Important cultural property
重 要 文 化 財 一 覧Explore Japan’s Important Cultural Properties in one searchable list. Filter by prefecture, period, and category, read concise stories, and plan visits with maps and travel tips.
Rebuilt in 1509, the tahoto at Chiryu Shrine survived the Meiji separation of Buddhism and Shinto by posing as a library, a rare relic of combined worship.
Tucked into the mountains of Okazaki in Aichi Prefecture, the main gate of Tenonji Temple is widely regarded as Japan's oldest surviving yakuimon-style gate and a designated National Important Cultural Property. Built in the late Muromachi period, this single-bay gate combines a wood-shingle gabled roof, round pillars, and refined decorative carvings to embody both Zen austerity and quiet ornament. Visitors can also explore the historic Ashikaga-founded Zen temple precinct and the legends linked to Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Tucked into the wooded hills of southern Okazaki City in Aichi Prefecture, Ten'onji Buddha Hall is one of Japan's finest surviving examples of medieval Zen architecture. Founded in 1362 by the third Ashikaga shōgun Yoshimitsu and designated a National Important Cultural Property in 1907, this Muromachi-period hall preserves the formal zenshūyō style with its cypress-bark roof, round columns, dense bracket sets, flame-shaped windows, and Zen sumeidan altar. The temple is also celebrated as the place where Tokugawa Ieyasu spent a night on his way to the Battle of Nagashino in 1575.
On Mt. Hōrai in Aichi, this shrine to Tokugawa Ieyasu is tied to a legend of his birth. Its cypress-bark halls of 1651 are an Important Cultural Property.
A rare wooden three-storey townhouse, the former Tomatsu House traces a Nagoya family's shift from oil to banking; now at Meiji-mura, its stern face hides tea rooms.
Built in 1606, the main hall of Tobe Shrine is the only shrine building in Nagoya designated a national Important Cultural Property, rich in Momoyama-era carving.
The late-Muromachi main hall of Tomiyoshi-Takehaya Shrine in Kanie, a one-bay nagare-zukuri building designated in 1953, is famed for the UNESCO-listed Sunari rite.
The 1913 Church of St. Matthew at Toyohashi is a wooden Orthodox sanctuary attributed to Kawamura Izo, Aichi's oldest, named an Important Cultural Property in 2008.
Two Important Cultural Property gates at Nagoya Castle, built around 1612 in the defensive korai-mon style. Both survived the 1945 air raids that razed the keep.
The 1477 main hall of Hachimangu in Toyokawa is a three-bay nagare-zukuri shrine with a cypress-bark roof, the official Hachiman shrine of old Mikawa province.
Hasshokan, a Nagoya ryotei grown from an 1880s timber merchant's villa, had nine buildings designated in 2020, centered on Horiguchi Sutemi's imperial Miyuki-no-ma.
The Tahōtō Pagoda at Higashi Kannonji Temple in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property built around 1528. This three-bay pagoda masterfully blends Chinese Zen and Japanese architectural styles. Having survived the devastating Hōei tsunami of 1707, it stands as a rare and precious example of late Muromachi-period Buddhist architecture, featuring a distinctive white-plastered kamebara and elegant shingled roof.
Discover the Horaiji Niomon Gate, an Important Cultural Property built by Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1651. Explore intricate carvings, 1,425 stone steps, and the spiritual beauty of Mt. Horaiji in Shinshiro, Aichi Prefecture.
Discover Mandara-ji Shoin, an Important Cultural Property in Konan, Aichi. This Muromachi-style shoin reception hall served as a war council site before the Battle of Sekigahara and hosted shogunal inspectors during the Edo period. Visit during the famous Wisteria Festival.
Discover Mandaraji Temple's Main Hall (Shodo), an Important Cultural Property in Konan City, Aichi. Built in 1632 with a design inspired by the Imperial Shishinden, this Jodo sect temple also offers spectacular wisteria gardens each spring.
Discover the Tahoto (multi-storied pagoda) at Mantokuji Temple in Inazawa, Aichi — an Important Cultural Property from the Muromachi period, featuring elegant cypress bark roofing and classic Japanese architectural beauty.
Tucked into the grounds of Mantokuji—Aichi's famed Peony Temple in Inazawa City—stands the Chinjudo, a small shrine built in 1530 in the single-bay Nagare-zukuri style with a cypress-bark roof. This nationally designated Important Cultural Property preserves the refined craftsmanship of late Muromachi-period architecture, just an 8-minute walk from JR Inazawa Station.
Step inside Japan's only surviving early-Meiji prefectural office, a 54-meter pseudo-Western masterpiece of 1879 that hosted Emperor Meiji and now stands relocated at Meiji Mura in Inuyama, Aichi.
In Kasugai, Aichi, Mitsuzoin's tahoto is an Important Cultural Property: an esoteric pagoda in rare Zen style, the sole medieval building of a vast Tendai temple.
Discover Ryusenji Niomon, a 1607 Important Cultural Property gate at one of Nagoya's Owari Four Kannon temples. Built in three-bay rōmon style with a kokera-shingled hip-and-gable roof, it has welcomed pilgrims for over four centuries on a hilltop overlooking the Shōnai River.