Important cultural property

Rokusho Shrine in Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture, is a historic Shinto shrine revered as the guardian deity of Tokugawa Ieyasu's birthplace. Five of its buildings — the Main Hall, Offering Hall, Worship Hall, Divine Kitchen, and Tower Gate — are designated Important Cultural Properties of Japan. Built under the patronage of the third Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, these structures showcase stunning polychrome decorations and gongen-zukuri architecture rivaling the splendor of Nikko Toshogu.

Excavated from Toyota Otsuka Kofun in Aichi Prefecture, this ensemble of Sueki ceramics was designated a National Important Cultural Property in 1995. Featuring footed jars, four-linked cup stands, and child-bearing jar compositions, the assemblage is widely regarded as a peak example of decorated Sueki and is now displayed at the new Toyota City Museum, opened in 2024.

Housed at the Toyohashi City Museum of Art and History, this nationally designated Important Cultural Property is a collection of gilt-bronze horse trappings, beads and sue ware excavated from one of the Tokai region's largest keyhole-shaped tombs — vivid evidence of a late-6th-century chieftain of ancient Ho Province with strong ties to the Yamato court.

Held in Gamagōri City, Aichi Prefecture, this Important Cultural Property is a rare Heian-period manuscript scroll preserving the records of two eleventh-century waka poetry contests. Part of the canonical twenty-volume Ruijū-utaawase compilation, it offers a vivid window into the courtly poetic culture of the era and the literary life of provincial governor-poets.

The Important Cultural Property 'Mirrors and Mirror Boxes' at Atsuta Jingu is a rare collective set of bronze wakyō mirrors paired with their original maki-e lacquered boxes, dating from the late Heian to the Kamakura period. With pine, bamboo, and twin-crane mirror designs and boxes adorned with paulownia phoenixes and Mount Hōrai motifs, they reveal the heights of medieval Japanese craft and aristocratic devotion at one of Nagoya's most sacred sites.

Held at Sanage Shrine, the third-ranked shrine of Mikawa Province in Toyota City, Aichi, this Kamakura-period black-lacquered tachi with unsigned blade was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1952. Discover the story of this sword, preserved for over seven centuries at the foot of sacred Mount Sanage, and explore the historic shrine that guards it.

The Ko-Seto Yellow-Glazed Bottle with Fish-and-Wave Design, owned by the City of Nagoya, is a masterpiece of medieval Japanese ceramics produced at the Seto kilns in Aichi Prefecture during the early 14th century. Modeled on Chinese meiping bottles yet distinctly Japanese in interpretation, this Important Cultural Property combines a pale yellow-green ash glaze with intricate decoration of three fish swimming through ocean waves. As one of the finest surviving examples of Ko-Seto ware—Japan's only medieval glazed pottery tradition—it stands as a benchmark of fourteenth-century ceramic art and a window onto the Seto kilns at the height of their decorative achievement.

Held in the Hosa Library in Nagoya, the Song Edition of the Taiping Shenghui Fang (Kanazawa Bunko Version) is a Southern Song printed copy of the imperial medical encyclopedia originally compiled in 100 volumes by Wang Huaiyin under the command of Emperor Taizong. Designated an Important Cultural Property, it traveled from Hōjō Sanetoki's Kanazawa Bunko through Toyotomi Hidetsugu and Tokugawa Ieyasu to the first Owari lord Tokugawa Yoshinao. The 24 surviving printed booklets, supplemented by 27 Keichō-era manuscript volumes, bear the distinctive 'Kanazawa Bunko' and 'Gohon' seals on every volume, making it a primary witness to East Asian medical history.

Discover the Sanage Shrine Chinese Classics, an Important Cultural Property collection of medieval manuscripts of Chinese classics housed at Sanage Shrine in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture. Including the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Analects, and Bai Juyi's literary works copied between the late 13th and 14th centuries, these texts illuminate the depth of Chinese learning at a regional Japanese shrine-temple.

Held at Atsuta Jingu in Nagoya, this Important Cultural Property tachi was forged by the Chikuzen master Jitsua on a date in 1333 — the year the Kamakura shogunate fell — and was later dedicated to the shrine in 1595 by the samurai Matsushita Koichiro Morikatsu, who prayed for the fulfillment of all his wishes. Authentic dated works by Jitsua are extraordinarily rare, and the blade preserves both the original signature on the tang and a long votive inscription engraved on the ridge over two and a half centuries later, making it one of the most historically resonant swords in the shrine's collection of more than 450 blades.

Preserved at Atsuta Jingu in Nagoya, this Important Cultural Property is a tachi forged by the Hōki-Province smith Saneyuki in the late Heian to Kamakura period. On the eighth day of the eighth month of Genki 2 (1571), the Sengoku-era samurai Ōkubo Yokurō dedicated the sword to the deities of Atsuta Daimyōjin, and the dedication inscription was cut directly into the blade. Combining the elegance of the ancient Hōki tradition with a precisely dated record of warrior devotion, it is a rare masterpiece bridging two distinct eras of Japanese history.

Discover the Wooden Seated Statue of Akasagarbha Bodhisattva, a 14th-century Important Cultural Property at Kioji Temple in Inazawa, Aichi. This serene hidden Buddha, carved in 1361 with sutras sealed inside, is unveiled only once every 25 years.

Tucked into the maple-clad hills of Toyohashi, Aichi, the Wooden Seated Shakyamuni Buddha of Fumonji Temple is a serene late-Heian masterpiece. Designated an Important Cultural Property, this half-life-size figure on its rare octagonal pedestal exemplifies the elegant Jōchō style as it spread to the Tōkai region.

Discover the Wooden Standing Eleven-Headed Kannon at Funabashi Anrakuji Temple in Inazawa, Aichi — a 97.8 cm late Heian Important Cultural Property carved from a single block of kaya wood, with a gentle child-like face and a 33-year unveiling cycle.

Tucked away behind the three-story pagoda of Ishiteji Temple in Matsuyama, the Karitei-mo-ten-do is a small but exquisite shrine designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan. Built in the late Kamakura period (1275-1332) in the rare ikkensha nagare-misedana style with a cypress bark roof, it is among the oldest shrine structures in Ehime Prefecture. Discover its enduring tradition of safe-childbirth prayers and architectural details that mirror the National Treasure Niomon Gate.

Ishite-ji's bell tower in Matsuyama, dated 1333 by a pillar inscription, holds a bronze bell cast in 1251, the oldest dated bell in Ehime, in its upper chamber.

The Main Hall of Ishiteji Temple in Matsuyama, Ehime is a National Important Cultural Property dating from the late Kamakura period. As the 51st temple of the Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage and only a short walk from Dōgo Onsen, it offers a rare combination of living pilgrimage culture and outstanding medieval Wayō-style architecture, alongside the National Treasure Niōmon Gate and other heritage buildings.

Hidden deep in the mountains of Kumakogen, Ehime, the Daishido of Iwayaji Temple — the 45th sacred site of the Shikoku Pilgrimage — was completed in 1920 under the supervision of architect Kawaguchi Shoichi. This nationally designated Important Cultural Property masterfully fuses traditional Japanese temple architecture with Western details such as entasis columns, rose-and-cord capitals, and column fluting. Set against towering conglomerate cliffs, the hall is celebrated as a landmark of modern Japanese religious architecture. This guide explores its design highlights, visitor information, and nearby attractions.

Uchiko-za is a traditional wooden playhouse built in 1916 in the town of Uchiko, Ehime Prefecture. Equipped with a revolving stage, hanamichi walkway, and traditional box seating, this living theater still hosts kabuki and bunraku performances and was designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan in 2015.

The Sannomaru South Corner Turret of Ozu Castle in Ozu City, Ehime Prefecture, is the oldest surviving structure in the castle complex, rebuilt in 1766. Designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan, it preserves ingenious defensive features including hidden loopholes and bullet-resistant drum walls, offering an authentic glimpse into Edo-period military architecture.