Intangible Folk Cultural Properties Requiring Documentation of Niigata

A Niigata folk custom from the Uonuma hills and Sado Island: fiber from wild nettle-family plants spun and woven into cloth, recorded in 1973 as pre-cotton heritage.

Ōsudo Noh in Murakami, Niigata, descends from Yamagata's Kurokawa Noh, brought to the village in 1844 and kept alive by local residents for more than 150 years.

Seven households at Gosho Shrine on Sado mime a rice-planting year in seven ceremonies each February 6, a rite documented since 1674 and open to all since 2018.

Sado Puppet Theater encompasses three distinct styles of traditional puppetry — Bunya, Sekkyō, and Noroma — preserved for over 300 years on Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture. Designated as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 1977, these one-person puppet traditions offer a rare glimpse into early Japanese performing arts that have vanished from the mainland.

Discover the Sanpoku Botamochi Festival, an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property held in the small coastal communities of Murakami City, Niigata. This unique ritual combines harvest thanksgiving, prayers for prosperity, and a communal initiation ceremony through the making and sharing of giant rice cakes.

Held each August in Horinouchi, Niigata, Dai no Saka is a slow bon dance sung over a seven-beat drum to honor the dead, listed by UNESCO as a Furyu-odori in 2022.

Niigata’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.