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

Explore the Kaibara Domain Jinya Ruins, a nationally designated historic site in Tamba City, Hyogo. This rare surviving Edo-period administrative hall was built by descendants of Oda Nobunaga and later served as one of Japan's earliest elementary schools.

Kasumi Coast in Kami Town, Hyogo Prefecture, is a nationally designated Scenic Beauty at the heart of the San'in Kaigan UNESCO Global Geopark. Featuring the towering Yoroi no Sode cliff (a National Natural Monument), dramatic sea caves, natural arches, and fantastical rock formations carved over millions of years, this coastline is best explored aboard the intimate GEO TAXI fishing boat tours. Just 30 minutes from Kinosaki Onsen, Kasumi Coast pairs geological wonder with world-class crab cuisine in winter.

The Kamo Site in Kawanishi preserves one of the Kinki region's largest Yayoi villages, on a river terrace, known for a rare slope moat and a fenced timber hall.

After Akō Castle closed, its two daimyo gardens were buried under farmland for a century, then rebuilt from excavated pond beds. A national Place of Scenic Beauty.

This samurai-era pond-stroll garden in Sumoto, on Awaji Island, rose from a former quarry. One of Japan's largest stones, scarred by stonework, edges its pond.

A National Historic Site in Kobe. In 1692 Tokugawa Mitsukuni raised this stele over the grave of the loyal general Kusunoki Masashige, who died here in 1336.

On 356-meter Mount Inokuchi in Tamba stand the ruins of Akai Naomasa's fortress, the Red Ogre who repelled Akechi Mitsuhide before the castle fell in 1579.

On Awaji's west coast, Keino Matsubara is a 2.5 km beach backed by 50,000 black pines. A Scenic Beauty since 1928, it is loved for sunsets over the Harima Sea.

A National Historic Site in Tatsuno, this Yayoi settlement on the Ibo River yielded Hyogo's largest haul of weight-shaped clay objects and survives as a free park.

Sumoto Castle Ruins crown Mt. Mikuma on Awaji Island, a stone-walled fortress guarding the Kitan Strait, with rare climbing walls and Japan's oldest mock keep.

Japan's largest Hidarimaki-gaya grows in Nōza, Yabu, Hyōgo, a rare kaya whose seeds spiral left. About 800 years old, it became a National Natural Monument in 1951.

Standing on a remote mountainside in Yabu City, Hyogo Prefecture, the Tarumi no Ōzakura is an Edo-higan cherry tree believed to be over 1,000 years old. At 13.8 meters tall with a 6.3-meter trunk, it is the largest cherry tree in Hyogo and was designated a National Natural Monument in 1951. Also known as Sen-zakura, the Hermit's Cherry, it offers a moving encounter with ancient nature and rural Japan.

Discover Danjozan Kofun, a 5th-century keyhole-shaped burial mound in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture. This nationally designated historic site spans 143 meters and offers a rare glimpse into the power structures of ancient Harima Province.

Chasuriyama Kofun in Asago City, Hyogo Prefecture is an early-fifth-century round tumulus measuring approximately 90 meters in diameter, the largest of its kind in the Kinki region and the fourth largest in Japan. Designated a National Historic Site in 2004, its excavated grave goods including armor, swords, mirrors, and beads are designated National Important Cultural Property and reveal close ties between the Tajima chieftain and the Yamato court.

Stand face-to-face with the active fault that ruptured during the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. The Nojima Fault, a designated National Natural Monument on Awaji Island, is preserved in situ inside a 140-meter dome — one of the world's only places where you can witness an earthquake's raw geological scar exactly as it appeared.

Rising dramatically from the western slope of Mount Tsuruhashi in Tatsuno City, Hyōgo, Hashisaki no Byōbu Iwa is a striking dacite dike measuring some 140 meters in length and up to 12 meters in height. Designated a National Natural Monument in 1931 and mentioned in the 8th-century Harima no Kuni Fudoki gazetteer, this remarkable rock formation resembles a giant folding screen sweeping from the Ibo River up to the ridge. Discover its geology, history, and how to visit.

Designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty in 2007, this integrated cultural landscape on the northern slopes of Mt. Futatabi unites three layered stories: a forest reborn through Japan's first urban-scale reforestation project begun in 1902, the tranquil reservoir of Shiogahara Pond, and the Kobe Foreign Cemetery where roughly 2,900 people from 61 countries—many of whom shaped modern Japanese food, sport, education, and industry—are interred. Just 20 minutes from Sannomiya and a celebrated autumn foliage destination, it is the green heart of Kobe's modern history.

The Funaki Archaeological Site in Awaji City, Hyogo Prefecture, is a major Yayoi-period settlement spanning approximately 40 hectares atop the hills of northern Awaji Island. Excavations have uncovered iron workshops, Chinese bronze mirror fragments, salt-making pottery, and the Kinki region's first iron fishing spear. Designated a National Historic Site in 2021 and part of the Japan Heritage story of Awaji's Kuniumi creation myth, Funaki holds vital clues to understanding ancient Japanese society just before the rise of the Yamatai kingdom.

Discover the Mitani Tumuli, a National Historic Site in Yabu City, Hyogo. Home to four 7th-century burial mounds and a famed iron sword bearing the oldest dated inscription found in Hyogo, this peaceful park reveals the cosmology, craftsmanship, and cross-cultural ties of ancient Tajima.

Located in Miki City, Hyogo Prefecture, this site preserves the battlefield where Hashiba Hideyoshi besieged Bessho Nagaharu's stronghold from 1578 to 1580 in the famous 'Starvation Siege of Miki,' surrounding the castle with over forty siege fortifications and ten kilometers of earthworks. It is Japan's first National Historic Site to protect both a besieged castle and its entire encirclement system together, allowing visitors to walk both sides of a 16th-century battlefield.