Important cultural property

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.

Built in 1878, the Batsujoden purification hall at Kotohira-gu became an Important Cultural Property in 2024, one of twelve shrine buildings on Mount Zozu in Kagawa.

Discover the Former Zentsuji Kaikosha, a Renaissance-style wooden building from 1903 in Kagawa Prefecture. Once an Imperial Japanese Army officers' club, this Important Cultural Property now welcomes visitors with free tours, a café, and elegant event spaces.

Discover Nabeshima Lighthouse, an Important Cultural Property on Nabeshima Island in Kagawa Prefecture. Designed by Richard Henry Brunton in 1872, this stone lighthouse is the oldest in the Seto Inland Sea and still guides ships through the Bisan Seto passage today.

Completed in 1917 for Count Matsudaira on the third bailey of Takamatsu Castle, this villa hides Western roof trusses above its 142-mat hall. Designated 2012.

Five arches on six buttresses, raised in 1929 by the Kagawa farmers who would drink the water. This concrete irrigation dam still works, and admission is free.

A mid-18th-century thatched farmhouse in Sanuki City, Kagawa, designated in 1971. Its earthen doza floor and bamboo-slat zashiki survive. Free entry, closed Mondays.

Completed in 1660 and designated in 1943, Marugame's keep is the smallest of Japan's twelve original towers, set on its tallest stonework. Open 9:00-16:30, 400 yen.

A Muromachi hall on Shodoshima, begun in 1522 and finished in 1533, designated an Important Cultural Property in 1907. Its 23 inscribed tiles are shown inside.

The mid-Muromachi gate of Motoyamaji, temple 70 on the Shikoku pilgrimage in Mitoyo. Protected nationally since 1904, it opens onto a National Treasure main hall.

Discover the Main Hall of Asakura Shrine in Kochi, a nationally designated Important Cultural Property built in 1657. Admire its vivid Momoyama-style polychrome decorations, explore the sacred Mt. Akagi behind, and uncover legends linking this ancient shrine to Empress Saimei.

Kochi is the only Japanese castle where the whole honmaru survives and the original keep and lord's palace stand together, one of just twelve original keeps.

Discover the Kondo (Golden Hall) of Tosa Kokubunji in Nankoku, Kochi. Rebuilt in 1558 by the Chosokabe clan, this Important Cultural Property preserves Tenpyo-style architecture amid moss-covered gardens on the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage.

Discover Kinrinji Yakushido, an Important Cultural Property nestled in the mountains of Umaji Village, Kochi. This rare Muromachi-period Buddhist hall showcases unique board-eave construction and exquisite cypress craftsmanship dating back over 500 years.

Built around 1797 in Otoyo Town, Kochi, this thatched shoin was the last lodging inside Tosa on the daimyo's overland journey to Edo. Designated in 1974.

Built in 1816 to receive the lords of Tosa, this shoin hall at Chikurinji in Kochi turns its rear rooms toward a pond garden designated a Place of Scenic Beauty.

Chikurinji's main hall at Godaisan in Kochi, designated in 1904, wears Zen-style fan rafters and packed bracketing, with heavenly musicians painted on the ceiling.

Tosa Jinja Koro in Kochi, built by Yamauchi Tadayoshi in 1649, is still filed as temple architecture, a trace of the era when shrine and temple stood as one.

Tosa Jinja Heiden and Haiden in Kochi forms a cross read as a dragonfly entering the sanctuary. Built about 1571 in bare timber, its floors drop in three stages.

Tosa Jinja Romon in Kochi, rebuilt by Yamauchi Tadayoshi in 1631, is an almost undecorated wayo gate whose second storey was given a ceiling and treated as a room.