Important cultural property

A three-bay tahoto of around 1528 at Higashi Kannonji in Toyohashi, Aichi, an old temple said to be founded by Gyoki; free to visit. Important Cultural Property.

A vermilion two-storey gate of 1651, donated by Shogun Iemitsu, on the long stone-stepped approach to Horaiji in Shinshiro, Aichi, with carved tigers and qilin.

The Former Hotta Family Residence in Tsushima, Aichi, is an Owari merchant townhouse of 1765 and 1770, designated in 1978. Three storehouses and a tea room survive.

The shoin behind the main hall of Mandaraji in Konan, Aichi, built between 1663 and 1674 and used to entertain the shogun's inspectors. Important Cultural Property.

The 1632 main hall of Mandaraji in Konan, Aichi, donated by Hachisuka Iemasa, whose plan recalls the imperial Shishinden. Important Cultural Property.

The Muromachi tahoto of Mantokuji in Inazawa, Aichi, a plain three-bay pagoda with a cypress-bark roof thought to be modelled on that of Shokaiji nearby.

A small one-bay nagare-style guardian shrine of 1530 at Mantokuji in Inazawa, Aichi, dated by its ridge tablet and showing late-Muromachi details well.

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.

Myogenji Yanagido in Okazaki, Aichi, is a cypress-bark hall of early Shin Buddhism, designated in 1903. Its lattice shutters and disputed 1314 date repay attention.

Myokoji Chokushimon in Ichinomiya, Aichi, is a four-legged Zen gate of 1366 and the sole survivor of the 1890 fire, carrying an imperial plaque granted in 1353.

The Omoya of the Mochizuki Family Residence in Shinshiro, Aichi, is a late 18th-century thatched dwelling block whose fire, earth floor and stable stand next door.

The Niomon Gate of Ryusenji in Moriyama, Nagoya, built in 1607, is a two-storey gate with a shingled roof that survived the fire of 1906 along with the pagoda.

Rokusho Shrine in Okazaki, Aichi, revered by the Matsudaira clan, keeps three richly carved and painted buildings of 1636, designated Important Cultural Properties.

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.