Important Cultural Property of Nagasaki

Discover the Essel Telegraaf, the only surviving domestically-made telegraph from Japan's Edo period. Housed at Isahaya Museum of Art & History in Nagasaki Prefecture, this Important Cultural Property reveals how late-Edo innovators adapted Dutch technology.

Discover the Tachi inscribed Naminohira Ieyasu, a Kamakura-period Important Cultural Property crafted by Japan's longest-lived sword school, the Satsuma Naminohira lineage. This rare 67.5 cm blade, designated in 1955, preserves the Yamato tradition through its tight ko-itame hada and disciplined thin suguha temper line.

Preserved in Tsushima City, Nagasaki, the Chōsen-koku Kokushin are three Joseon-dynasty appointment documents issued in 1477, 1482, and 1503 to Japanese mariners connected with the Sōda clan of medieval Tsushima. Designated an Important Cultural Property in 1974, they are the oldest substantial set of Joseon appointment letters surviving in Japan and a first-class source for understanding the diplomacy that transformed pirates into licensed traders.

Discover the Main Hall of Kiyomizu-dera in Nagasaki, an Important Cultural Property blending Japanese Shingon Buddhist tradition with Chinese Ōbaku architectural styles, built in 1668 by a Chinese merchant family.

Saikai Bridge, spanning the Inoura Strait in Nagasaki Prefecture, is Japan's first strait-crossing bridge, completed in 1955. At the time, it was the third-longest fixed arch bridge in the world and was celebrated as the greatest in Asia. Built with outstanding design and construction techniques during post-war material shortages, it was designated as a national Important Cultural Property in 2020 — the first post-war bridge to receive this honor. The bridge is also a popular tourist destination for viewing dramatic whirlpools and cherry blossoms.

Saiwai Bridge (also known as the Dutch Bridge) spans the Kagami River in Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture. Built in 1702 using stone arch techniques derived from the Dutch Trading Post, this Important Cultural Property stands as a testament to the East-West cultural exchange during Hirado's era as Japan's international trading port.

Discover the Former Shitsu Relief Institution (Kyū Shitsu Kyūjōin), an Important Cultural Property and UNESCO World Heritage component in Nagasaki. Built by French priest Father de Rotz in 1883 to empower local women, this historic vocational facility features unique De Rotz Wall construction and tells the story of faith and social welfare in Japan's Sotome district.

Discover Shitsu Church (出津教会堂), a National Important Cultural Property and UNESCO World Heritage component in Nagasaki. Built in 1882 by French missionary Father Marc Marie de Rotz, this brick church with white plastered walls stands on a hilltop overlooking the East China Sea, symbolizing the end of 250 years of Hidden Christian faith.

A gabled, tile-roofed late-Edo farmhouse in Tsutsu on southern Tsushima, designated an Important Cultural Property in 1969 for its regional plan and frame.

An Important Cultural Property of 1731 at Nagasaki's Sōfukuji, where Kannon, the deified general Guan Yu, and the guardian Idaten share one Ōbaku-style hall.

Sōfukuji's vermilion outer gate in Nagasaki, rebuilt in 1849 by Japanese carpenters. The Dragon Palace Gate is the temple's most Chinese-looking building.

Built in 1728 at Nagasaki's Sofukuji temple, this two-story tower holds both a bell and a drum. Its frame is Chinese carpentry; its roof follows Japanese design.

Built in 1666, the Maso Gate of Sōfukuji temple in Nagasaki leads to the hall of Maso, the Chinese sea goddess once enshrined there by visiting trading ships.

Built in 1918 by master builder Tetsukawa Yosuke, this hilltop brick church above Hirado Strait pairs a dark exterior with a pale, camellia-carved interior.

The Former Honda Family Residence in Nakazato-machi, Nagasaki City, is a mid-Edo period thatched farmhouse designated as a nationally Important Cultural Property — the oldest surviving residential structure in Nagasaki Prefecture. Featuring a traditional three-room floor plan, scissor-truss roof structure, and the distinctive locally-named momozuki thatching style, it offers a rare glimpse into rural Japanese life over 250 years ago. Free admission, open year-round.

The Former Latin Seminary, located within the grounds of Oura Church in Nagasaki, was built in 1875 to train Japanese Catholic priests following the end of Japan's centuries-long ban on Christianity. Designed by French missionary Father de Rotz in a distinctive timber-framed brick style, this three-story Important Cultural Property now serves as the Oura Church Christian Museum.