Important Cultural Property of Iwate

Late Muromachi hall at Mikumano Shrine in Hanamaki, Iwate: a thick-pillared three-bay hall, rare in Iwate, that once housed a 4.73-metre statue of Bishamonten.

Shrine sanctuary of 1632 at Hidaka Shrine in Mizusawa, Oshu, a three-bay nagare-zukuri hall with distinctive porch details, among the oldest shrine halls in Iwate.

A straight thatched farmhouse from Ide in Esashi, rebuilt at Iwate Prefectural Museum. Its roof is hip-and-gable at one end and plain hip at the other.

At Tendai-ji in northern Iwate, this Heian-period Important Cultural Property — about 170 cm tall and carved from a single trunk of katsura wood — stands beside the temple's celebrated Sho-Kannon as a survival of Japan's northernmost ancient Buddhist sculpture.

Enshrined in Senju-do at Kannon-in, a sub-temple of Chuson-ji in Hiraizumi, Iwate Prefecture, this 171.2-centimeter wooden statue of Senju Kannon (the Thousand-Armed Bodhisattva of Compassion) is a celebrated late-Heian masterpiece. Carved in the joined-block technique with lacquer and gold-leaf finish, it features eleven faces above the main head and currently thirty-two arms. Designated an Important Cultural Property in 1929, it embodies the gentle Fujiwara-style aesthetic of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hiraizumi.

The Wooden Standing Statue of Tobatsu Bishamonten at Asai-Chifuku Atago Shrine (Fujisato Bishamondo) in Oshu, Iwate is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property. Carved from a single block of Japanese horse chestnut and standing 175 cm tall, it features an extraordinary horizontal round-chisel technique with very few parallels in Japan. It is one of the finest provincial Tobatsu Bishamonten figures of the Heian period preserved in Tohoku.

Housed at Kokuseki-ji Temple in Oshu City, Iwate, this seated statue of Yakushi Nyorai bears an ink inscription dated 862 CE inside its body, making it the oldest dated wooden Buddhist sculpture in Japan and a National Important Cultural Property. Carved from a single block of katsura wood and standing 126 cm tall, the statue features a striking, severe expression and a powerfully sculpted body, serving as a touchstone for the study of early Heian-period sculpture. Discover this rare witness to the meeting of imperial Buddhist culture and the ancient northern frontier.

Held by Chusonji Temple in Hiraizumi, Iwate, these four Important Cultural Property masks include the Wakajo, whose ink inscription on the reverse dates it to 1291—making it the oldest dated Noh mask known to survive in Japan. Together with two Okina masks and one Roujo mask, they are still worn each year by Chusonji's monks during Kojitsu Shikisanban, a medieval ennen performance offered on May 4–5 and November 3 at the Hakusan Shrine Noh stage.

Iwate’s registered properties across designations, with featured heritage and travel notes.

The complete kokuhō catalogue — browse by prefecture, period, and category.

Nationwide jūyō bunkazai — architecture, sculpture, painting, crafts, and documents.