Edo
江戸Browse Japan’s cultural heritage from the Edo period (1603 – 1868). Filter by prefecture, type, and keyword, with concise stories, maps, and travel tips.
The Sawai Family Residence in Kyotanabe, Kyoto, was home to deputies of the convent Donge-in. Rebuilt in 1740-41, it and its construction papers are designated.
Shūon'an, or Ikkyū-ji, is where the witty Zen monk Ikkyū spent his last years and lies buried behind a locked imperial gate, amid historic halls and gardens.
Early Edo pavilion at Shinjuan in Daitokuji, Kyoto, said to be an imperial consort's dressing pavilion, shingle-roofed and including the Teigyokuken tea room.
Abbot's hall of 1638 at Shinjuan, a Daitokuji sub-temple in Kyoto, with a statue of Ikkyu and door paintings attributed to Soga Dasoku, facing a dry garden.
The Main Hall of Shinshō-gokuraku-ji — better known as Shinnyo-dō — is the largest Tendai-school main hall in Kyoto. Built in 1717 from solid zelkova, it shelters the secret 'Nodding Amida' image, opened once a year on November 15.
The late Edo main house of the Sumiya ageya in Shimabara, Kyoto, an Important Cultural Property since 1952, with its tea room, pavilion, storehouses and garden.
Reached by a rare downhill approach, this 1669 Zen-style Buddha Hall holds three Buddhas of past, present, and future beneath a coiling dragon by Kanō Tan'yū.
Shinden of 1619 at Daikakuji in Saga, Kyoto, the residence of Empress Tofukumon-in given by Emperor Go-Mizunoo, with peony and plum paintings by Kano Sanraku.
Town house of 1760 on the Kurama Kaido, Kyoto, said to be a charcoal merchant's, with a cedar-bark pent roof; the city's oldest known through-passage town house.
Discover Chion-in, the grand head temple of Jodo (Pure Land) Buddhism in Kyoto. Explore Japan's largest wooden gate (National Treasure), the majestic Miei-do Hall, the legendary Seven Wonders, and the iconic 70-ton bell. A must-visit spiritual landmark in Higashiyama.
The 1641 Karamon gate of Chion-in, Kyoto, an Important Cultural Property since 1910, carved with legendary figures riding a carp and a crane.
The 1621 sutra repository of Chion-in, Kyoto, an Important Cultural Property since 1900, housing a revolving case with 6,000 volumes of the Song canon.
The Sanmon gate of Chion-in, Kyoto, completed in 1621 for Tokugawa Hidetada and a National Treasure since 2002, the largest surviving two-storey gate.
The 1678 bell tower of Chion-in, Kyoto, an Important Cultural Property since 1997, housing a 70-tonne bell rung by seventeen people on New Year's Eve.
The main hall of Chion-in, Kyoto, built by Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1639 and a National Treasure since 2002, a vast Jodo hall with a forest of columns inside.
The main hall of Tenkyuin, a sub-temple of Myoshinji in Kyoto, dates from the Kan'ei era (1624–1643) and is designated with its entrance hall and an old ridge tile.
Built in 1628 at Konchi-in, this is called Kyoto's only surviving gongen-zukuri shrine. A dragon attributed to Kano Tanyu covers the worship hall ceiling.
The Important Cultural Property Ninnaji Temple covers 14 buildings, from the Nio-mon Gate and pagoda to two teahouses, designated 1900 to 1973. Structure, viewing.
An early Edo shoin at Fushimi Inari Taisha, said to have been granted by a retired emperor in 1641 and moved from the palace. Listed in 1927 and normally closed.
The gates and buildings along the street front of Nishi Honganji, Kyoto, Important Cultural Properties, including the great gates and a sutra repository of 1677.