighth-century temple that no record names. Its main hall rivaled Tōshōdaiji.

Kengoshizuka Kofun is a seventh-century octagonal mound in Asuka, restored in white stone in 2022 and thought to be the tomb of Empress Saimei and her daughter.

Kōriyama Castle in Nara, a National Historic Site, preserves walls built partly from reused Buddhist statues and an inverted Jizō, remains of a Toyotomi power base.

About 700 burial mounds cover the Koseyama hills in Gose, Nara, forming Japan's largest cluster-tomb group, built between the mid-5th and late-6th centuries.

A late sixth-century round burial mound in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, just 350 meters west of Horyu-ji Temple. The unlooted tomb yielded a vermilion sarcophagus with two occupants and dazzling gilt bronze crowns, shoes, and saddle fittings now designated National Treasures. National Historic Site.

The Fujiwara-kyō Site in Kashihara, Nara—covering the great Suzaku Avenue and the Sakyō and Ukyō Seventh Avenue districts—preserves the southern heart of Japan's first true grid-planned capital, which served three sovereigns from 694 to 710. The 21-metre-wide central boulevard and the dense cluster of government office sites south of the palace document the moment when Japan adopted Chinese-style city planning. Today the area offers seasonal flower fields, sweeping views of the Yamato Three Mountains, and free museums.

Spanning roughly 120 hectares in northern Nara City, the Heijō Palace Site preserves the ceremonial and political heart of Japan's ancient capital from 710 to 784. Designated a Special Historic Site in 1952 and inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998 as a component of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara, the site features stunning reconstructed buildings—including the First Daigokuden, Suzakumon Gate, Daigokumon, and the Tōin Garden—that vividly evoke the grandeur of the Nara-period imperial capital.

Discover the East Palace Garden (Tōin Teien) of Heijō Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage component and Special Place of Scenic Beauty in Nara. Restored on its original 8th-century site, this elegant pond garden is considered the prototype of the Japanese garden tradition. Includes history, highlights, and visitor information. Free admission.