Place of Scenic Beauty

What a Place of Scenic Beauty is

A Place of Scenic Beauty is one of the three categories of monument designated by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology under Article 109 of the Act on Protection of Cultural Properties, alongside the Historic Site and Natural Monument categories.

Article 2 defines the ground it covers: gardens, bridges, gorges, coastlines, mountains and other scenic places of high artistic or contemplative value. The test sets this category apart. Historic Sites turn on historical or academic value and Natural Monuments on academic value, while this one turns on how a place rewards looking at it.

As of 1 August 2026 there were 433 designations. Gardens account for 237, more than half the total, followed by 41 coastal sites, 36 gorges and mountain streams, 20 rock formations and caves, and 16 viewpoints. Designed gardens and untouched landforms sit in the same category because both are valued as things to contemplate.

The most important examples are raised to the special tier. There are 36 Special Places of Scenic Beauty, a figure already included within the 433.

Why gardens dominate the list

That gardens make up over half the category shapes how the designation appears on the ground. At a temple or a castle the buildings may be designated as an Important Cultural Property or a National Treasure while the garden carries its own separate designation as a Place of Scenic Beauty. Two different parts of one site can rest on two different systems.

Where a designation covers natural landscape rather than a made garden, the Minister must consult the Minister of the Environment if the place is also valuable from the standpoint of environmental protection. Scenic designations frequently overlap with national and quasi-national parks.

The Act also requires that designation respect ownership, mining rights and other property rights, and take account of land development and other public interests. Protecting a view tends to collide with using the land beneath it, and the legislation anticipates that tension rather than ignoring it.