Important cultural property

This mid-Muromachi shrine behind Ichijoji's main hall carries a carved mulberry flower and brush, and wears a cypress bark roof returned to it in a 1943 repair.

Raised in 1628 with backing from the lord of Himeji, this nine-bay hall juts from a wooded hillside on timber posts, its ceiling packed with pilgrim slips.

The Main Hall of Inari Shrine in Tomioka, Yoshikawa-cho, Miki City, Hyogo Prefecture is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property built in 1546 (late Muromachi period). This compact single-bay structure in the sumiki-iri Kasuga-zukuri style was crafted by master carpenters from Todaiji Temple in Nara. Enclosed within a protective cover house for nearly five centuries, it has survived in remarkable condition, preserving rare painted frog-leg struts and regional late-Muromachi detailing. Discover this hidden architectural gem in Japan's celebrated sake rice heartland.

Standing at the northern tip of Awaji Island in Hyogo Prefecture, Esaki Lighthouse was designed by the British engineer R. H. Brunton and first lit in 1871, making it one of Japan's earliest Western-style lighthouses and the third-oldest still in service. Designated a National Important Cultural Property in 2022, the lighthouse offers sweeping views of the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge and preserves moving traces of the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. This guide explores its history, highlights, and visitor information.

Kangiin Shotendo in Miki, Hyogo, is a small 1411 cypress-bark shrine hall, the city's oldest, an Important Cultural Property noted for its rare veranda bracketing.

In Itami near Osaka, the Former Okada Residence is a townhouse dated to 1674, rare for its century, fronting Japan's oldest sake brewery with a known build date.

A late-Meiji brick stable with a round corner tower in Kobe's Sorakuen garden. One of few Western-style stables left in Japan, it is an Important Cultural Property.

An 1902 colonial ijinkan in Kobe, moved to Sorakuen in 1963 as an Important Cultural Property. Note its arcaded ground floor and acanthus-capped veranda columns.

Kukuhi Shrine in Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture, is the only shrine in Japan with a direct legendary connection to the Oriental White Stork. Its main hall, built in 1507 during the late Muromachi period, is a designated Important Cultural Property featuring elaborate frog-leg struts and ornate gable decorations in the three-bay nagare-zukuri style with shingled roofing. The shrine is beloved as a sanctuary for fertility and safe-childbirth blessings.

Discover the Former Kobe Foreign Settlement Building No. 15, the sole surviving structure from Kobe's historic foreign settlement era. This Important Cultural Property, once the American Consulate, features colonial-style architecture, seismic isolation technology, and now houses a stylish restaurant.

Discover Kobayashi House (Former Sharp Residence), a nationally designated Important Cultural Property in Kobe's Kitano Ijinkan district. Built in 1903 for U.S. Consul General Hunter Sharp, this colonial-style mansion known as "Moegi no Yakata" features arabesque staircases, ornate bay windows, and sweeping harbor views.

Jodo-ji Yakushido in Ono City, Hyogo Prefecture, is the principal hall of a storied temple founded by the monk Chogen. Designated an Important Cultural Property, this Muromachi-period structure rebuilt in 1517 is celebrated as a rare example of the eclectic style blending Japanese, Zen, and Daibutsu traditions, standing in dignified counterpoint to the National Treasure Jodo-do.

Located in Tanigawa, Sannan-cho, Tamba City, Hyogo Prefecture, the Main Hall of Takakura Shrine was built in 1705 by local craftsmen and designated a national Important Cultural Property in 2018. One of the largest Edo-period shrine main halls in the Tamba region, it features a distinctive layered roof and exquisite polychrome carvings that reward unhurried exploration.

Takameu Shrine Main Hall in Sanda, Hyogo, is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property rebuilt in 1513 during the late Muromachi period. This single-bay nagare-zukuri sanctuary, crowned with a hiwadabuki cypress-bark roof, displays exquisite floral carvings throughout, and houses a Kamakura-period wooden komainu pair from 1297, also a national Important Cultural Property.

Jōonji, a Nichiren temple in Amagasaki's Teramachi quarter, holds two Important Cultural Properties: a 1623 Main Hall and the city's only tahōtō, a 1607 pagoda.

A small bell tower stands by Chōkō-ji's National Treasure main hall in Kato City. Its late-Kamakura hip roof on a flared hakamagoshi base is rarely seen.

The vermilion Red Gate of Nishinomiya Shrine in Hyogo, a Momoyama four-legged gate flanked by a famous earthen wall, is the stage for the New Year fuku-otoko run.

Nyoi-ji's Amida Hall in Kobe, an early Kamakura building regarded as the city's oldest, has a lattice-shuttered front and an Amida statue of the same age inside.

Built in 1385 and dated by an inscription on its finial, the Nyoiji pagoda is Hyogo's second-oldest, a Tendai tower near Kobe enshrining three Buddhas.

Dated to 1453 by ink inscriptions on its timbers, the Monju-do at Nyoi-ji in Kobe rises from a hillside on a raised floor, standing beside two more medieval halls.