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

The grove surrounding Suhara Shrine in Mino City, Gifu Prefecture, was designated a National Natural Monument in 1935 as a breeding ground for the Buppousou, the strikingly beautiful Oriental Dollarbird. This guide explores the centuries-old legend of the sacred bird thought to chant the Three Treasures of Buddhism, the famous 1935 discovery that resolved a millennium of mistaken identity, and the venerable Hakusan-faith shrine that stands beside the Nagara River.

Explore the Sekigahara Battlefield in Gifu, where Tokugawa Ieyasu and Ishida Mitsunari clashed in 1600. Visit camp sites, generals' graves, and head mounds—nine national historic sites preserved across the plain that decided Japan's fate.

Discover the Five Cedars of Senkō-ji Temple, a National Natural Monument standing on the pilgrimage path of Hida-Senkō-ji in Takayama, Gifu. This guide explores the cedar's remarkable five-trunk form, its 1,200-year history, the temple's Enkū statues, and practical visitor information for travelers from abroad.

Standing within the precincts of the historic Zenshōji Temple in Gero City, Gifu Prefecture, this magnificent Japanese cedar is a designated National Natural Monument. Estimated at approximately 1,200 years old, with a height of about 40 meters and a trunk circumference of 10.3 meters, it is one of the Hida region's most outstanding ancient trees—easily combined with a visit to the temple's celebrated Sesshū Daruma painting and the Bansaidō garden.

Located in Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, Takayama Jinya is the only Tokugawa Shogunate magistrate's office in Japan whose main Edo-period buildings still stand on their original site. Designated a National Historic Site in 1929, this remarkable complex served as the seat of Hida governance for 277 years. Explore its rich history, architectural highlights, and visitor information.

On a low hill in Motosu, Gifu, ancient communities built some 290 tombs over four centuries. See the red-painted chamber of Tomb 272 and the museum of grave goods.

A National Historic Site in Gifu, this mountain castle was held by three Mori brothers, including the famous page Ranmaru, until its deliberate dismantling in 1601.

On a Nagara River terrace in Gifu, a 7th-century burial mound, a Hakuho-era temple, an 8th-10th-century district office, and a tile-supplying kiln converge.

At Izakibana cape in Nichinan, Miyazaki, sea cliffs expose deep-sea rock 40 to 22 million years old, with flute casts, trace fossils and slump folds of rare clarity.

Two Edo-period earthen road markers on National Route 269 in Miyakonojo, the only nationally protected ichirizuka pair on Kyushu, from the old Shibushi domain road.

At Nojima Shrine in Utsumi, Miyazaki, two Akou fig trees about 300 years old spread 40-meter canopies and drop aerial roots—a National Natural Monument since 1941.

Sixteen ancient camphors ring a Miyazaki shrine founded in 737. The largest measures 9.6 meters in trunk circumference. A National Natural Monument since 1951.

On a 700-metre mountainside in Shiiba Village, Miyazaki, this 32-metre Japanese cypress is the tallest hinoki in Japan and a National Natural Monument since 1994.

The Oshima Hatake-da Site, with the newly added Koorimoto Nishihara Site, is a nationally designated historic site in Miyakonojo, Miyazaki, that preserves an unusually complete Heian-period elite residence. A monumental pillar building, square pond, and imported ceramics reveal the wealth of a regional power that linked southern Kyushu to wider trade networks and later to the rise of the Shimazu clan.

Nestled in the valleys of Mount Osuzu in Tsuno Town, Miyazaki Prefecture, over 30 waterfalls form Japan's first waterfall group to be designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty in 1944. Featuring the 73-meter Yatogi Falls — one of Japan's Top 100 Waterfalls — and the 75-meter Shirataki Falls, this pristine mountain sanctuary offers dramatic cascades carved from hard quartz porphyry rock, rare endemic flora, and serene forest trails far from the tourist crowds.

Towering within the precincts of Funabiki Shrine in Kiyotake, Miyazaki City, Kiyotake no Ōkusu is a National Natural Monument: a camphor tree roughly 900 years old, with an 18-meter root circumference and a height of about 35 meters. Its hollow trunk—large enough to hold five tatami mats inside—was reportedly used as an air-raid shelter during World War II. Believed to have taken root at the time of the shrine's founding in 1087, it is affectionately known as Hachiman-gusu. Together with the rare parasitic plant yakkosō and the prefecturally designated Funabiki Kagura, the great tree offers a rich encounter with nature and faith in southern Miyazaki.

Kojima, an uninhabited island off Kushima City in Miyazaki Prefecture, is home to roughly 100 wild Japanese macaques and was designated a National Natural Monument in 1934. Famous as the site where sweet-potato washing was first observed in 1953, it is internationally known as the birthplace of Japanese primatology.

Located in Takachiho, Miyazaki Prefecture, the Gokase River Gorge (Takachiho Gorge) is a dramatic V-shaped canyon carved by the Gokase River through columnar basalt formed by Aso volcano pyroclastic flows. Designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty and Natural Monument in 1934, it features the iconic 17-meter Manai Falls—one of Japan's Top 100 Waterfalls—rental boats gliding through emerald waters, and mythological sites linked to Japan's creation legends.

Kokuzojima, a tiny island off the Nichinan Coast in Miyazaki Prefecture, is a National Natural Monument whose 130-plus subtropical and warm-temperate plant species thrive within a circumference of just one kilometer. Marking the northern limit of the Fukanoki tree and home to the historic Kokuzo-do Hall founded in 1626, the island weaves together rare botanical heritage with nearly four centuries of devotion.

The precincts of Sano Shrine in Takaharu, Miyazaki, were designated a National Natural Monument in 1934 as the breeding ground of the Broad-billed Roller—a brilliant blue summer migrant. Set within a sacred grove tied to Japan's first emperor and centuries-old cryptomeria cedars, this is one of only four such designated sites nationwide, where Shinto faith and the conservation of a vanishing bird converge in a single living landscape.