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 Gyotoku Family Residence in Hita City, Oita Prefecture, built between 1842 and 1847, is a large thatched farmhouse with the L-shaped roof typical of the region.
The Kokan Bridge of 1824 in Oita, built by three local merchants, had the longest stone arch in Japan at 25.1 metres and began the great stone arches of Kyushu.
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.
The main hall of Kiyomizudera in Nagasaki, built in 1668 with funds from the Chinese merchant He Gaocai, has an open aisle and Obaku-style details unusual in Japan.
Saikai Bridge in Nagasaki, completed in 1955, crosses the Ino-ura Strait on a 216-metre steel arch, Japan's first strait crossing and a post-war landmark.
The Saiwai Bridge at Hirado Port, Nagasaki, a stone arch of 1702 built by local masons for the lord of Hirado, carries the skills of the town's trading-port days.
The Former Shitsu Rescue Center in Nagasaki, built 1883 to 1885 by Father de Rotz for villagers, keeps a workshop, macaroni factory and net factory on a slope.
Shitsu Church in Nagasaki, consecrated in 1882 and completed in 1909 by Father de Rotz, is a rare early church of brick and timber; visits need advance notice.
A gabled, tile-roofed late-Edo farmhouse in Tsutsu on southern Tsushima, designated an Important Cultural Property in 1969 for its regional plan and frame.