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.
The 1498 Former Enkaku-ji Hojo Bridge in Naha is the only surviving structure of a royal temple lost in war, its Chinese stone railings the kingdom's finest.
On a quiet lane in Ishigaki, the Former Miyara Dunchi housed a family that governed a Ryukyu district. It is the only samurai residence with national designation.
The Former Waukei Family Tomb on Ishigaki sets a 17th-century cave burial chamber within walled limestone courts, an early form in Okinawan tomb design.
Founded in 1614 and rebuilt around 1786 after a tsunami, this Ishigaki shrine has carved peonies, demons, lions and dragons rarely seen on shrines elsewhere.
The Sunuhyan Utaki Stone Gate of 1519 in Shuri, Naha, where kings prayed for safe journeys, is a place to worship a sacred grove, restored after war damage in 1957.
The Sesoko Toteikun on Sesoko Island, Okinawa, a shrine to the Chinese earth god from the late Edo period (1751–1829), is a walled coral-rock enclosure.
The triple-arched stone gate of Sogenji, royal mausoleum temple of the Ryukyu Kingdom in Naha, built before 1527, repaired after the war and free to visit anytime.
A red-tiled house of a family of Ryukyu court ship captains on tiny Geruma Island, with its kitchen under the main roof, a hinpun screen and an eave-high stone wall.
Tamaudun on Izena Island, Okinawa, is the 1688 gable-roofed stone tomb of Sho Shoku, father of King Sho En, designated in 2017. Free to visit, near Nakada Port.
Stone village spring of the later Edo period in Kiyuna, Ginowan, with men's and women's basins inside massive early 19th-century walls. Visits by appointment.
The Tsukayama Brewery Facilities in Nago, Okinawa, are a 1928 main house and koji house, designated in 2009, joining an awamori distillery and a home in one L.
Stone arch bridge of 1502 to an island hall in Enkanchi Pond, Shuri, Naha. Hump-backed in the southern Chinese manner, it is Okinawa's finest surviving arch bridge.
The Tuyumya Tombs in Hirara, Miyakojima, are three 18th- and 19th-century stone tombs of the Nakasone chieftain line, with tsunpun screens and notched roof posts.
A 177.5-meter coral-limestone wall in Maja, Kumejima, that once enclosed a Ryukyu district office, with two arched gates; an Important Cultural Property since 1972.
A wealthy farming family's walled estate in Kitanakagusuku, Okinawa: main house, guest wing, barn, granary and stone pigpens, designated on reversion day in 1972.
Communal spring in Nanjo, Okinawa, rebuilt in Ryukyu limestone in 1912, with men's and women's basins, a place of worship and a paved path; a model Okinawan spring.
Izena Island homestead of a family said to descend from King Sho En's uncle: a 1906 main house and guest wing in stone walls, designated in 1977, free to visit.
The Former Yonaguni Family Residence on Taketomi Island pairs a 1913 main house with a kitchen building inside coral walls. Designated 2007, it is open to visitors.
Late-Edo thatched farmhouse in the hills of Hanamaki, Iwate, returned to its straight plan in 1978 when a later stable was removed. Turf ridge, earthen walls.
The former Morioka Bank head office in Morioka, Iwate, a brick bank of 1911 by Tatsuno Kingo and Kasai Manji, is open as the Iwate Bank Red Brick Building.