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

On the slopes of Mt. Hikosan in Fukuoka, the seven nationally designated Hikosan Gardens preserve four centuries of mountain-temple garden art. Begin with the famed Former Kameishibō Garden, attributed to the master Sesshū, and follow the pilgrimage path through layered stone arrangements that survived the Meiji-era suppression of mountain Buddhism.

A Yayoi-era moated settlement in Asakura, Fukuoka, ringed by up to seven concentric ditches. Bronze mirrors and a reused spear mould evoke the era of Yamatai.

Stone walls of Kuroda Nagamasa's 1601 castle in central Fukuoka, designated 1957. The Sannomaru also covers the only excavated remains of the ancient Kōrokan.

Buzen Kokubunji in Miyako, Fukuoka, preserves a provincial temple founded by edict in 741, its buried Nara remains lying beneath a zodiac-carved Meiji pagoda.

Spanning roughly 2.4 km along both banks of the Yabe River across Chikugo City and Miyama City in Fukuoka Prefecture, the Funagoya Genji Firefly Habitat is the only firefly site in Kyushu designated a National Natural Monument (1941). Discover the history of Funagoya hot springs, the adjacent Shin-Funagoya Camphor Tree Forest, the best viewing season, and visitor etiquette.

Funabaru Kofun in Koga, Fukuoka, is a keyhole tomb whose seven untouched pits held 500-plus objects, including a horse helmet and jewel-beetle harness gear.

Northeast of ancient Dazaifu rises Mount Hōman, an 829m sacred peak where Tang-bound envoys prayed and ascetics trained. Its ruins are now a National Historic Site.

The Maehata Site in Chikushino, Fukuoka, is a rammed-earth bank built after Japan's 663 defeat at Baekgang. It may be part of ancient Dazaifu's outer defenses.

Raised in 664 to guard Dazaifu after the defeat at Hakusukinoe, this 1.2-km earthen rampart still stands about 10 meters high, cut through by the Mikasa River.

Four sixth-century decorated tumuli in Ukiha, Fukuoka. Their painted chambers show boats, birds, quivers, and suns, read as the dead's voyage to the afterlife.

Two giant camphor trees at Umi Hachimangu in Fukuoka, tied to Emperor Ojin's birth legend. Named National Natural Monuments in 1922, perhaps a thousand years old.

A Yayoi National Historic Site in Fukuoka whose richest grave held a bronze mirror, sword, and jade bead, the earliest such set and Japan's oldest 'royal tomb.'

Remains of an ancient mountain fortress on Mount Raizan in Itoshima, Fukuoka, a Historic Site since 1932, with stone lines and a massive dressed-stone sluice.

The moated residence of the medieval Shingu family in Kitakata, Fukushima, a Historic Site since 2009, a large and exceptionally well preserved square enclosure.

A limestone cave of just over 900 metres in Tamura, Fukushima, a Natural Monument since 1934, where visitors wade through a cold stream past stalactites.

Terraces, ramparts, and dry moats on a wooded ridge above the Abukuma River mark Shirakawa Castle, the Yuki clan seat abandoned after their fall in 1590.

The Shirakawa Barrier guarded the ancient road into Michinoku from a hill in Fukushima. Lost for centuries, then found again, it drew poets from Nōin to Bashō.

Within the grounds of Suwa Shrine in Ono Town, Fukushima Prefecture, two extraordinary cedars rise nearly 50 meters into the sky. Known as Okina-Sugi (Grandfather) and Ouna-Sugi (Grandmother), they are said to have been planted around 780 CE by the Nara-period courtier Fujiwara no Tsugutada. Designated a National Natural Monument in 1937, this pair is the only surviving grandfather-and-grandmother cedar pair in Japan.

The Great Zelkova of Takase in Aizuwakamatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture, is a National Natural Monument estimated to be around 500 years old, with a root circumference of 12.55 meters. Standing on the northeastern earthwork of the unfinished Kozashi Castle begun by Uesugi Kagekatsu in 1600, this colossal zelkova silently bears witness to the turbulent transition from the Sengoku era through the Battle of Sekigahara.

Ancestral seat of Date Masamune's clan in Fukushima: a medieval lord's residence, its planned town, and the only confirmed garden in a Tohoku warrior house.