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

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.

The jinya of the Kaibara domain in Tamba, Hyogo, a Historic Site since 1971, the only daimyo jinya on its original site, later used as a Meiji school.

A rugged Sea of Japan coast in Kami, Hyogo, a Place of Scenic Beauty since 1938, where cliffs such as Yoroi no Sode, caves and islets line a deeply indented shore.

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.

A 143-metre keyhole tomb and three nearby tombs in Himeji, Hyogo, a Historic Site since 1921, with a long stone coffin visible on top of the rear mound.

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.