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.
The Front Gate of Jinya-ji near Mount Kano's summit in Chiba is an early-1500s Zen-style four-legged gate. Toppled by a 2019 typhoon, it was rebuilt by hand by 2021.
The Yakushido of Senpukuji in Inzai, Chiba, is a thatched hall of the late Muromachi period (1467 to 1572) mixing Japanese and Zen styles, key to medieval Kanto.
The Fudo Hall of Daishoji Temple in Isumi, Chiba, a thatched hall of the late Muromachi period, has been protected since 1916 as an Important Cultural Property.
The Takita Family Residence in Shirai, Chiba, built in the late 17th century for a family of village headmen, is one of the oldest farmhouses in Chiba.
The Hojuin Kannon Hall in Inzai, Chiba, built about 1563, is a small three-bay hall under a hipped thatched roof, designated an Important Cultural Property.
The Kannon Hall of Horaiji in Ichihara, Chiba, a hall of the late Muromachi period three bays square under a thatched hipped roof, was designated in 1931.
Built in 1622 by sword-appraiser Hon'ami Kōshitsu for his late parents, this 31.6-meter vermilion pagoda at Hokekyō-ji is Chiba's only surviving Edo-period pagoda.
A four-legged gate at Hokekyo-ji built in the Zen-derived karayo style, with curved beams and carved eaves that date it to the Muromachi period. Designated 1916.
Two sheets from 1254 on which Nichiren drew Aizen and Fudo as he saw them in visions, kept at Myohonji in Kyonan, Chiba. Not on regular display; ask before visiting.
A 14th-century great naginata, 80.6 cm long, attributed to Tajima's Hojoji smiths, with its original tang. Kept at the Otaki Castle Branch, closed for renovation.
407 manuscripts, records, diaries, letters and belongings of Ohara Yugaku, the Edo-period farm reformer behind an early cooperative, shown at his museum in Asahi.
A Kamakura painting of the six-armed, vermilion Aizen Myoo on a treasure vase, 136 cm tall, kept at Chotokuji in Sosa, Chiba, and shown once a year in late January.
A pair of Yuan-dynasty folding screens of the sixteen arhats, attributed to Zhao of Ningbo and owned by Hokekyoji in Ichikawa; kept at the Tokyo National Museum.
At Jokoin near Hokekyo-ji in Ichikawa, Chiba, hangs the Water-Mirror Portrait, a strikingly lifelike Kamakura-period image of Nichiren reading the Lotus Sutra.
A late-Kamakura silk scroll at Chōtokuji in Sōsa, Chiba: a twenty-armed Fugen Enmei on four six-tusked white elephants, opened to the public one Sunday each January.
Rare amber-glazed ceramic guardian lion-dogs from medieval Seto, barely 18 cm tall, kept at Katori Jingu in Chiba and made an Important Cultural Property in 1953.
Designated in 2023, Koami-ji's 20 gilt-bronze esoteric ritual implements bear the engraved name of the monk Shinkai, linking Awa and Kanazawa across Tokyo Bay.
A 17th-century ink painting by Iwasa Matabei: Rōgyoku summons a phoenix with her flute. A panel of the dispersed Kanaya screen, an Important Cultural Property.
In 1278 a rumor of a planned debate reached Nichiren at Minobu. His 21-line autograph reply, held at Hondoji as an Important Cultural Property, captures his joy.
Naritasan Buddhist Library holds the oldest manuscript of the Sumiyoshi Monogatari, a Kamakura retelling of a lost Heian tale of a stepdaughter saved by the Kannon.