Important Cultural Property is Japan's designation for buildings, art, and artifacts of exceptional historical or artistic value. From temples and castles to scrolls and swords, these treasures are protected and often open to visitors.
It is an official designation by Japan's government for tangible heritage, including buildings, sculptures, paintings, crafts, and documents judged to have high historical or artistic value. The most exceptional are further designated National Treasures.
Many are temples, shrines, and castles you can visit directly, such as Kinkaku-ji or Himeji Castle, while others are housed in national and regional museums.
This exhibition showcases archaeological and folklore materials including Jomon artefacts and historic household items that document Musashino's cultural heritage.
18 Jul – 13 Dec 2026Tokyo · KantoA free after-dark light show projecting digital art onto two of Nagoya's historic "imperial crown style" civic landmarks, near Nagoya Castle.
17 Sep – 24 Oct 2026Aichi · ChubuFive nights of projection mapping on the main hall and gate of Sensoji in Tokyo, with the temple's closed garden and its hall of ema open alongside.
An exhibition in Osaka on the Japanese hell, following the path of the dead through full-size reproductions of painted scrolls and moving projections.
28 Nov – 27 Dec 2026Osaka · KansaiElaborate floats and traditional performances honor this port town's spiritual guardian, a shrine established in 1620 by local leaders.
20–21 Jul 2027Akita · TohokuA shrine on the western shore of Lake Biwa with a torii standing in the water, dedicated to Sarutahiko and known as a shrine of long life.
Takashima · ShigaThe house and works of a wax-making family in Uchiko, Ehime, kept with its boiling sheds and stores, and now a museum of the trade.
Uchiko · EhimeA mountain temple in Saijo, Ehime, founded in 642, reached by a long approach under maples, with a main hall that is an Important Cultural Property.
Saijo · EhimeA street of wax merchants' houses in Uchiko, Ehime, with walls in a yellow plaster made from local earth, preserved since 1982.
Uchiko · EhimeThe forty-fifth temple of the Shikoku pilgrimage, built against cliffs in the mountains of Ehime, where the mountain itself is the object of worship.
Kumakogen · EhimeA hillside park in Nagasaki holding the Western houses of the foreign settlement, among them the oldest wooden Western building in Japan.
NagasakiA Chinese temple in Nagasaki founded in 1629 by merchants from Fujian, with two buildings that are National Treasures.
NagasakiA hot spring town in Saga with 1,300 years behind it, a wooden bathhouse of 1876 and a gate that is an Important Cultural Property.
Takeo · SagaThe restored 1905 residence of the commander of the Kure naval district, with rare gilded leather paper on its walls, and a naval arsenal clock tower.
Kure · HiroshimaTwo shrines on one site at the western tip of the Shimane Peninsula, rebuilt in the 1630s and holding a National Treasure suit of armour.
Izumo · ShimaneOne of three major Kumano shrines in Japan, Kumano Taisha was established in 806 and is known as the Ise Shrine of the North for its significance.
Nanyo · YamagataOne of Japan's oldest hot springs, in Matsuyama, centred on the historic Honkan bathhouse – with free-flowing waters and three baths to try.
Matsuyama · EhimeThe floating shrine of Miyajima, built out over a tidal cove, with its great vermilion torii standing in the sea off the sacred island.
Hatsukaichi · HiroshimaKakegawa Castle served as a strategic fortress for the Tokugawa vassal clans along the Tokaido highway connecting Kyoto and eastern Japan.
Kakegawa · ShizuokaThis shrine honors Takeda Shingen, a Sengoku-period general remembered for both military prowess and regional development in the domain he ruled.
Kofu · YamanashiA 17th-century Soto-school Buddhist temple in Takaoka houses several buildings designated as national treasures and important cultural properties.
Takaoka · Toyama
