Important Cultural Property of Nara

An Important Cultural Property held privately in Nara Prefecture, the four-scroll Shihon Chakushoku Ippen Shōnin Emaki depicts the life of Ippen Shōnin (1239–1289), founder of the Ji-shū sect. As a transcribed copy of the Sōshun-bon tradition, it preserves the spirit of Kamakura-period yamato-e painting and Japan's medieval Pure Land devotion.

Discover the Kumano Junisha Gongen Mishōtai, an Important Cultural Property featuring thirteen Buddhist deities on a gilded bronze mirror disc. Explore the beauty of Shinto-Buddhist syncretism at Nara National Museum.

The Shoin at Okadera Temple in Asuka Village, Nara Prefecture, is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property dating to the late Momoyama to early Edo period. This rare surviving example of shoin-zukuri architecture uniquely combines a formal reception hall with domestic kitchen space under one roof, offering invaluable insight into Momoyama-period temple architecture.

Discover the Niomon Gate of Oka-dera Temple in Asuka Village, Nara Prefecture—a designated Important Cultural Property built in 1612 with recycled materials from a medieval pagoda. Learn about its history, architecture, and dragon legend.

Kashihara Jingu's Main Hall began as a Kyoto Imperial Palace sanctuary of 1855, moved here in 1890. On its bracketless detailing and what visitors can actually see.

The Kikuya Family Residence in Tsukigase, Nara, is a small thatched farmhouse built around 1700, preserving a three-room plan once common across the Kinai region.

Kikō-ji's main hall in Nara, said to have modeled Tōdai-ji's Great Buddha Hall, is a tiered Muromachi rebuilding of 1544 housing a late-Heian seated Amida triad.

Built in 1494 inside the Hōryū-ji precinct, Kitamuro-in's main hall is a small three-bay sub-temple chapel roofed in cypress bark, with an Amida triad inside.

Dated 1463 by an inscription on its central pillar, Kichiden-ji's tahoto in Ikaruga is Nara's oldest surviving two-storied pagoda, with a hidden Dainichi inside.

Kudaraji's three-storied pagoda rises above rice fields in Koryo Town, Nara. Its late Kamakura design, 1675 finial, disputed founding legend, and how to get inside.

Dated to 1607 by its ridge tablet, the Kuriyama Family Residence in Gojo City is Japan's oldest dwelling of documented date. On its roof, plan, framing and street.

The Main Hall of Koizumi Shrine in Yamatokoriyama, Nara Prefecture, is a designated Important Cultural Property dating from the late Muromachi period. Built in the one-bay Kasuga style with a cypress bark roof and vivid polychrome decoration, it features rare architectural elements such as boat-shaped bracket arms and freestanding railings. Originally founded as the tutelary shrine of the medieval Koizumi warrior clan, it offers an intimate glimpse of Japanese shrine architecture alongside nearby attractions like Jikō-in Temple and Koizumi Castle ruins.

Dated to the Kanbun era and designated in 1973, this cypress-bark hall at Konbu-in convent in Nara follows a Zen abbot's-quarters plan and holds Edo-period panels.

Saion-in Agetsuchimon at Hōryū-ji is an early Edo gate of a type surviving in only two examples. Designated in 1942, it stands on a path that is free to walk.

Saion-in Kyakuden at Hōryū-ji is a Momoyama residence roofed in cedar bark, designated in 1942. The hall is closed, but its two gates face the free approach path.

Head temple of the Shingon Risshū sect, rebuilt 1798–1808 with all-timber plank walls — a rare construction earning Important Cultural Property status in 1998.

Built in 1572 and dated by its ridge tablets, the main hall of Takayama Hachimangu in Nara is a nagare-zukuri shrine named an Important Cultural Property in 1978.

Built in 1804 on Mount Tamaki in Nara, this Important Cultural Property holds Kano-school painted rooms above a basement retreat once used by mountain ascetics.

At the south edge of Tamukeyama Hachimangū, Tōdai-ji's guardian shrine since 749, this small late-Kamakura Sumiyoshi hall is an Important Cultural Property.

An eighth-century azekura log storehouse at Tamukeyama Hachimangu in Nara. Once part of Todai-ji's oil store and moved here in 1714, it can be studied up close.

Nara’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.