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.

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.

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.

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.

South of Sakurai in Nara, Tanzan Shrine holds the world's only wooden thirteen-story pagoda, rebuilt in 1532, among vermilion halls that honor Fujiwara no Kamatari.

Denkōji is a Ritsu-sect temple in central Nara, restored in 1585 as a memorial to the warlord Tsutsui Junkei. Its Main Hall is designated an Important Cultural Property as a rare example of Momoyama-period Buddhist architecture. The temple is also renowned for its Kamakura-era 'Naked Jizō' statue and one of Nara's Three Famous Camellias.

The Main Hall of Tenjinsha Shrine in Kitano, Yamazoe Village, is a compact single-bay Kasuga-style structure built during the middle Muromachi period (around the Oei era, late 14th to mid-15th century). Designated a National Important Cultural Property in 1923, this quiet village shrine in the Yamato Highlands preserves the disciplined craftsmanship of medieval Japanese shrine architecture. It makes a rewarding cultural detour alongside Mt. Konosan, Kono-ji Temple, and the striking Nabekura-kei rock stream.

The main hall of Tennō Shrine in Bizen-chō, Tenri City, Nara Prefecture, is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property built in 1396 during the early Muromachi period. Constructed in the elegant kasuga-zukuri style at the behest of a traveling monk named Raishū, this vermilion-painted, cypress-bark-roofed shrine preserves both its original ridge plaque and four syncretic Buddhist-Shinto deity images, offering a rare glimpse into pre-modern Japan's intertwined religious traditions.

The Worship Hall of Toshodai-ji is a long nineteen-bay Important Cultural Property joining a chapel and a monks' dormitory, and still hosts the October Shaka rite.

The Ōyuya behind Nigatsu-do is Todai-ji's monastery bathhouse. Rebuilt by Chōgen and overhauled in 1408, it keeps a medieval iron tub and furnace for steam bathing.

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.