Important cultural property
重 要 文 化 財 一 覧Explore Japan’s Important Cultural Properties in one searchable list. Filter by prefecture, period, and category, read concise stories, and plan visits with maps and travel tips.
On the day of his death in 1367, the Zen monk Jakushitsu Genko brushed a final verse, now an Important Cultural Property held at the Eigenji temple he founded.
In 1366 the Zen master Jakushitsu Genkō named his disciple 'Ekkei' on pale-blue Chinese wax paper patterned with carp — a rare Important Cultural Property.
At Jōraku-ji in Shiga, a Heian cast-bronze ringed staff sets a pagoda and water vessel in its loop. An Important Cultural Property and stored treasure, rarely shown.
Copied in 768 by order of Empress Shōtoku for a departed sovereign's repose, this scroll of the Sarvāstivāda monastic code survives at Ishiyama-dera in Shiga.
A late Muromachi shrine hall in Isa, Kagoshima, an Important Cultural Property since 1989, one of few medieval buildings in southern Kyushu, built of camphor wood.
A late Muromachi shrine hall in Isa, Kagoshima, an Important Cultural Property since 1949, where carpenters' graffiti of 1559 records the word shochu for the first time.
An 1846 house on Tanegashima, Kagoshima, an Important Cultural Property since 1994, built by a village headman, with an L-shaped plan typical of the island.
The Materials Related to Okubo Toshimichi, 1650 items kept at the Reimeikan in Kagoshima, designated in 2004, include his earliest letter and one to Saigo.
Completed in 1912 in Akita City, this brick landmark pairs a Renaissance exterior by Yamaguchi Naoaki with a Baroque banking hall. Designated in 1994; 310 yen.
Built in 1882 for German engineers at the state-run Ani mine in Akita, this brick house with a wraparound veranda predates the Rokumeikan. Admission free.
A thatched L-shaped farmhouse in Mitane, Akita, built in the mid-1800s with segai bracketing reserved for high-ranking households. Viewing by advance booking.
The Satake Family Mausoleum at Tentokuji in Akita, built in 1672 for the Satake lords, has a doubled karahafu front, vermilion walls and rich carving inside and out.
Shinmeisha Kannon Hall in Katagami, Akita: a one-bay shingle-roofed hall of 1734 with a cusped-gable porch, designated with its cabinet and 2 ridge tags.
Tentokuji Temple in Akita City, the Satake lords' family temple, has four Important Cultural Property buildings, with a thatched 1687 Main Hall restored in 2024.
The kagura hall of Haushiwake Shrine in Yokote, Akita, a mid-Muromachi building of a mountain ascetic shrine, takes the rare double-nagare form in heavy timbers.
Uonuma Shrine Amida Hall in Ojiya, Niigata: a thatched pyramidal-roofed hall of 1563 in a shrine, with short eaves suited to heavy snow and an Amida triad inside.
Oppoji Temple Three-Storey Pagoda in Tainai, Niigata: a shingle-roofed pagoda of 1619 sponsored by the lords of Murakami, plain in detail but finely proportioned.
Shoraikaku in Nagaoka, Niigata, the early Showa house of a sake-brewing family, joins Japanese and Western wings with fine woodwork, open free in season.
The Kannon Hall of Gotokuji in Aga, Niigata, a thatched three-bay hall dated to 1557, has a late Muromachi style showing the links between Aizu and Niigata.
Shugetsuji Temple Main Hall near Mount Yahiko in Niigata City is a 1699 Soto Zen hall by Izumozaki carpenters, with an eight-room plan and thatch under iron sheet.