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

A national Place of Scenic Beauty in Tsuruga, this Edo-period hillside garden at Saifukuji stages Amida and the 25 bodhisattvas descending in stone and water.

Somayama Castle Ruins crown a steep 492-meter peak in Fukui. This medieval mountain fortress served as a Southern Court base during Japan's Nanbokucho civil wars.

This national historic site in Tsuruga marks the execution ground where 353 of the Mito Tengu-tō were beheaded in 1865 and buried beneath fifteen gravestones.

The middle of three royal tombs below Mount Zenbu in Wakasa, this 70-meter keyhole mound of the late 5th century is read as a Kashiwade clan chieftain's grave.

Built in 1522 by Wakasa governor Takeda Motomitsu, this mountain castle above Obama guarded the Japan Sea port nearest Kyoto. Stone walls and baileys survive well.

The site of the Nara-period provincial temple of Wakasa in Obama, Fukui, a Historic Site since 1976, small in scale but with a well-preserved layout.

A hilltop tomb in Kurume, Fukuoka, a Historic Site since 1951, whose tuff house-shaped sarcophagus is incised inside with arc-and-line and concentric-circle patterns.

Rising from the Genkai Sea 60 km off Kyushu, Okinoshima is entirely covered by a primeval forest preserved for some 1,500 years by religious taboo. Designated a National Natural Monument in 1926 and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017, it is a rare sanctuary where nature and ancient ritual remain inseparable.

In Asakura, Fukuoka, a single 1,500-year-old camphor tree forms an entire 'forest'. Kakurega-no-Mori has an 18-meter trunk and carries an Asakura barrier-station legend.

Kageoma Kōgoishi in Iizuka, Fukuoka: a 7th-century fortress where 1,800 granite stones trace a 2 km arc around a horseshoe hill, with rare exposed water gates.

Hidden in the wooded slopes of Mt. Kiyomizu in Mizuma City, Fukuoka, the Honbo Garden of Kiyomizu-dera is a Muromachi-period pond garden traditionally attributed to the painter-monk Sesshū. Designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty in 1929, it captivates visitors with its heart-shaped pond, twin waterfalls, and the borrowed scenery of Mt. Atago.

Discover Kukumiya no Kinmeichiku in Asakura City, Fukuoka — one of Japan's oldest designated National Natural Monuments featuring rare golden-striped bamboo, a stunning natural mutation of Madake bamboo registered in 1927.

A round fourth-century mound in Omuta, Fukuoka, at the southern edge of Kyushu's early kofun. Two stone coffins held mirrors and 47 bronze arrowheads.

Behind Bairin-ji in Kurume lie the Arima lords' tombs. The first two got gilded mausoleum halls, later lords towering stone pagodas, as daimyo customs evolved.

Tucked within the precincts of Susanoo Shrine in Yame City, Fukuoka, Kuroki no Fuji is a Japanese wisteria of more than 600 years, traditionally said to have been planted in 1395 by Prince Yoshinari. Designated a National Natural Monument in 1928, the tree spreads its branches across a trellis of approximately 3,000 square meters, draping cascades of purple flower clusters that exceed one meter in length. The Yame Kuroki Ofuji Festival, held during the bloom season from mid-April to early May, draws over 100,000 visitors each year for daytime viewing, illuminations, and local food and craft markets.

Beneath Fukuoka's Maizuru Park lies the Kōrokan, ancient Japan's only excavated foreign guesthouse, where imported ceramics mark four centuries of exchange.

Eighth-century roof-tile kilns in Dazaifu, Fukuoka, that supplied the regional government office and major temples. Nine were found, now buried under a pond.

A late sixth-century circular tomb in Chikushino, Fukuoka, holding rare murals painted in red, black, and green: figures, a horseman, boats, a house, and circles.

A round Kofun-period tomb at the foot of the Minou mountains in Kurume, Fukuoka, a Historic Site since 1944, with red concentric circles painted in its two-room chamber.

A late-seventh-century tile kiln cut into rock in Kouge, Fukuoka, a Historic Site since 1922, one of Kyushu's oldest, whose tiles roofed the nearby Tarumi temple.