Important cultural property

Standing at the southern tip of Oshima Island in Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, the Oshu Mishima Raiken Stele is a slate monument over three meters tall, erected in 1307 by more than thirty disciples to honor the monk Raiken, who never left the island during twenty-two years of solitary practice. Its 643 characters of cursive script were both composed and brushed by the celebrated Chinese émigré monk Issan Ichinei. Designated an Important Cultural Property in 1955, it is one of the finest dated cursive stone inscriptions surviving from the late Kamakura period.

A complete polished jadeite axe from the Kamegaoka Site in Aomori, now housed at Miyagi's Tōhoku History Museum. Designated an Important Cultural Property in 1973, this 9 cm masterpiece reveals Jōmon-era craftsmanship and the vast trade network that carried Itoigawa jadeite across ancient Japan.

Originally preserved as a sacred treasure in an Ainu household in Hidaka, Hokkaido, this silver-mounted Kamakura-period tachi survives as a rare early example of Ezo-style ceremonial swords. Held by the Tohoku History Museum in Tagajo, Miyagi.

The Ebisu hall at Ishida Shrine in Ayabe is northern Kyoto's oldest shrine building, raised in 1311 and dated by its ridge tag, with rare early Zen-style detail.

Izumo Daijingu in Kameoka, Kyoto Prefecture, is an ancient shrine known as 'Moto-Izumo' (Original Izumo) and ranked as the premier shrine of Tanba Province. Its main hall, believed to have been renovated by Ashikaga Takauji in 1345, is a masterpiece of medieval shrine architecture in the sangensha-nagare-zukuri style with cypress bark roofing, designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan. Dedicated to Ōkuninushi, the deity of matchmaking, the shrine also features sacred spring water, ancient rock formations, and the revered Mount Mikage.

The Main Hall of Itsuki Shrine in Ayabe, Kyoto Prefecture, is a single-bay nagare-zukuri board-roofed shrine dating to the mid-Muromachi period. Designated a nationally Important Cultural Property in August 2024, it is celebrated for its rare blend of Shinto and Zen Buddhist architectural elements and its legendary ties to Prince Maroko's demon-slaying campaign.

Iwashimizu Hachimangu, one of Japan's three great Hachiman shrines, sits atop Mount Otoko in Yawata, Kyoto Prefecture. Founded in 860 CE, it has served as a guardian of the imperial capital for over a millennium. Its ten-building sanctuary complex, designated a National Treasure in 2016, is the oldest and largest surviving example of Hachiman-zukuri architecture. Highlights include vivid polychrome carvings, Oda Nobunaga's Golden Rain Gutters, and the Iwashimizu Festival—one of Japan's Three Great Imperial Festivals.

Japan's largest medieval stone pagoda at 6.08 meters, the Iwashimizu Hachimangu Gorinto in Yawata bears no inscription, leaving its origin to several rival legends.

A 15.2-meter granite stupa raised in 1286 by the monk Eison alongside the rebuilt Uji Bridge. Japan's largest surviving pre-modern stone pagoda, standing on a small island just upstream of Byodo-in.

Discover the Kasuga Shrine Main Hall, an Important Cultural Property from the late Kamakura period, nestled within Ujigami Shrine—home to Japan's oldest shrine architecture and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Uji, Kyoto.

Uji Shrine's main hall is a three-bay nagare-zukuri of the Kamakura period. Until 1883 it was one shrine with Ujigami uphill. A looking-back rabbit guides you here.

Built in 1914 with twenty tracks radiating from a turntable, this Kyoto roundhouse is Japan's oldest in concrete. Designated in 2004 and open to visitors.

Ridge tags date this single-bay nagare-zukuri hall in Kameoka to 1338, with rebuilding in 1459. A rare surviving village shrine of its era, designated in 1941.

In Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto, the Urasenke Residence gathers the tea rooms Konnichian, Yuin and Kanuntei into one designated structure, rebuilt after the 1788 Tenmei fire.

Built around 1646 at the top of the Sennyuji valley in Kyoto, Unryuin's main hall borrows the plan of a Zen abbot's quarters and still works as a sutra-copying room.

The tea house Furuta Oribe left the Yabunouchi family burned in 1864. A school rule sent the oldest exact copy to replace it, and that copy is the En-an seen today.

Before Enjoji's main hall in northern Kyoto stands a stone stupa carved in 1351, dated by the Southern Court calendar and signed by a monk called Gyoshu.

Carved in 1358 on a wooded slope west of Kameoka, this granite pagoda is recorded as the only medieval thirteen-storey stone tower left standing in Tanba.

To fit an oversized Amida triad under a low roof, the builders of this small hall in Ohara folded the ceiling into a curved vault, the earliest of its kind in Japan.

The Main Hall of Obai-in at Daitoku-ji, Kyoto, built in 1586 and designated in 1922, holds forty-four ink panels by Unkoku Togan and faces the Hatotei dry garden.