Important Cultural Property in Japan

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.

What is an Important Cultural Property in Japan?

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.

Where can I see Important Cultural Properties?

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.

Exhibition

Kukai and the Treasures of Shingon Buddhism

Tokyo National Museum marks the 1,250th anniversary of Kukai's birth with 88 Shingon temple treasures, including 15 National Treasures and nine secret statues.

14 Jul – 6 Sep 2026Tokyo · Kanto

Exhibition

The History and Folklore of Musashino ~ Musashino Local Museum Collection 2026 ~

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 · Kanto

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.

What is an Important Cultural Property in Japan?

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.

Where can I see Important Cultural Properties?

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.

Exhibition

Kukai and the Treasures of Shingon Buddhism

Tokyo National Museum marks the 1,250th anniversary of Kukai's birth with 88 Shingon temple treasures, including 15 National Treasures and nine secret statues.

14 Jul – 6 Sep 2026Tokyo · Kanto

Exhibition

The History and Folklore of Musashino ~ Musashino Local Museum Collection 2026 ~

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 · Kanto

Illumination

Aichi Nagoya Art & Lights

A 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 · Chubu

Festival

Tsuchizaki Shinmeisha Shrine Annual Celebration And The Float Festival

Elaborate floats and traditional performances honor this port town's spiritual guardian, a shrine established in 1620 by local leaders.

20–21 Jul 2027Akita · Tohoku

Onsen & Wellness

Dogo Onsen

One of Japan's oldest hot springs, in Matsuyama, centred on the historic Honkan bathhouse – with free-flowing waters and three baths to try.

Matsuyama · Ehime

Shrine

Itsukushima Shrine

The floating shrine of Miyajima, built out over a tidal cove, with its great vermilion torii standing in the sea off the sacred island.

Hatsukaichi · Hiroshima

Castle

Kakegawa Castle

Kakegawa Castle served as a strategic fortress for the Tokugawa vassal clans along the Tokaido highway connecting Kyoto and eastern Japan.

Kakegawa · Shizuoka

Shrine

Takeda Shrine

This shrine honors Takeda Shingen, a Sengoku-period general remembered for both military prowess and regional development in the domain he ruled.

Kofu · Yamanashi

Temple

Zuiryuji Temple

A 17th-century Soto-school Buddhist temple in Takaoka houses several buildings designated as national treasures and important cultural properties.

Takaoka · Toyama

Shrine

Bitchukoku Soja Shrine

Bitchukoku Soja Shrine consolidated deities of 324 provincial shrines into a single site dedicated to the deity of nation-building and good fortune.

Soja · Okayama

Temple

Tofukuji Temple

Tofukuji is one of Kyoto's great Zen temples, celebrated for its sweeping maple valley and the modern garden surrounding the abbot's quarters.

Kyoto

Temple

Ryufukuji

Buddhist temple founded in the Kenei era and relocated in 1557, built on former Ouchi clan lands and maintained as a museum to their history.

Yamaguchi

Temple

Saikyo-ji Temple

Saikyo-ji, the head temple of the Tendai Shinsei sect, was founded by Prince Shotoku and reorganized in 1486 as the sect's central training site.

Otsu · Shiga

Temple

Daiju-ji

A Pure Land Buddhist temple founded in 1475 by Matsudaira Chikayoshi, built to honor fallen war dead and serving as the ancestral temple of the Tokugawa shoguns.

Okazaki · Aichi

Shrine

Isaniwa Shrine

A Shinto shrine in Matsuyama with roots in a visit by Emperor Chuai and Empress Jingu to Dogo Onsen, enshrining multiple emperors as cultural treasures.

Matsuyama · Ehime

Museum

Nara Prison Museum

A Meiji-era red-brick prison (1908) and one of the Five Great Prisons with its original layout intact, now a museum operated by Hoshino Resorts.

Nara

Shrine

Takebe Shrine

Takebe Shrine in Otsu enshrines Yamato Takeru and Onamuchi and served as the principal shrine of the ancient Ōmi Province.

Otsu · Shiga

Museum

Tokushima Castle Museum

This museum preserves and displays materials from the Tokushima Domain and Hachisuka family, featuring Edo-period artifacts and regional history.

Tokushima

Shrine

Ichinomiya Shrine

This Heian-period shrine in Tokushima city venerates two kami and showcases a Momoyama-style main hall built in 1630, designated a National Important Cultural Property.

Tokushima

Temple

Daigo-ji Temple

Over 1,100-year-old Buddhist temple complex and head temple of the Daigo branch of Shingon Buddhism, centered on an ancient natural spring.

Kyoto

Temple

Myōtsū-ji Temple

Buddhist temple founded in 806 with Kamakura-period structures designated as National Treasures and a historic pond garden.

Obama · Fukui

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