Historic Sites, Places of Scenic Beauty, and Natural Monuments of Tochigi

Two 4th-century keyhole tumuli on the Naka River terrace in Tochigi, where Tokugawa Mitsukuni ordered Japan's earliest documented scientific excavation in 1692.

Once topped by a 60-metre pagoda, Shimotsuke Kokubunji was a provincial state temple built in 741. Its eighth-century foundations survive in Tochigi Prefecture.

Discover the Shimotsuke Yakushiji Temple Ruins in Shimotsuke City, Tochigi — a National Historic Site and one of only three ordination platforms in ancient Japan, alongside Todai-ji and Kanzeon-ji. Explore the rich Nara-period Buddhist heritage, reconstructed corridors, and the story of the exiled monk Dokyo.

Tochigi's 8th-10th century Nasu county office, mistaken for a temple until a 1940 bronze seal triggered excavations that uncovered 30+ buildings across four blocks.

Nikko Sannai is the mountain precinct in Tochigi where two shrines and one temple share the slopes. It became a Historic Site in 1998 and World Heritage in 1999.

Japan's only Special Historic Site and Special Natural Monument, this Guinness-record cedar avenue near Nikko was donated to Tōshōgū in 1648 by Matsudaira Masatsuna.

An Early Jomon site in Utsunomiya where 339 grave pits fill a plaza ringed by pit dwellings and timber halls up to 23 meters long, a ground for burial and ceremony.

Tochigi’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.