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

Kokutai-ji Temple Site in Akkeshi, Hokkaido is a nationally designated historic site established in 1804 by direct order of the Edo Shogunate as one of the three official temples of Ezo (Ezo San Kanji). The temple played a vital role in Buddhist outreach to the Ainu people, the consolation of Honshu settlers, and the assertion of Japanese sovereignty during a period of Russian southward expansion through the Kuril Islands.

The Goryōkaku Site in Hakodate, Hokkaido is one of Japan's only Western-style bastioned star forts, designed by Dutch-studies scholar Takeda Ayasaburō and largely completed in 1864. Its five-pointed star plan makes it the only Special Historic Site in Hokkaido and the stage of the 1869 Hakodate War — the final battle of the samurai era. Visitors can explore the reconstructed Magistrate's Office, walk the moats lined with 1,500 cherry trees, and view the perfect star from Goryōkaku Tower.

Designated a National Natural Monument in 1970, the Saru River Headwater Primeval Forest stretches across the Hidaka side of Nissho Pass in Hokkaido. This pristine mixed forest of Sakhalin fir, Yezo spruce, and Erman's birch is a representative example of Hokkaido's cool-temperate upper-zone woodland, sheltering Yezo sika deer, hazel grouse, and the headwaters of the Saru River—ranked Japan's purest first-class river. Visitors can enjoy fresh greenery, summer canopies, and autumn colours, plus sweeping views of the Tokachi Plain from the Nissho-Enchi Observatory.

Located in Hokkaido's Hidaka region, the Shibechari River Basin Chashi Sites and Appetsu Chashi Site comprise six Ainu fortified enclosures linked to Shakushain's War of 1669. Designated a National Historic Site in 1997, this rare archaeological landscape bridges written records and physical remains, offering a unique window into early modern Hokkaido and Ainu history.

On the plateau between the Po and Ichani rivers in Shibetsu, Hokkaido, the Shibetsu Site Cluster (Ichani-Karikariusu, Furudo, and Sanbongi sites) preserves roughly 4,400 pit dwelling depressions, the largest such concentration in Japan. From the Jomon period through the Satsumon, Okhotsk, Tobinitai, and Ainu eras, some 10,000 years of continuous habitation are visible as hollows in the forest floor. Visitors can experience this National Historic Site, a centerpiece of the Japan Heritage Story of the Sacred Site of Salmon, at Po-Gawa Historical Nature Park.

At the foot of Shiretoko in eastern Hokkaido, 212 hectares of protected raised bog support a subarctic flora rising on distinctive Sphagnum mounds called bults.

A Shōnai Domain garrison built 1860 to defend Ezo from Russia, abandoned in the 1868 Boshin War. Earthworks, moats and the Senryōbori canal still mark its layout.

Rising 398 meters from former wheat fields in Sobetsu Town, Hokkaido, Showa-Shinzan is one of the world's youngest volcanoes, formed between 1943 and 1945. Famed for the "Mimatsu Diagram" — the postmaster's hand-drawn record of its birth — it is designated a Special Natural Monument of Japan.

At the very heart of Hokkaido, Daisetsuzan is a vast volcanic massif crowned by Mount Asahidake (2,291 m), the highest peak in Japan's northernmost main island. Long revered by the Ainu as Kamuy Mintar — the Garden of the Gods — the range shelters around 250 species of alpine plants and a remarkable assemblage of glacial-relict wildlife. Designated a Special Natural Monument in 1977, Daisetsuzan offers visitors a unique window into one of Japan's grandest and most sacred mountain landscapes, from the Asahidake Ropeway to the wild traverse to Tomuraushi.

Below Nemuro's Hanasaki Lighthouse, basalt pillow lava with radiating spokes forms a stone wheel six metres across, listed as a National Natural Monument in 1939.

Designated a natural monument in 1924, this 186-hectare forest rings Noboribetsu's Hell Valley, where Mizunara oaks and a flora rich for Hokkaido line quiet trails.

Stretching along the coast of Funka Bay in southern Hokkaido, the Eastern Ezo Nanbu Domain Jinya Sites — Mororan Jinya, Oshamanbe Jinya, and Sawara Jinya — preserve three Bakumatsu-era coastal garrisons built in 1856 by the Nanbu (Morioka) Domain under shogunate orders. The earthen ramparts and ditches still survive at Muroran, Oshamanbe, and Mori (former Sawara). From the site survey led by Niitobe Jūjirō (father of Nitobe Inazō) to the dramatic self-burning of the camps during the Boshin War, the trio quietly tells the human story of Japan's first systematic northern coastal defense.

In the upper Todogawa basin of southern Hokkaido lies a 498-hectare old-growth forest where Thujopsis dolabrata var. hondae reaches its northern limit and Sakhalin fir its southern edge—a rare botanical overlap designated a Natural Monument in 1922.

The Pirika Site in Imakane Town, Hokkaido, is a National Historic Site preserving a Late Paleolithic stone tool workshop from around 20,000 years ago. Over 200,000 stone tools have been recovered here, and 163 of them are designated Important Cultural Properties. Visit the adjacent Pirika Paleolithic Cultural Museum to view the originals and try your hand at stone tool making in the very landscape Ice Age hunters once roamed.

Pirikanoka, an Ainu phrase meaning "beautiful shape," is a National Place of Scenic Beauty composed of ten sites scattered across Hokkaido. From the rocky cliffs of Kudosan in Nayoro to the storm-battered Cape Erimo in the south, from the watchtower stone of Ganboiwa in Engaru to the alpine peak of Poroshiri-dake, each component is bound to Ainu oral literature, sacred mountain worship, and indigenous place-names. Discover a uniquely layered cultural property where Hokkaido's natural splendor meets the living language and spirituality of the Ainu people.

Tucked into a hillside in the seaside town of Yoichi, Hokkaido, Fugoppe Cave preserves more than 800 mysterious petroglyphs carved by Epi-Jōmon people around 1,500 to 2,000 years ago. Horned and winged human figures interpreted as shamans, boats, fish, and sea creatures invite visitors into an ancient ritual world that still puzzles archaeologists today. Designated a National Historic Site in 1953, this rare cave — one of only two of its kind in Japan — offers an unforgettable encounter with Hokkaido's deep prehistoric past.

A National Historic Site on a terrace above Kushiro Marsh where 300+ pit-dwelling depressions span 2.5 km, recording 10,000 years from Palaeolithic to Satsumon.

Japan's first bastion-style star fort, built in 1855 by the Matsumae Domain, two years before Goryōkaku. Now a free park near Hakodate, loved for its cherry tunnel.

Maruyama Primeval Forest in central Sapporo, designated a National Natural Monument in 1921, is a rare near-natural forest covering the slopes of 225-meter Mount Maruyama. Home to a remarkable variety of trees including katsura and Japanese oak, it gained international scientific recognition in 1893 when Harvard botanist Charles Sargent praised its biodiversity. Easily accessible from the subway, it offers seasonal beauty and the historic eighty-eight sacred sites pilgrimage trail.

Designated a National Natural Monument in 1921, the Moiwa Primeval Forest cloaks the slopes of Mt. Moiwa (531m) just minutes from downtown Sapporo. The forest preserves a remarkable diversity of broad-leaved trees and over 400 plant species. Five hiking trails, a ropeway, and a mini cable car offer easy access to one of Japan's most accessible urban wilderness experiences.