Important cultural property

Discover the Important Cultural Property held at Osaka Castle Museum: Toyotomi Hideyoshi's autograph death poem ('Like dew I fall, like dew I vanish — all the affairs of Naniwa are but a dream within a dream'), ten blood-oath pledges in which Maeda Toshiie and other senior retainers swore loyalty to the young heir Hideyori on sacred Kumano talismans, and the vermilion-sealed orders that launched the second invasion of Korea in 1597. Designated in 2020, these thirteen documents offer an intimate window into the final years of the Toyotomi regime — with full historical background and visitor information for the Osaka Castle donjon.

Discover the Lidded Bowl-Shaped Pottery with Stand, a designated cultural property from the Uriawari archaeological site in Osaka. Learn about its Yayoi-period origins, significance, and how to visit the Osaka Museum of History.

The Former Main Hall of Ōno Oimatsu Tenmansha Shrine, located in Maetsue Town, Hita City, Ōita Prefecture, is a sangensha nagare-zukuri structure built in 1488 and designated as a nationally Important Cultural Property. One of the rarest surviving examples of Muromachi-period shrine architecture in Kyushu, it features robust timber proportions and unique construction details, and is also renowned for the Ōno Gaku folk performance featuring kappa-inspired dances.

The Main Hall of Ganjo-in Temple, known as Aizen-do, stands on the hillside of Mount Hachiman in Taketa, Oita Prefecture, as the city's oldest surviving wooden structure. Built in 1635 by Hida master carpenters under the patronage of Lord Nakagawa Hisamori, this nationally designated Important Cultural Property features sophisticated Zen-style bracket complexes, fan-shaped rafters, and distinctive demon carvings at its eaves. Enshrining Aizen Myoo, the deity of love, it is celebrated as one of Oita's most popular romantic power spots.

Discover the Former Yahata Family Residence (Kyū Yahata-ke Jūtaku), an Important Cultural Property in Hita, Oita Prefecture. This rare 18th-century kudo-zukuri farmhouse preserves the traditional split-roof architecture of rural Kyushu.

The Gyōtoku Family Residence in Yoake, Hita City, Ōita Prefecture, is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property dating from the late Edo period. Once home to generations of official physicians serving the Kurume Domain, the residence features the distinctive L-shaped magari-ya roofline of western Ōita and a spacious earthen-floor layout typical of grand village headman dwellings. Visitors can explore the house, its borrowed-scenery garden, and a medical heritage museum free of charge.

Kōkan Bridge is a magnificent single-arch stone bridge completed in 1824, spanning the gorge of the Mie River between Usuki City and Bungo-Ōno City in Oita Prefecture. Boasting the longest stone arch span in Japan at the time of its construction, this Important Cultural Property represents the origin of large-scale stone arch bridge engineering in Kyushu. Discover the story of three merchants who sacrificed their fortunes to build it and the enduring beauty of Aso welded tuff masonry.

Designated an Important Cultural Property in 1975, this thatched farmhouse at Niogi is the oldest house in Oita City, with an upward-hinged shutter and adzed posts.

Hosokawa Tadaoki raised this two-storey gate at Komo Shrine in Nakatsu, Oita, in 1622. Skirt roofs balance its tall frame. An Important Cultural Property since 1988.

This 2.97-metre stone pagoda of 1321 at Kitsuki, Oita, was commissioned by a living patron for his own repose. Around a hundred medieval stones share the hillside.

Carved in 1316 and toppled into a shrine pond in the Meiji purge of Buddhist objects, this andesite pagoda was rescued in 1889 and stands at Shoonji, Kunisaki, Oita.

The main hall of Buzen Zenkoji in Usa, Oita: a mid-Muromachi hipped-roof building entered from its short end, protected nationally since 1907. Grounds open free.

This small hall at Senpukuji in Kunisaki, Oita shelters the stone grave of the monk who founded the temple in 1375. Rebuilt in 1636, it is 4.01 metres wide.

Built in 1524 at Senpukuji in Kunisaki, Oita, this is the oldest Soto Zen Buddha hall in Japan and the only medieval example in Kyushu. Rethatched in 2007.

A stone five-tiered pagoda at Kutsukake in Kitsuki, Oita, 4.11 m high. A 1968 repair uncovered an inscription of 1339, and it was designated nationally in 1954.

A stone hoto at Higashikataku in Kunisaki, Oita, 3.97 m high. Ki no Nagasada raised it in 1321 as his own memorial; the largest dated Kunisaki-to to survive intact.

Chofukuji Hondo at Hita, built in 1669, is Kyushu's oldest Shin Buddhist main hall: carved dragon transoms, original lotus paintings, and where Hirose Tanso taught.

Completed in 1938 at Taketa, this stone-faced irrigation weir was listed in 1999 for design and technique: musha-gaeshi turns its falling water into a white sheet.

The Hiyoshi-to, a late Kamakura tuff pagoda at Mangetsuji in Usuki, rises over four metres: Japan's tallest hokyointo, an Important Cultural Property since 1954.

Discover the Main Hall of Kiyomizu-dera in Nagasaki, an Important Cultural Property blending Japanese Shingon Buddhist tradition with Chinese Ōbaku architectural styles, built in 1668 by a Chinese merchant family.