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

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.'

Discover Raizan Kōgoishi, a nationally designated ancient mountain fortress hidden on the slopes of Mount Raizan in Itoshima, Fukuoka. Explore its stone rows, water gates, and the enduring mysteries of Japan's 7th-century coastal defense network.

Discover Aizu Shingū Castle Ruins, a nationally designated historic site in Kitakata, Fukushima. Explore the remains of a medieval warrior clan's fortress with massive moats, earthworks, and rare archaeological finds from the Kamakura to Muromachi periods.

Irimizu Limestone Cave in Tamura City, Fukushima is a 900-meter cave designated as a National Natural Treasure in 1934. Offering an authentic caving experience through unaltered passages with knee-deep cold water, three progressive courses cater to beginners and seasoned adventurers alike.

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.

Perched on a 407-metre hilltop above the left bank of the Abukuma River in Shirakawa, Fukushima, the Tennouzan Site preserves a Yayoi-period village from around the 1st century CE. Its pottery became the type specimen for late Yayoi ceramics across southern Tohoku and Hokuriku, named Tennoyama-style. The site was designated a National Historic Site in 2021, and its excavated artifacts received National Important Cultural Property status in 2024. A new walking path leads visitors to the summit, while the nearby Shirakawa City Museum of History and Folklore displays original finds.

Two Japanese maples in Iwaki droop their branches into a wide, umbrella-shaped crown. The weeping form, judged a mutation, became a Natural Monument in 1937.

Nakada Yokoana in Iwaki, found during 1969 road work, is a rare painted tomb cave: red and white triangles in three tiers, and a fully red-painted chamber floor.

Standing within the grounds of Fukumitsu Kokūzō-son in Otama Village, Fukushima, Baba Zakura is an Edohigan cherry tree estimated to be over 1,000 years old. Designated a National Natural Monument in 1936, it is linked by legend to the Heian-period samurai Minamoto no Yoshiie, who is said to have stuck his cherry-wood riding whip into the ground as a hitching post that took root and grew into this very tree. Also known as Komadome no Sakura (Horse-Tying Cherry) and Tanemaki Zakura (Seed-Sowing Cherry), it blooms each year around April 20 with delicate flowers that shift from pale pink to white.

Hebusu-numa, a small pond at the 842-meter summit of Mt. Hebusu in Kawauchi Village, Fukushima Prefecture, has been designated a National Natural Monument since 1941 as a breeding site for the forest green tree frog. Discover this protected mountain sanctuary where rare amphibians lay foam-wrapped eggs on overhanging branches—one of only two such designated sites in Japan, safeguarded by villagers for more than 80 years.

A National Historic Site spread across the south bank of the Mano River in Kashima Ward, Minamisoma. Around one hundred Late-Kofun mounds — mostly small round burials, plus two keyhole tombs including the 28.5-metre Mound No. 20 — yielded a rare pair of gilt-bronze fish-shaped pendants of continental origin.