Important cultural property

Discover the Fūrō Shrine Five-Story Stone Pagoda (Shōhei-tō), a nationally designated Important Cultural Property dating from 1355. This exquisite Muromachi-period stone pagoda in Ōkawa City, Fukuoka features intricate carvings of Buddhist deities, dragon heads, and demon faces.

Discover Furo Shrine Main Hall (Furo Jinja Honden), an Important Cultural Property in Okawa City, Fukuoka. Built in 1560 by warlord Kamachi Akimori, this cypress-bark-roofed shrine honors the sea deity Watatsumi and the legendary Empress Jingu.

The Fukuoka Castle Minami-maru Tamon Yagura is the only turret of Fukuoka Castle still standing in its original Edo-period position. Comprising a two-story corner turret and a 54-meter flat turret with 16 individual rooms, this nationally designated Important Cultural Property offers a rare window into the defensive architecture of one of Japan's largest castles. Located in Maizuru Park in central Fukuoka, visitors can enjoy cherry blossom illuminations in spring and special interior openings in autumn.

Discover the Former Fukuoka Prefecture Public Hall VIP Pavilion (Kihinkan), an Important Cultural Property in Fukuoka City. Built in 1910 in French Renaissance style, this elegant wooden Western-style building features marble fireplaces, ornate ceilings, and a charming café in Tenjin Central Park.

Discover Fumon-in Main Hall, an Important Cultural Property in Asakura, Fukuoka. Founded by the monk Gyoki in 747 and rebuilt in the late Kamakura period, it is the oldest surviving wooden building in Fukuoka Prefecture.

Discover Minami Kawachi Bridge, a 1926 steel lenticular truss bridge spanning Kawachi Reservoir in Kitakyushu. Designated as an Important Cultural Property, it is the only surviving bridge of its kind in Japan.

A Heian Eleven-Headed Kannon at Hase-dera in Kurate, Fukuoka. Carved from one camphor block, about 187 cm tall, with a stern long face and a rare painted halo.

Discover Eryū-ji Kannon-dō, an Important Cultural Property in Aizubange, Fukushima. This Kamakura-period thatched-roof hall houses an extraordinary 8.5-meter Senju Kannon carved from a single standing tree, flanked by a complete set of 28 guardian deities.

Discover Enmanji Kannon-do, a nationally designated Important Cultural Property in Nishiaizu, Fukushima. This intimate thatched-roof Zen-style hall from the late Muromachi period preserves centuries of devotion to the Child-Guardian Kannon.

Tucked into the quiet Fujikura hamlet of Aizu-Wakamatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture, Enmeiji Jizō-dō is a mid-Muromachi-period Buddhist hall designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan. Its steeply pitched hipped roof combined with a wrap-around pent roof (mokoshi) gives the single-storied building the charming appearance of two stories — earning it the beloved nickname Fujikura Nikai-dō. As one of the few surviving examples of Zen-style (Zen-shū-yō) architecture in the Tōhoku region, the hall miraculously escaped the flames of the 1868 Boshin War. Visitors can experience six centuries of history and refined medieval craftsmanship amid the serene landscape of rural Aizu.

Okunoin Bentendo, nestled in Yanaizu Town of Fukushima Prefecture, is a rare Muromachi-period Important Cultural Property built around 1397. This small thatched hall blends Zen and Japanese architectural styles and houses the water goddess Benzaiten, offering a quiet glimpse into Aizu's medieval spiritual heritage.

Kannon-dō, locally known as Nakanosawa Kannon-dō, is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property in Shimogō Town, Fukushima Prefecture. This three-bay-square wooden Buddhist hall, built in the early Muromachi period, stands as a rare surviving example of medieval architecture in northeastern Japan. Constructed without nails and administered today by Asahida-ji temple, it offers visitors a quiet glimpse into the Aizu region's rich religious heritage, easily combined with nearby attractions such as Tō-no-Hetsuri and Ouchi-juku.

Built around 1904 on a silkworm-egg fortune, this Date landmark joins a Western exterior and a semi-octagonal tower with Japanese parlors finished in rare hardwoods.

The Former Shōsō-ji Sansōdō, or Aizu Sazaedo, is a hexagonal wooden hall of about 1796 whose twin spiral ramps let visitors climb and descend without ever meeting.

Kumano Jinja Nagatoko in Kitakata, Fukushima, is an early-Kamakura worship hall of 44 open pillars and no walls. Walk among the columns beside its golden ginkgo.

A late-Kamakura shrine at Koan-ji in Fukushima once held a bronze Kannon triad. Restored in the 1970s, it now holds Benzaiten, among Aizu's oldest buildings.

An andesite memorial bearing a dated 1181 inscription, built for Minamoto no Motomitsu, second lord of the Mutsu Ishikawa clan, and counted among Japan's earliest dated stone gorintō.

Standing quietly amid the rice fields of Yugawa Village in Fukushima, Shōjō-ji Yakushidō is a National Important Cultural Property rebuilt in 1398 during the early Muromachi period. Originally the lecture hall of a great temple founded by the monk Tokuitsu in 807, the building now enshrines a National Treasure wooden Medicine Buddha. Its broad hipped roof, blend of Japanese and Chinese-Zen architectural styles, and six centuries of devotional history make it one of the most significant pieces of medieval architecture in northern Japan.

Hidden along a quiet rural road in Aizumisato, Fukushima, the Jōfukuin Yakushidō (also known as Tago Yakushidō) is a refined mid-Muromachi-period hall in the Karayō (Chinese Zen) style. Designated a National Important Cultural Property in 1904, it is one of the finest such examples in northern Japan.

Located on a wooded rise within the grounds of Nakamura Castle in Fukushima Prefecture, the Honden, Heiden, and Haiden of Soma Nakamura Shrine were built in 1643 by Soma Yoshitane, the second lord of the Nakamura Domain, and were designated a National Important Cultural Property of Japan in 1983. This orthodox Kan'ei-era gongen-zukuri compound shrine — generously crafted from zelkova wood and adorned with horse carvings on the kaerumata struts — stands as a benchmark of early-Edo shrine architecture in the Tohoku region. It remains the solemn departure point for the Soma Nomaoi, a National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property featuring hundreds of armored mounted samurai.