Important cultural property

The main hall of Renchoji, a Nichiren Buddhist temple in Nara's Aburasaka-cho, is an Important Cultural Property of Japan believed to have been originally built by Toyotomi Hidenaga and relocated here in 1653. Its open-front corridor features magnificent polychrome ceiling paintings of celestial maidens, dragons, phoenixes, and kalavinka. Just a 4-minute walk from Kintetsu Nara Station, this hidden gem offers free admission in a tranquil setting.

The main hall of Wanishita Shrine in Tenri City, Nara Prefecture, is an Important Cultural Property from the Momoyama period, uniquely situated atop an ancient keyhole-shaped burial mound. Founded as the tutelary shrine of the Wani clan, the site also neighbors the ruins of Kakinomoto-dera temple linked to the legendary poet Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. Its elegant gabled cypress-bark roof and vivid polychrome carvings make it a hidden gem of Japanese shrine architecture.

An Important Cultural Property preserved at Kōfuku-ji in Nara, this Kamakura-period silk hanging scroll depicts two of the Four Heavenly Kings — the surviving half of an originally complete set of four. Painted by artists associated with the Nanto Edokoro workshop during the temple's restoration after the burning of Nara in 1180, it consciously revives Nara-period iconography while showing the emerging realism of the new Kamakura style. Normally not on view, it is shown only during special exhibitions.

Held by Hōryū-ji in Nara, the Important Cultural Property Star Mandala on Silk is a rare Heian-period four-court circular mandala. With Shaka Kinrin at its center surrounded by the Big Dipper, Nine Luminaries, twelve zodiac signs and twenty-eight lunar mansions, it is a cosmic map where Indian, Chinese and even Greek-Babylonian astronomical traditions meet on a single piece of silk.

An Important Cultural Property of Japan, this set of five wooden statues — a standing Thousand-Armed Kannon flanked by four Heavenly Kings, all enshrined in their original Kasuga-style shrine — has been preserved in the Senjudō hall of Tōdai-ji's Kaidan-in compound in Nara. Created around 1269 in conjunction with the founding of the hall by the Vinaya master Enshō, the statues are widely recognised as a leading example of the Zen-pa school of Kamakura-period sculptors. Treated as hidden Buddhas from the Muromachi period onwards, they retain their original gilding, cut-gold patterns, and bronze accessories in remarkable condition.

Preserved at Shōryaku-ji in the wooded hills of Nara, the Ekottarika-āgama Volume 30, known as the Zenkō Vermilion Seal Sutra, is an Important Cultural Property dating to around 759 CE. One of about thirty surviving scrolls from a canon-copying project sponsored by the nun Zenkō of Hokke-ji, it preserves both eighth-century calligraphy at its finest and detailed colophons that document Nara-period sutra production. This article also introduces Shōryaku-ji's millennium of history, its famed maple-lined valley, and its heritage as the birthplace of refined sake brewing in Japan.

Discover the Nihon Kanreiroku-shō, a precious 1147 manuscript preserved at the Sakamoto Ryūmon Bunko in Yoshino, Nara. This Important Cultural Property is the only surviving copy of an early Heian Buddhist tale collection compiled by the Gangō-ji monk Gishō, offering rare glimpses into Japan's vanished setsuwa literature.

Discover the Haniwa Ushi, a nationally Important Cultural Property displayed at Karako-Kagi Archaeological Museum in Tawaramoto, Nara. Excavated in 1897 from Hagoda Tomb No. 1, this rare 6th-century cow-shaped haniwa is one of fewer than ten such examples ever found in Japan.

Discover the Iwase Family Residence in Gokayama, Toyama — Japan's largest surviving gasshō-zukuri farmhouse. Designated as an Important Cultural Property, this five-story thatched-roof masterpiece reveals the secrets of Edo-period saltpeter production and mountain village life.

The Main Hall of Oyama Shrine Maedate Shadan in Tateyama Town, Toyama, is a magnificent late-Muromachi sanctuary in the five-bay flowing-roof style with cypress-bark thatching, and is the largest shrine honden in the entire Hokuriku region. Designated a National Important Cultural Property in 1906, it embodies thirteen centuries of devotion to sacred Mount Tate, one of Japan's Three Sacred Mountains.

On a wooded hillside in Fushiki, Takaoka City, stands Keta Shrine, the first-ranked shrine of ancient Etchu Province. Its Main Hall, rebuilt in the Eiroku era (1558-1570) after fires set during the Warring States period, is a three-bay flowing-roof structure (sanken-sha nagare-zukuri) with a cypress-bark shingle roof, and preserves the bold timber proportions and carving styles of the Late Muromachi period. Designated a National Important Cultural Property in 1931, it sits within a landscape steeped in history: the shrine's inner precinct marks the traditional site of the Etchu Sōsha, the auxiliary Ōtomo Shrine honors the Man'yōshū poet Ōtomo no Yakamochi, and nearby are the National Treasure Shōkōji Temple, the Takaoka City Man'yō Historical Museum, the ruins of the Etchu provincial capital, and the celebrated coastal view of Amaharashi.

A Heian-period bronze staff-head found atop Mt. Dainichi in 1893, with twin dragons and a lotus-pedestal vase — one of fewer than a dozen survivors. Tateyama Museum.

Five figures emerge from a tuff boulder at Nisseki-ji in Toyama. The Fudō Myōō at the centre, over three metres tall, is Hokuriku's largest rock-carved Buddha image.

Nestled deep in the mountains of Eiheiji Town, Fukui Prefecture, Eiheiji is a head temple of Soto Zen Buddhism founded by Zen Master Dogen in 1244. The sacred complex features 19 buildings designated as Important Cultural Properties of Japan, including the Sanmon Gate, Butsuden, Hatto, and Sodo, showcasing nearly 800 years of exceptional Zen architectural heritage. As an active training monastery with approximately 100 resident monks, Eiheiji offers visitors zazen meditation sessions and overnight retreat experiences.

Open on all four sides and seven bays wide, the worship hall at Ōshio Hachimangū in Echizen is a rare nagatoko hall, an Important Cultural Property since 1978.

Built in 1843, Otaki Shrine's joined main and worship halls carry a cypress-bark roof called Japan's most complex, raised for the paper goddess Kawakami-gozen.

A 4.5-meter nine-tier Shakudani-stone pagoda at Ōtaniji in Echizen, dated by inscription to 1323. It marks the grave of Taichō, the monk who opened Mt. Haku.

Rebuilt in 1613 and sheltered since 1754, Kasuga Shrine's Main Hall in Sabae, Fukui, is a vermilion three-bay nagare-zukuri Important Cultural Property of Echizen.

A late-Edo thatched farmhouse in Katsuyama, Fukui, built by Eiheiji carpenters for a headman. Its winged front-hall plan marks the peak of the Echizen tradition.

Completed in 1927, the Former Owada Bank in Tsuruga, Fukui, combined banking floors with a public dining hall and assembly room. It now houses the city museum.