Registered Monuments of Japan

Created in late Meiji-era Ashikaga, the Shindo Family Garden uses a dramatic five-meter elevation difference to produce a vertical garden composition virtually without parallel in Japan. A three-meter waterfall, an S-shaped pond, and a two-story detached residence form a single integrated landscape designated a National Registered Monument (Place of Scenic Beauty). Normally a private residence, it occasionally opens during Ashikaga's autumn cultural heritage events.

Butsugaiken Garden in Ashikaga, Tochigi is a serene Meiji-period tea garden registered as a National Place of Scenic Beauty. Centered on a refined tea house built by a wealthy local merchant and relocated here in 1901, the garden combines a double tea-garden path, a pond with crane and turtle islands, mossy stones and lanterns. Open only on weekends in spring and autumn, it offers an intimate window into Ashikaga's merchant tea culture.

Located in Awatabe-cho, Echizen City, Fukui Prefecture, Hanagatami Park is a Registered Monument spanning 4.2 hectares, home to over 1,000 cherry trees and brilliant autumn maples. Celebrated as the legendary setting of Zeami's Noh play 'Hanagatami,' the park preserves the 600-year-old Usuzumi-zakura cherry tree and the romantic legend of Emperor Keitai amid scenery that captures the essence of Japanese garden culture.

Hidden in the wooded foothills of Sakai City in Fukui Prefecture, the Tsubokawa Family Garden is a pond-viewing garden adjoining Senko-no-Ie, Fukui's oldest thatched farmhouse and a National Important Cultural Property. Water drawn from the satoyama feeds an iris field and a long, stone-lined pond marked by striking standing-stone arrangements. Attributed by tradition to the tea master Yamada Sōhen, the garden was registered as a National Place of Scenic Beauty in 2007.

Hokkaido's first Western-style park, built in 1879 entirely by citizens through donations and volunteer labour. Registered in 2006 as one of the first three Registered Monuments. Highlights include twin 19th-century museum halls, Japan's oldest ferris wheel, and 360 cherry trees.