65.3 Hectares, Selected in 2017
Cultural Landscape of Aso / Rural Landscape of Ubuyama (阿蘇の文化的景観 産山村の農村景観, Aso no Bunkateki Keikan, Ubuyama-mura no Noson Keikan) is an important cultural landscape at Ubuyama Village, Aso District, Kumamoto Prefecture, selected on 13 October 2017. The area is 65.3 hectares.
The category is important cultural landscape, distinct from the National Treasures, Important Cultural Properties, registered tangible cultural properties, registered art objects and Important Art Objects covered here so far.
The database enters 13 October 2017 in its field for Important Cultural Property. The Agency's record treats that date as one of selection, and this article follows the record.
Not Designated, Not Registered, but Selected
A third verb has appeared in the vocabulary of cultural property.
National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties are designated. Registered tangible cultural properties and registered art objects are registered. Important cultural landscapes are selected.
The Agency's record uses a field for date of selection rather than date of designation. Another field, for measures taken after listing, reads none.
Around the Jittoku painting, registered art objects showed that designation and registration are separate systems. Around the Yohen Tenmoku bowl stood an Important Art Object. Selection now joins them.
Within one framework of protection the verb divides three ways. Which word is used tells you which system applies.
Area Recorded in Place of a Count
The field for quantity differs as well.
There is no quantity field. Instead an area field gives 65.3 hectares.
Quantities so far have been counted in scrolls, hanging scrolls, painted surfaces, pairs of screens, bowls, blocks, folded books, volumes, sheets, boxes, figures and buildings. With the Inariyama finds and others, nothing was counted at all and the record read one lot.
Here nothing is counted either, but the record measures extent instead. A landscape cannot be taken as a number of things.
The owner field is empty too. Temples, religious corporations, individuals, a foundation, the state, a national institute, a company, an inter-university corporation and a national university have all appeared as owners; for a landscape none is recorded. The field for a managing body is empty as well.
One Name Covering Landscapes Far Apart
The structure of the name is distinctive.
It runs in two parts: the cultural landscape of Aso, then the rural landscape of Ubuyama. The first names the whole, the second an individual landscape.
Under the same first part stand other names: the grassland landscape of the western outer rim of Aso, the grassland landscape of the northern outer rim and the central cones, the grassland and forest landscape of western Minamioguni.
At Aoi Aso Shrine, five buildings stood within one precinct. At Yasaka Shrine, twenty-nine did. This is different.
Landscapes lying far apart are gathered under the single name of Aso. What holds them together is not adjacency but the region itself.
Visiting
The landscape lies at Ubuyama Village, Aso District, Kumamoto Prefecture. Being a landscape, it has no distinction between open and closed as a building or an artwork would.
The Agency describes the terrain: at Ubuyama, where the outer rim of the Aso caldera meets the foot of the Kuju range, hills spread across an area of undulating plateau and steeply eroded hill country, with many springs.
It continues: much of the sloping ground has been used as grassland or woodland. How the land is used is what makes the landscape.
The assessment is a single sentence: a rural landscape distinctive to the Aso district.
Private land and places where people live are included, so entry calls for care. Check the village's information before travelling.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Kumamoto
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Cultural Landscape of Aso / Rural Landscape of Ubuyama
- [ Kumamoto Castle & Mt. Aso Volcano Tours ]
Q&A
- When was this landscape selected?
- On 13 October 2017. The category is important cultural landscape, the area 65.3 hectares, and the location Ubuyama Village, Aso District, Kumamoto Prefecture.
- What does selected mean here?
- It is the word used for important cultural landscapes. National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties are designated, registered properties are registered, and cultural landscapes are selected. The Agency's record uses a field for date of selection.
- Is no quantity given?
- There is no quantity field. An area field gives 65.3 hectares instead, since a landscape cannot be taken as a number of things. The owner field is empty as well.
- Why is the name in two parts?
- The first names the whole and the second an individual landscape. Other landscapes under the same first part include grassland on the western outer rim of Aso, so places far apart are gathered under one name.
- What kind of country is it?
- The Agency records hills spreading across undulating plateau and steeply eroded hill country where the outer rim of the Aso caldera meets the foot of the Kuju range, with many springs, and notes that much of the sloping ground has been used as grassland or woodland.
Basic Information
| Name | Cultural Landscape of Aso / Rural Landscape of Ubuyama (阿蘇の文化的景観 産山村の農村景観, Aso no Bunkateki Keikan, Ubuyama-mura no Noson Keikan) |
|---|---|
| Location | Ubuyama Village, Aso District, Kumamoto Prefecture |
| Designation | Important cultural landscape; selected rather than designated or registered |
| Year Designated | 2017 (13 October), selected as an important cultural landscape |
| Quantity | No quantity field; an area of 65.3 hectares is recorded instead |
| Dimensions | An area of 65.3 hectares, where the outer rim of the Aso caldera meets the foot of the Kuju range, made up of undulating plateau and steeply eroded hill country. Much of the sloping ground has been used as grassland or woodland |
| Owner | The Agency's fields for owner and managing body are both empty |
| Public Access | A landscape, with no distinction between open and closed; private land and places where people live are included, so entry calls for care |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: the rural landscape of Ubuyama
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/412/00004015
- Cultural Heritage Online: the cultural landscape of Aso
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/db/heritages/detail/409215
- Ubuyama Village: about the village
- https://www.ubuyama-v.jp/villagepromotion/996.html
- Kumamoto Prefecture: cultural properties
- https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/soshiki/125/161554.html
Last verified: 2026.09.05