Important Cultural Property of Miyagi

A Buddhist hall of 1607 in Wakabayashi Ward, Sendai, five bays square. Bare timber at the gable ends, and a richly ornamented shrine standing inside it.

The Agatsuma Family Residence in Zao, Miyagi, is a 1753 thatched farmstead with three storehouses, protected with its gate and lot and open on third Sundays.

Amida hall in Kakuda, Miyagi, said to date from around 1177 and the oldest building in the prefecture: a plain thatched hall on huge pillars housing a great Amida.

Thatched farmhouse of the later Edo period in the grounds of Kozoji, Kakuda, Miyagi, with a three-room plan, a large earth floor and thick posts; free to visit.

Shiogama Shrine in Miyagi keeps fourteen buildings and a torii, from worship halls of 1663 to the three main halls completed in 1704 by the Date lords of Sendai.

A yakuimon gate of about 1609 at Zuiganji in Matsushima, reserved for the emperor, imperial family and lord, with a heavy tiled roof and white taikobei walls.

Date Masamune's 1604 hall on an islet in Matsushima Bay, reached by the Sukashi-bashi bridges, with zodiac carvings and Five Wisdom Kings shown every 33 years.

A four-legged gate of about 1609 before Zuiganji's main hall in Matsushima, the temple's only shingled roof, with an open frame and inventive carved brackets.

Built around 1887 for missionaries and designated an Important Cultural Property in 2016, this colonial timber house in Sendai is a rare early foreign residence.

Completed in 1888 to a design by Yamazoe Kisaburo, this wooden schoolhouse in Tome City became an Important Cultural Property in 1981 and now houses a museum.

A late Edo thatched farmhouse designated an Important Cultural Property in 1974, the Former Nakazawa Residence in Natori keeps the local four-room plan.

Horaguchi Family Residence in Natori, Miyagi: a Horeki-era farmhouse ringed by a ditch and igune windbreak, designated in 1971, with named posts in its earth floor.

The Matsumoto Family Residence in Kami, Miyagi, housed retainers to the Date lords' vassals. Its living and kitchen blocks stand apart beneath one thatched roof.

Cast in 1326 for Enpuku-ji Temple in Matsushima, the Unpan at Zuiganji is a rare Kamakura-period bronze gong shaped like a cloud, used to summon Zen monks. Discover this Important Cultural Property at the Seiryuden Treasure Hall.

Standing at the southern tip of Oshima Island in Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, the Oshu Mishima Raiken Stele is a slate monument over three meters tall, erected in 1307 by more than thirty disciples to honor the monk Raiken, who never left the island during twenty-two years of solitary practice. Its 643 characters of cursive script were both composed and brushed by the celebrated Chinese émigré monk Issan Ichinei. Designated an Important Cultural Property in 1955, it is one of the finest dated cursive stone inscriptions surviving from the late Kamakura period.

A complete polished jadeite axe from the Kamegaoka Site in Aomori, now housed at Miyagi's Tōhoku History Museum. Designated an Important Cultural Property in 1973, this 9 cm masterpiece reveals Jōmon-era craftsmanship and the vast trade network that carried Itoigawa jadeite across ancient Japan.

Originally preserved as a sacred treasure in an Ainu household in Hidaka, Hokkaido, this silver-mounted Kamakura-period tachi survives as a rare early example of Ezo-style ceremonial swords. Held by the Tohoku History Museum in Tagajo, Miyagi.