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

Straddling Yubari City and Minamifurano in Hokkaido, Mount Yubari was designated a National Natural Monument in 1996. Discover a rare natural treasure where Japan's largest serpentinite melange exposure meets endemic alpine flora found nowhere else on Earth.

Yukuepira Chashi Ato in Rikubetsu, eastern Hokkaido, is a national historic site preserving one of the largest Ainu chashi (fortress) remains in northern Japan. Built in the mid-16th century and traditionally linked to the Ainu chieftain Kaneran, this triple-enclosure earthwork rises on a cliff above the Toshibetsu River, its restored ramparts gleaming brilliant white with volcanic ash. With over 100,000 excavated artifacts, ties to pioneer physician Seki Kansai, and a setting in "Japan's coldest town" famed for crystal-clear night skies, the site offers a rare encounter with Ainu heritage, frontier history, and the wild beauty of eastern Hokkaido.

A volcanic peninsula on Lake Kussharo shelters Japan's northernmost min-min cicada, a southern species preserved by geothermal heat. A National Natural Monument since 1951.

On the easternmost cliff of Kii Oshima Island in Wakayama, the Kashinozaki Lighthouse — designed by Scottish engineer Richard Henry Brunton and first lit in 1870 — stands as Japan's oldest working stone lighthouse. In the waters below, the Ottoman frigate Ertuğrul sank in 1890, and the islanders' selfless rescue became the cornerstone of an enduring Japan-Türkiye friendship. Designated a National Historic Site in 2021, the lighthouse, shipwreck reef, landing site, and memorial cemetery together tell a remarkable story of modernization, maritime tragedy, and cross-cultural compassion.

On the Torinosu Peninsula in Tanabe, hundreds of dark mudstone veins cross a tidal platform: Japan's largest clastic dike swarm, formed by an ancient earthquake.

Nachi Falls in Nachikatsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, is Japan's tallest single-drop waterfall at 133 meters and has been worshipped as the sacred body of Hirou Shrine since ancient times. Designated as a National Scenic Beauty and a component of the UNESCO World Heritage Site 'Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range,' it forms the spiritual heart of Kumano alongside the three Grand Shrines and the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trails.

Near Honshu's southern tip at Kushimoto, about 40 stone pillars run 850 meters out to sea, hard rock left standing after waves wore away the soft mudstone.

Beside Yunomine Onsen, Histiopteris incisa survives at its northern limit on geothermal warmth. First found in Japan here in 1887; a Natural Monument since 1928.

At the mouth of the Waka River, this bay so moved Emperor Shomu in 724 that he renamed it. Its tidal flat, Akahito's Man'yoshu verse, and Edo-era bridges endure.