Important cultural property

At Engaku-ji in Fukaura, Aomori, this cabinet-shrine of 1506 holds the Medicine Buddha. A one-bay, Zen-style structure, it is reckoned Aomori's oldest building.

The Former Ōminato Water Source Waterworks Facility in Mutsu City, Aomori Prefecture, is an Important Cultural Property of Japan built between 1902 and 1910 as the first modern waterworks in the Tōhoku region. Discover its stunning gravity-arch stone dam and seasonal cherry blossoms in Suigenchi Park.

The thatched main hall of Kakushuji, mortuary temple of the Tsugaru founder. A large early-1600s Soto Zen hall by the Iwaki River, an Important Cultural Property.

The Former Kasaishi Residence, a thatched 18th-century farmhouse in Towada, Aomori, gives a third of its floor to a stable, the mark of a horse-rearing region.

Maekawa Kunio's first building, completed in 1932 after training under Le Corbusier. One of Japan's earliest modernist works, now an Important Cultural Property.

Built in 1907 by banker Tsushima Gen'emon, this 19-room wooden mansion in Kanagi, Aomori, is novelist Dazai Osamu's birthplace and an Important Cultural Property.

Hirosaki's oldest surviving samurai house, named in a 1756 register. A national Important Cultural Property built in hiba, its roof frame left open. Free entry.

Standing on the northeastern tip of Honshu, Shiriyazaki Lighthouse is a graceful brick tower designed by British engineer Richard Henry Brunton and first lit in 1876. As Tōhoku's earliest Western-style lighthouse and Japan's tallest active brick lighthouse at 32.8 meters, it pioneered the country's first fog signal and first electric beacon. Designated a National Important Cultural Property in 2022, the lighthouse sits within a windswept moorland where Aomori's natural-monument Kandachime horses graze, where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tsugaru Strait.

Discover the Former Fifty-Ninth Bank Head Office Main Building in Hirosaki, a nationally designated Important Cultural Property of Japan. Built in 1904 by master builder Horie Sakichi, this stunning Renaissance-style wooden building features rare kinkarakami ceilings and exquisite Japanese-Western hybrid craftsmanship.

The Tsugaru Family Mausolea, five structures designated as Important Cultural Properties of Japan, stand within the grounds of Choshoji Temple in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture. Built between 1631 and 1753, these mausolea honor successive lords and ladies of the Hirosaki Domain. Their austere unpainted wood exteriors conceal brilliantly painted ceilings featuring dragons and celestial beings. Located at the end of Zenringai — a unique avenue of 33 Soto Zen temples — they offer a profound encounter with the feudal history and sacred architecture of northern Japan.

The Toshogu Main Hall in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, built in 1628, is the northernmost Toshogu shrine architecture on mainland Japan. Established as the very first Toshogu enshrinement outside Nikko through the devotion of Matehime, Tokugawa Ieyasu's adopted daughter, this Important Cultural Property preserves Momoyama-era construction techniques within its distinctively austere unfinished-wood design.

The Nanbu Toshiyasu Tamaya in Nanbu Town, Aomori Prefecture, is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property built in 1632 by the second lord of the Morioka Domain to mourn his son's untimely death at age 24. Adorned with black lacquer, vivid polychrome paintings, and gilt metal fittings in the Momoyama style, this exquisite mausoleum crafted from the finest Kiso hinoki cypress is praised as the most splendid memorial hall in the Tohoku region.

Discover the Hirosaki Gakuin Foreign Missionary Residence, an Important Cultural Property built in 1906 in Aomori Prefecture. This elegant Western-style building with its distinctive octagonal turret showcases the fusion of American and Japanese architectural traditions in Meiji-era Tohoku.

Discover the Important Cultural Property artifacts excavated from the Tangodaira Tumulus Group in Hachinohe, Aomori. Explore ancient swords, jewels, and a unique Korean-made gilt-bronze sword pommel at the Hachinohe City Museum.

Built in 1628 as the main gate of Hodai-in, a Tokugawa mortuary temple in Sunpu, this vermilion gate moved to Oshokyoin in 1918 and is now under restoration.

Lit in 1874 on Cape Omaezaki in Shizuoka, this brick tower carried Japan's first rotating first-order lens. Designated in 2021, it remains open to climb.

Built in 1874 beside the tower at Omaezaki, Shizuoka, this brick house held keepers for 125 years. Designated in 2021, it now displays a rediscovered machine.

Kakegawa Castle Goten, rebuilt from 1855 to 1861, is one of just four daimyo palaces left on castle grounds in Japan, with halls, quarters and offices nearly intact.

Discover the Former Tōtōmi Province Hōtokusha Public Hall in Kakegawa, Shizuoka — a nationally designated Important Cultural Property built in 1903. This unique Japanese-Western hybrid wooden hall embodies the Hōtoku philosophy of Ninomiya Sontoku.

Rebuilt in bare zelkova after the 1854 Tokai earthquake and carved by the Izu Ozawa school, the linked halls of Mishima Taisha are an Important Cultural Property.