Important Cultural Property of Tokyo

The Albino sheet of the Yamai no Soshi, a 12th-century Buddhist handscroll, was cut from its parent scroll in 1796 and named an Important Cultural Property in 1938.

A pair of gold-ground folding screens at the Tokyo National Museum: a Namban ship unloading cargo, and a procession winding toward a hilltop Christian church.

Hasegawa Tohaku's Crows and Egrets, a pair of six-panel ink screens from around 1605, sets black crows against white egrets in monochrome. Where to see it today.

A Muromachi ink painting of the poet Li Bai watching a waterfall, inscribed by the Zen monk Ishō Tokugan around the early 1420s, the oldest such work in Japan.

At Tokyo's Artizon Museum, this Tokiwa scroll of the Heiji Monogatari Emaki paints the 1159 war apart from its famous kin, from Tokiwa's flight to a court purge.

Volume eight of the nine-scroll Shui Kotokuden, a Kamakura life of Honen, founder of Japan's Pure Land school, drafted in 1301 by Shinran's great-grandson Kakunyo.

This Kamakura-period handscroll, an Important Cultural Property in a private Tokyo collection, illustrates the diary of Murasaki Shikibu, author of Genji.

Discover the Rogan-zu (Reeds and Wild Geese) by Shūgetsu Tōkan, a designated Important Cultural Property of Japan. This Muromachi-period ink painting by a direct disciple of Sesshū captures the poetic beauty of autumn marshlands.

Discover the Silk-Painted Biography of Prince Shōtoku, a set of four hanging scrolls designated as a National Important Cultural Property and held by Myōan-ji temple in Bandō City, Ibaraki Prefecture. Created during the Kamakura period to support the Pure Land mission in eastern Japan, this masterpiece depicts about seventy scenes from Prince Shōtoku's legendary life. Learn about its founding by Jōnen, a disciple of Shinran, the painting's iconographic highlights, where to see the faithful replica, visitor access, and surrounding pilgrimage sites.

Discover the Important Cultural Property bokuseki by Sekishitsu Zenkyū—a Zen incense-offering verse (nenkōgo) written in 1363 during the Nanbokuchō period. Owned by the Tokiwayama Bunko and housed at the Tokyo National Museum, this majestic calligraphic work embodies the spiritual depth of medieval Japanese Zen Buddhism. Learn about its history, significance, and how to visit.

Discover the Former Asakura House (Kyu Asakura House), an Important Cultural Property in Daikanyama, Tokyo. Built in 1919, this Taisho-era wooden mansion features elegant tatami rooms, detailed woodwork, and a stunning hillside strolling garden with stone lanterns and seasonal foliage.

Eitai Bridge, spanning the Sumida River between Chuo and Koto cities in Tokyo, is a historic bridge with origins dating back to 1698. The current steel tied-arch structure, completed in 1926 as part of the post-Great Kanto Earthquake reconstruction, was designated a National Important Cultural Property in 2007 for its majestic parabolic arch design and engineering significance. Discover the bridge's connections to the forty-seven ronin, ukiyo-e art, and its stunning blue nighttime illumination.

Completed in 1933 at Shirokanedai, Tokyo, the Former Residence of Prince Asaka was designated an Important Cultural Property in 2015. Lalique glass survives inside.

Completed in 1924 where the Arakawa splits from the Sumida, this concrete sluice by Aoyama Akira became an Important Cultural Property in 2024. Free to visit.

Soto-Sakuradamon holds the largest masugata court left at Edo Castle and the ground where Ii Naosuke fell in 1860. Free to pass, and lit nightly until 9 p.m.

Tayasumon in Kitanomaru Park is the oldest surviving building at Edo Castle, dated to 1636 by an inscription on its door fittings. Free to walk through at any hour.

Standing in Tokyo's Kita Ward, the Former Brewing Experiment Station No. 1 Factory is a magnificent 1904 brick building that became the cradle of modern Japanese sake. Designed by Tsumaki Yorinaka, one of the three great architects of the Meiji era, the building drew inspiration from German breweries and incorporated cutting-edge technology including cavity walls, vaulted ceilings, and a rare white glazed-brick koji room. Designated a Nationally Important Cultural Property in 2014, this striking red-brick complex—commonly known as the Akarenga Sake Brewery—offers a vivid window into Japan's Meiji-era industrial heritage.

Kiyosu Bridge, completed in 1928 over the Sumida River, is a graceful self-anchored suspension bridge modeled after Cologne's Hindenburg Bridge. Designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan in 2007, it remains a masterpiece of post-earthquake reconstruction engineering and modern bridge aesthetics.

The only building Le Corbusier designed in Japan, opened in 1959. Its pilotis, central hall and spiral ramp embody his concept of a Museum of Unlimited Growth.

Built around 1600 as a guest hall at Onjo-ji on Lake Biwa, this Momoyama shoin hall moved to Gokoku-ji in 1928. It shares its form with two National Treasures.

Tokyo’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.