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

A Jomon shell mound by Lake Kasumigaura, Ibaraki, a Historic Site since 1998, where Japanese scholars first excavated in 1879, with eight mounds ringing a plateau.

A Historic Site in Kashima, Ibaraki, joining three shrine precincts named in the Hitachi Fudoki with the excavated district office 1.5 km south. Designated 1986.

Carved into tuff cliffs in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki, this 500-plus cave tomb complex was used from the 7th to 9th century. Designated a National Historic Site in 2024.

Seki Castle Ruins in Ibaraki: where Kitabatake Chikafusa completed the Jinnō Shōtōki during a two-year siege that ended in 1343. Ramparts and a rare tunnel survive.

Mito's Tokiwa Park, known today as Kairakuen, pairs a shaded bamboo grove with about 3,000 plum trees and the Kobuntei pavilion designed by Tokugawa Nariaki in 1840.

Hitachi's eighth-century county temple ruins in Ibaraki: two pagodas once flanked the Main Hall on a single east-west line, with a nearby kiln that fired its tiles.

Tokugawa Mitsukuni's thatched retreat outside Hitachiōta, where he spent his last nine years editing the Dai Nihonshi. Historic Site and Place of Scenic Beauty.

The Hirohata Shell Mound is a Late to Final Jomon site on Lake Kasumigaura whose thin pots underpin the theory of Jomon salt-making. A Historic Site since 1982.

Held by the Makabe clan from 1172 to 1628, this 12.5-hectare National Historic Site in Ibaraki preserves four concentric moats and angled medieval earthen ramparts.

Located in Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture, the Yoshida Kofun is the only known octagonal tomb in Japan containing line-engraved wall paintings. Built in the mid-7th century during the Terminal Kofun period, its horizontal stone chamber features engravings of weapons such as a quiver, knife, and spear on the back wall. Designated a National Historic Site in 1922, it is an invaluable site in the study of decorated tombs.