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

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.

A Late Yayoi hill settlement on northern Awaji, Hyogo, a Historic Site since 2021, with smithies and over 170 iron objects from two centuries of trade and ironworking.

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.

The castle sites of the Yamana clan in Izushi, Toyooka, Hyogo, a Historic Site since 1996: their seat at Konosumiyama and the later stone-walled Ariko-yama.

Discover the marimo of Lake Akan, the only place on Earth where freshwater green algae naturally form large velvet spheres. A guide to this Special Natural Monument's unique ecology, the Marimo Exhibition and Observation Center on Churui Island, the autumn Marimo Festival co-hosted with the indigenous Ainu, and how to plan your visit to Hokkaido's most mystical lake.

The Usakumai Site Cluster in Chitose City, Hokkaido is a 146-hectare National Historic Site preserving 22 archaeological sites spanning roughly 7,000 years—from the Early Jomon period through to the Ainu cultural era. Set on a forested terrace between the Chitose River and the spring-fed Naibetsu River (one of Japan's Hundred Famous Waters), the cluster includes the Usakumai C site, where 79 Satsumon-period pit-dwelling depressions remain visible along a self-guided walking course. It is a rare open-air archaeological landscape rooted in millennia of salmon-based culture.

Hidden on the steep ridges of the upper Uzura River in Assabu Town, Hokkaido, the Uzuragawa Goyōmatsu Natural Northern Limit Zone preserves the northernmost Sea of Japan-side stand of the five-needle pine (kitagoyō). Designated a National Natural Monument in 1928 and now spanning about 362 hectares, the forest features a globally rare conifer-broadleaf mix. Discover the site's botanical significance, its early 20th-century scientific story, and what to see in surrounding Assabu Town.

Housed at the Mikasa City Museum in Hokkaido, the Ezo Mikasaryu Fossil is a nationally designated Natural Monument: a Late Cretaceous skull discovered along the Ikushunbetsu River in 1976. Once celebrated as Japan's first carnivorous land dinosaur, it is now recognized as a marine reptile of the mosasaur genus Taniwhasaurus. Visitors can see the original specimen and a stunning restoration model alongside Japan's finest ammonite collection.

Ebetsu Burial Mounds in Hokkaido are Japan's northernmost surviving tombs, built in the late 8th to mid-9th centuries. Finds reveal exchange with Ritsuryo Honshu.

The Ōdate Site in Matsumae, Hokkaido, is one of the Dōnan Twelve Forts. From 1514 the Kakizaki clan, forerunners of the Matsumae lords, governed Ezo until 1606.

About 50 km off the coast of Matsumae in southern Hokkaido lies Oshima-Oshima, an uninhabited volcanic island designated a National Natural Monument in 1928 as the world's northernmost breeding ground of the Streaked Shearwater. Shaped by the catastrophic 1741 eruption, this remote sanctuary still shelters a colony that has survived centuries of trial.

Discover the Oshoro Stone Circle in Otaru, Hokkaido — the largest of the region's Jōmon stone circles and the very first ring of standing stones in Japan to be reported to the academic world. Learn about its 3,500-year-old origins, ritual significance, and how to visit this National Historic Site.

Standing on the Pacific coast of Urahoro Town in eastern Hokkaido, Otafunbe Chashi Site is the remains of an Ainu fortress thought to have been built between the 16th and 18th centuries. Designated a National Historic Site in 1981 as a textbook example of the osonayama 'offering-shape' chashi, it is famous for its name meaning 'Sand Whale' in Ainu and for a vivid local legend in which a sand whale was used as a battlefield trick. The site is set amid sweeping coastal views and slopes carpeted with Ezo day lilies in summer.

Discover the Ochiishi Cape Sakai Azalea Habitat in Nemuro, Hokkaido, the only place in Japan where the rare Sakai azalea grows wild. Designated a National Natural Monument in 1940, this remote cape combines a Sakhalin spruce forest, a sphagnum moss bog, and dramatic Pacific cliffs.

The Otoe Stone Circle in Fukagawa, Hokkaido is a Late Jōmon-period burial complex designated a National Historic Site in 1956. Thirteen stone-ringed graves on the hilltop of Inamiyama yielded jade ornaments and a red-lacquered bow, offering a quiet but powerful glimpse into the spiritual world of northern Japan's prehistoric hunter-gatherers some 3,000 years ago.

Hidden in the primeval forest of Akan-Mashu National Park in Hokkaido, Onneto Yu-no-taki is the only place on land where manganese ore deposits are still being created by microorganisms in real time. Designated a National Natural Monument in 2000, it is regarded worldwide as a 'natural laboratory' that recreates processes from 3.5 billion years ago. Discover this remote hot-spring waterfall at the foot of an active volcano.

In central Sapporo stands the Former Hokkaidō Government Office — the beloved 'Red Brick Office' — alongside the underground remains of the Hokkaidō Kaitakushi Sapporo Main Office. Together designated a National Historic Site, they tell the story of Meiji-era Hokkaidō's modernization. Completed in 1888 and reopened in July 2025 after a major renovation, the building now features refreshed exhibitions, an octagonal tower viewing experience, and dining and shopping facilities, serving as a vibrant hub for Hokkaidō's history, culture, and tourism.

The complete kokuhō catalogue — browse by prefecture, period, and category.

Nationwide jūyō bunkazai — architecture, sculpture, painting, crafts, and documents.

UNESCO-inscribed cultural and natural sites across the archipelago.