Important cultural property

Thirteen Edo-period turrets, a gate and a long wall at Kumamoto Castle were designated in 1933. The concrete keep is a 1960 rebuild. Closed after the 2026 quake.

The Thirteen-Story Stone Pagoda in Yatsushiro City, Kumamoto Prefecture, is an early Kamakura-period stone multi-tiered pagoda dating to 1230. Designated a nationally Important Cultural Property in 1933, it features a rare inscription naming its patron and craftsmen, along with striking carvings of four-directional Buddhas and fierce demon faces.

Shōzen-in Kannon-dō in Mizukami Village, Kumamoto Prefecture, is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property built in 1625. Known as the Cat Temple, it enchants visitors with its lavish lacquer and polychrome interior and a dramatic Sengoku-era legend of a vengeful cat spirit.

The Amida Hall of Shorenji Temple in Taragi, Kumamoto is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property founded in 1295 by the Sagara clan. As the largest thatched-roof Buddhist hall in Kumamoto Prefecture, it preserves the solemn architectural style of the Kamakura period and houses an equally important Amida triad. It is a constituent cultural property of the Hitoyoshi-Kuma Japan Heritage story.

Hasshoji Amida Hall in Yunomae, Kumamoto, is a three-bay Buddhist hall of the late 15th century. Inside stands a Zen-style zushi sheltering an Amida triad of 1490.

Japan's only surviving cabin from a daimyo's seagoing ceremonial barge, once used by the lords of Kumamoto, with lacquered ceilings of 171 painted panels.

The Kasa Sotōba in Ishihara, Shibukawa City, Gunma Prefecture, is a stone memorial tower erected in 1356 during the Nanbokuchō period. Carved from andesite and standing approximately 220 cm tall, it bears Sanskrit inscriptions of the Four Directional Buddhas and inscriptions linked to Ji-shū Buddhism, offering a rare glimpse into medieval devotional life. It was designated a nationally Important Cultural Property in 1953.

Discover the Chorakuji Hoto, a rare Kamakura-period stone pagoda inscribed with the year 1276, standing atop an ancient burial mound at Chorakuji Temple in Ota, Gunma. Explore the Tokugawa clan's ancestral temple and the surrounding Nitta-sho heritage sites.

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.

Rebuilt in 1875, the Itsukushima Shrine Great Torii is anchored by nothing: pine piles, gravel in its box lintel and its own mass keep it upright in the sea.

Erected in 1407 on Tonooka hill, the Itsukushima Shrine Five-Storied Pagoda hides Shingon patriarchs and a Chinese landscape inside a storey no visitor may enter.

Built in 1523 in Omoto Park, this three-bay hall carries a long-board roof laid six deep in three courses, a covering with no other surviving example in Japan.

Late Muromachi and entered from the gable, this hall has a roof sweep close to straight where every neighbour curves, and its worship space doubles as a corridor.

Built by Mori Takamoto in 1556, this is the one hall at Itsukushima left as bare timber with plaster walls, and a rare survival of a Muromachi renga poetry hall.

Built in 1523 by the Zen monk Shukan, the Itsukushima Shrine Two-Storied Pagoda sets a circular upper storey on a square base beneath a rare shingled roof.