Important cultural property

A 1.85-meter andesite pagoda in Kiryu, Gunma, carved with the date 801 and 45 characters offering merit to all beings, among Japan's oldest dated stone pagodas.

Discover the Tomizawa Family Residence, an Important Cultural Property in Nakanojo, Gunma. Built around 1792, this majestic thatched-roof farmhouse is one of the oldest sericulture houses in Japan, offering a rare glimpse into Edo-period rural life and silk culture.

The Hachimangu-Inari Shrine Hall, a subordinate shrine within the precincts of Raiden Shrine in Itakura, Gunma, is the oldest extant wooden shrine building in Gunma Prefecture. Built in 1547 during the late Muromachi period, it features a rare two-bay (nikensha) hip-and-gable design—one of only seven such examples among Japan's nationally designated Important Cultural Properties—enshrining both Hachiman and Inari deities under one roof.

Preserved at Fudō-ji Temple in Gunma Prefecture, this stone standing statue of Fudō Myōō bears the inscribed signatures of two In-pa (院派) school sculptors — In-ryū and a second master whose name is partially illegible. Stone Buddhist statues bearing the signatures of named sculptural masters are exceedingly rare in Japan, where wooden images dominate. This article explores the work's iconography, the history of the In-pa school, the reasons for its cultural designation, and recommendations for visitors planning a trip to Gunma.

Discover the Araki Family Residence, an Important Cultural Property in Shobara, Hiroshima. This 18th-century thatched-roof home of a hereditary Shinto priest showcases rare architectural features of the Chugoku region's mountain villages.

Discover Ankokuji Shakado, an Important Cultural Property in Tomonoura, Fukuyama. This Muromachi-period Zen-style hall houses precious Buddhist statues and a karesansui garden, set in one of Japan's most beautiful historic port towns.

Discover the Oku Family Residence (Oku-ke Jutaku) in Miyoshi, Hiroshima Prefecture—a beautifully preserved 1788 farmhouse and storehouse designated as a national Important Cultural Property. Explore its five-layered beam structure, rare internal storehouse, and the heritage of a village headman family in rural Japan.

Katsurahama Shrine's main hall on Kurahashi Island, near Kure, dates to 1480 by its ridge tag, a Muromachi hall rare in the region for round eaves pillars.

Dated to 1665 by an inscribed ridge tile, the Former Kihara Family Residence in Hiroshima housed sake-brewing salt merchants and keeps a rare early townhouse plan.

Kibitsu Shrine's main hall in Fukuyama, an Important Cultural Property rebuilt in 1648 by lord Mizuno Katsunari, is nearly 18.5 m wide with a Buddhist-hall interior.

Discover the Komyobo Thirteen-Story Stone Pagoda, an Important Cultural Property built in 1294 on Ikuchijima Island along the Shimanami Kaido. This 8.5-meter granite tower reflects the artistry and Buddhist devotion of the Kamakura period.

Discover Shunpukan, the Important Cultural Property residence of Confucian scholar Rai Shunpu in Takehara, Hiroshima. Explore this elegant samurai-style townhouse connected to Rai Sanyo and Japan's Edo-period intellectual heritage.

Discover the World Peace Memorial Cathedral in Hiroshima, designed by Murano Togo in 1954. A symbol of peace built with global donations, it was the first postwar building designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan.

Discover the Hatayama Family Residence in Miyoshi, Hiroshima — a mid-18th century thatched-roof farmhouse designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan, featuring archaic construction techniques and a dramatic relocation story.

On Miyajima, this garden erosion-control works rebuilt a typhoon-hit valley as fieldstone dams and pools, Japan's first postwar civil-engineering cultural property.

Kenzo Tange completed this Takamatsu government office in 1958, recasting the columns and beams of Japanese tradition in concrete over an open civic piloti.

On a Kagawa hilltop that was once Nio Castle stands Kakujoin's two-storied bell tower, a Momoyama work with a flared hakamagoshi base, still rung each New Year.

Explore Kannon-ji Kondo, an Important Cultural Property in Kagawa Prefecture. This Edo-period main hall preserves Muromachi-era craftsmanship on Shikoku's 88 Temple Pilgrimage at the unique two-temple-in-one precinct.

An 18th-century farmhouse from southern Ehime, now at Shikoku Mura near Yashima. The whole raised floor is split bamboo, and a paper-mulberry kettle survives inside.

Built in the late Kamakura period on reused Nara lecture-hall foundations, Sanuki Kokubunji's main hall shelters a 5.2-meter Thousand-Armed Kannon, a hidden Buddha.