Important cultural property

The kuri of Joshoji at Suhara in Kiso, a large gabled kitchen and priests' quarters of 1654, stands with the main hall and gate of the old Zen temple.

The gate of Joshoji at Suhara in Kiso, a four-legged gate of 1661 under cypress bark, leads to the early Edo main hall and kuri of the old Zen temple.

The main hall of Joshoji at Suhara on the Nakasendo, an early Edo Zen hall, belongs to the oldest of the three great temples of Kiso, closed until 2027.

A 2.74-meter andesite pagoda at Jōraku-ji in Bessho, Ueda, inscribed 1262. One of only two stone tahōtō ranked as Important Cultural Properties in Japan.

Jōrenji Kannon-dō in Ōmachi, Nagano is a late-Muromachi Important Cultural Property. Its chamfered posts and boat-shaped brackets keep Kamakura-era carpentry alive.

The main hall of Shirahige Shrine in Kinasa, Nagano, a shingled nagare hall of about the Momoyama period, keeps Muromachi features in its remote mountain setting.

A 1515 wood-shingled pagoda within a Shinto shrine in Saku, Nagano. This Important Cultural Property survived the Meiji purge of Buddhism as a 'storehouse'.

Of three halls at Shinkai Sansha Shrine, only the small, plain East Hall is designated, a late Muromachi nagare-zukuri valued for the carving that fixes its age.

Shinmei Shrine in Omi, Nagano, keeps five Edo-period buildings from 1684 to 1840, including a large shinmei-style sanctuary and an early rural kabuki stage.

The Sunohara Family Residence in Tomi, Nagano, a thatched farmhouse of around 1688 to 1704, keeps a huge earthen floor and archaic frame; it is open free.

Suwa Shrine in Kinno, Yasuoka, shelters two plain nagare-zukuri sanctuaries of 1573, side by side and well preserved. What makes them notable and how to visit them.

Suwa Shrine in Okkoto, Fujimi, keeps the 1617 worship and offering halls of Suwa Taisha's Upper Shrine, moved here in 1849 and restored after a 1948 fire.

Suwa Taisha Kamisha Honmiya has no main hall: worship faces Mount Moriya. Its 16 listed buildings range from the 1608 gate to Tatekawa carvings. Hours and access.

Suwa Taisha Shimosha's Harumiya and Akimiya share one plan but rival carvers. A guide to its seven listed buildings, the 1835 kagura hall, hours and walking access.

Finished in 1759 and an Important Cultural Property since 1965, Zenkoji Kyozo centres on a six-metre revolving case holding 6,771 volumes of the Buddhist canon.

Dating from 1750 and protected as an Important Cultural Property since 1965, Zenkoji Sanmon has been climbable again since 2008. Monju waits on the upper floor.

Zenzanji Temple Three-Storied Pagoda in Ueda, Nagano, is a Muromachi pagoda whose upper stories lack verandas. An Important Cultural Property since 1922.

Built around the mid-1600s in Azumino, Nagano, this farmhouse belongs to the honmune-zukuri type but opens on its eaves side, showing the style before it settled.

Inside Daihoji's Kannon Hall in Aoki Village, Nagano, a miniature shrine roofed to imitate tiles carries what the temple calls Japan's oldest surviving shachihoko.

A boarded-roof honmune farmhouse on a terrace above the Tenryu River in Takamori, Nagano. A ridge tablet fixes its date to 1799; it was listed in 1973.