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Important Cultural Property of Nara

奈 良 県 の 重 要 文 化 財

Nara’s Important Cultural Properties — designated for their value to the nation’s cultural history.

1,352 total Nara
Showing 21 – 40 of 1,352
Illustrated Scrolls of the Priest Ippen (Color on Paper)
Nara 鎌倉 Important Cultural Property
Illustrated Scrolls of the Priest Ippen (Color on Paper)

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.

Sacred Mirror of the Twelve Kumano Deities (thirteen figures)
Nara 鎌倉 Important Cultural Property
Sacred Mirror of the Twelve Kumano Deities (thirteen figures)

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.

Okadera Shoin
Nara 江戸前期 Important Cultural Property
Okadera Shoin

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.

Okadera Temple Niomon Gate
Nara 桃山 Important Cultural Property
Okadera Temple Niomon Gate

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 Shrine Main Hall
Nara 江戸末期 Important Cultural Property
Kashihara Shrine Main Hall

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.

Kikuya Family Residence (Tsukigase Village, Soekami District, Nara Prefecture)
Nara 江戸中期 Important Cultural Property
Kikuya Family Residence (Tsukigase Village, Soekami District, Nara Prefecture)

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.

Kikoji Main Hall
Nara 室町前期 Important Cultural Property
Kikoji Main Hall

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.

Kitamuroin Main Hall
Nara 室町後期 Important Cultural Property
Kitamuroin Main Hall

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.

Yoshida-Ji Temple Pagoda
Nara 室町中期 Important Cultural Property
Yoshida-Ji Temple Pagoda

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 Temple Three-Storied Pagoda
Nara 鎌倉後期 Important Cultural Property
Kudaraji Temple Three-Storied Pagoda

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.

Kuriyama Family Residence (Gojo, Gojo City, Nara Prefecture)
Nara 桃山 Important Cultural Property
Kuriyama Family Residence (Gojo, Gojo City, Nara Prefecture)

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.

Koizumi Shrine Main Hall
Nara 室町後期 Important Cultural Property
Koizumi Shrine Main Hall

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.

Konbu-in Guest Hall
Nara 江戸中期 Important Cultural Property
Konbu-in Guest Hall

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
Nara 江戸前期 Important Cultural Property
Saion-in Agetsuchimon

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 Guest Hall
Nara 桃山 Important Cultural Property
Saion-in Guest Hall

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.

Saidaiji Temple Main Hall
Nara 江戸後期 Important Cultural Property
Saidaiji Temple Main Hall

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.

Takayama Hachiman Shrine Main Hall
Nara 室町後期 Important Cultural Property
Takayama Hachiman Shrine Main Hall

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.

Tamaki Shrine Office and Kitchen
Nara 江戸後期 Important Cultural Property
Tamaki Shrine Office and Kitchen

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.

Main Hall of Sumiyoshi Shrine, a Shrine in the Precinct of Tamukeyama Shrine
Nara 鎌倉後期 Important Cultural Property
Main Hall of Sumiyoshi Shrine, a Shrine in the Precinct of Tamukeyama Shrine

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.

Treasure House of Temmukeyama Shrine
Nara 奈良 Important Cultural Property
Treasure House of Temmukeyama Shrine

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.