Important cultural property

A two-storied tahoto at Shokaiji in Inazawa, Aichi, from the mid-Muromachi period. Its bracketing blends two imported styles; the grounds are famed for hydrangeas.

Rebuilt in the Keian era of the 1640s, the Main Hall of Shokaiji in Inazawa, Aichi, sets an early Edo frame around a Kamakura altar platform and ceiling.

The main hall of Jokoji in Seto, Aichi, known as Muiden. A Zen-style hall of 1493 with a skirting pent roof, it stands below the first Owari lord's mausoleum.

The Former Shoden-in Shoin in Urakuen, Inuyama, Aichi, built around 1618 as a retreat for the tea master Oda Urakusai. It stands beside the Jo-an teahouse.

The Kannon hall of Shinkomyoji in Okazaki, Aichi, built in 1478. A Zen-style hall at a Pure Land temple founded by the Matsudaira, ancestors of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

A lighthouse keeper's quarters of 1873, built under British engineer R. H. Brunton beside the Sugashima Lighthouse in Mie. The brick house now stands at Meiji Mura.

Built in 1902 to reconnect the Kiso and Nagara rivers after Meiji works divided them, this brick lock still raises and lowers boats and is among Japan's earliest.

Daiju-ji's tahoto in Okazaki, Aichi, was built in 1535 by Matsudaira Kiyoyasu, grandfather of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Its square lower story meets a round upper drum.

Takisanji's two-story gate near Okazaki, an Important Cultural Property since 1901, keeps a medieval temple-gate form, dated between 1267 and early Muromachi.

Takisan-ji's main hall in Okazaki, Aichi, is a cypress-bark-roofed esoteric Buddhist hall of the early Muromachi period, and the stage for a winter fire festival.

Ordered by the third shogun Iemitsu and finished in 1646, Takisan Tosho-gu in Okazaki keeps its main hall, gate and other buildings in vivid lacquer and colour.

At Choko-ji in Inazawa stands a rare hexagonal hall of 1510, regarded as the only surviving medieval example of its form, with a Kamakura-period iron Jizo within.

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.

Discover the Tsushima Shrine Romon, a 1591 tower gate donated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. This Important Cultural Property in Tsushima City, Aichi blends Momoyama elegance with Japanese-style craftsmanship.

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.