Important Cultural Property of Gunma

Designated a National Important Cultural Property, this collection from the late fifth-century Butai No. 1 Tumulus in Maebashi—including house-shaped haniwa, hundreds of talc miniatures, and rare clay food-offering vessels—vividly evokes a Kofun-period funerary ritual. The items, owned by the State, are on view at the Gunma Prefectural Museum of History in Takasaki.

The stone kasa-sotoba in Shibukawa, Gunma, a memorial of a post with a cap-like stone roof dated 1356, has been an Important Cultural Property since 1953.

Stone pagoda of 1276 at Chorakuji in Ota, Gunma, its date found by chance under the base in 1931; one of only two Kamakura-dated hoto pagodas in Gunma Prefecture.

A 1.85-meter andesite pagoda in Kiryu, Gunma, carved with the date 801 and 45 characters offering merit to all beings, among Japan's oldest dated stone pagodas.

Thatched silk farmhouse of about 1792 in Nakanojo, Gunma, home of the Daido village headman, its front roof cut up to light the upper floor for silkworms.

The Hachimangu-Inari Shrine Hall, a subordinate shrine within the precincts of Raiden Shrine in Itakura, Gunma, is the oldest extant wooden shrine building in Gunma Prefecture. Built in 1547 during the late Muromachi period, it features a rare two-bay (nikensha) hip-and-gable design—one of only seven such examples among Japan's nationally designated Important Cultural Properties—enshrining both Hachiman and Inari deities under one roof.

Preserved at Fudō-ji Temple in Gunma Prefecture, this stone standing statue of Fudō Myōō bears the inscribed signatures of two In-pa (院派) school sculptors — In-ryū and a second master whose name is partially illegible. Stone Buddhist statues bearing the signatures of named sculptural masters are exceedingly rare in Japan, where wooden images dominate. This article explores the work's iconography, the history of the In-pa school, the reasons for its cultural designation, and recommendations for visitors planning a trip to Gunma.