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Hakodate Motomachi and Suehiro-cho
Hakodate, Hokkaido
On the slopes running from the foot of Mount Hakodate down to the harbor, Western-style churches and consulates from the port's opening stand alongside Japanese townhouses and the hybrid Japanese-Western houses unique to Hakodate. The city calls this port district the birthplace of Hakodate.
Heian · Temples · National Treasures
Chuson-ji
Hiraizumi, Iwate
Built in 1124 by Fujiwara no Kiyohira, first lord of the Northern Fujiwara clan, the Konjikido Golden Hall enshrines Amida Buddha in an interior covered with gold and mother-of-pearl inlay, and four generations of the Fujiwara rest beneath its altar. It is the one building that survives from Chuson-ji's founding.
Momoyama · Shrines · National Treasures
Osaki Hachimangu
Sendai, Miyagi
At Osaki Hachimangu you can see the shrine building completed for Date Masamune in 1607, an ishi-no-ma (gongen-zukuri) structure adorned with black lacquer and richly colored carvings. The contrast with the plain wooden Nagatoko hall in front of it is also worth a look.
Momoyama · Temples · National Treasures
Zuiganji
Matsushima, Miyagi
At Zuiganji you can see the rooms adorned with sliding-door paintings and the Onari Genkan entrance in the National Treasure main hall completed by Date Masamune in 1609, and next to it the National Treasure Kuri with its bold arabesque carvings and great roof topped by a smoke vent.
Historic districts
Kakunodate, Semboku
Semboku, Akita
A samurai town that still follows the street plan laid out in 1620, with fences lining its wide streets and residences that keep their main house, gate and storehouses. Weeping cherry trees over 300 years old and tall firs form groves that are part of the townscape itself.
Muromachi · Temples · National Treasures
Haguro-san Five-Story Pagoda
Tsuruoka, Yamagata
A plain, unpainted five-story pagoda over 29 meters tall, standing among the cedar trees and stone steps of Mount Haguro's main approach. Built in 1372, it is best seen as part of the sacred path of the Dewa Sanzan mountains.
Historic districts
Ouchi-juku, Shimogo
Shimogo, Fukushima
A post town on the old highway between Aizu and Shimotsuke, where thatched, hip-roofed houses stand at nearly even intervals along a street about 450 meters long, their gable ends facing the road. Residents still cut thatch and re-roof the houses together, keeping the shape of an Edo-period post town alive in the mountains.
Edo · Shrines · National Treasures
Nikko Toshogu
Nikko, Tochigi
The shrine dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, with buildings completed in 1636 in the great rebuilding ordered by the third shogun, Iemitsu. Eight structures are National Treasures, including the Yomeimon Gate, the gongen-style main sanctuary, the Karamon gates, the openwork fences and the corridors.
Edo · Temples · National Treasures
Rinno-ji Taiyuin
Nikko, Tochigi
At Rinno-ji Taiyuin, the mausoleum of the third Tokugawa shogun Iemitsu, you can see the National Treasure mausoleum (Haiden, Ai-no-ma and Honden) finished in gold and black, and the approach through the Niomon, Nitenmon and Yashamon gates. The precinct is lined with 315 lanterns, and inside the mausoleum you can see Chinese lions by Kano Tan'yu and dragon paintings on the ceiling.
Historic districts
Kawagoe, Kawagoe
Kawagoe, Saitama
A merchant town of black-plastered kura-style shophouses with massive ridge tiles, rebuilt after the great Kawagoe fire of 1893. Each house is built a little differently, and modern Western-style buildings mixed among them show the town's long history as a trading center.
Muromachi · Temples · National Treasures
Engaku-ji
Kamakura, Kanagawa
At Engaku-ji you can see the Zen-style Shariden (a National Treasure), known for the fan rafters of its eaves, and the Great Bell, a National Treasure and the largest temple bell in the Kanto region. The temple's events calendar includes three special openings of the Shariden a year.
Edo · Temples · National Treasures
Zuiryu-ji
Takaoka, Toyama
At Zuiryu-ji you can walk through an early Edo-period Zen temple compound where the gates and halls stand in a straight line, linked by corridors. Its three National Treasures are the Sanmon, about 18 meters tall and rebuilt in 1818, the lead-roofed Butsuden, and the Hatto, which holds Maeda Toshinaga's memorial tablet.
Historic districts
Higashiyama Higashi (Higashi Chaya), Kanazawa
Kanazawa, Ishikawa
A geisha teahouse district in Kanazawa laid out in 1820, with a rare concentration of teahouses from the late Edo to early Meiji periods. Matching houses with projecting lattices on the ground floor and tall second-floor banquet rooms line both sides of the street, carrying Kanazawa's teahouse culture into the present.
Momoyama · Castles · National Treasures
Matsumoto Castle
Matsumoto, Nagano
Five connected buildings form this National Treasure keep: the main keep, the Inui small keep and the linking turret, joined by the Tatsumi turret and the Moon-Viewing Turret. Wartime defenses of the late 16th century sit beside a peaceful early-Edo moon-viewing pavilion, and the main keep is considered the oldest surviving five-tier, six-floor keep in Japan.
Edo · Temples · National Treasures
Zenko-ji
Nagano, Nagano
The main hall, rebuilt in 1707 and now a National Treasure, stands about 27 meters tall with a T-shaped shumoku-zukuri roof, and is among the largest wooden National Treasure buildings in eastern Japan. The non-sectarian temple enshrines a triad of Amida Buddha in one halo, and visitors can walk the pitch-dark Okaidan passage beneath the inner sanctuary.
Historic districts
Narai-juku, Shiojiri
Shiojiri, Nagano
A post town on the Nakasendo at the foot of Torii Pass, said to have been the largest of the eleven Kiso post towns. Townhouses with overhanging upper floors line the old highway, and the town still keeps its traditions of lacquerware and bentwood crafts.
Historic districts
Tsumago-juku, Nagiso
Nagiso, Nagano
A Nakasendo post town whose rows of houses with overhanging upper floors and udatsu firewalls keep the look of the late Edo and Meiji periods. Residents pledged early on not to sell, rent out or tear down their properties, and the protected area extends to the mountains seen from the old road.
Historic districts
Shirakawa-go Ogimachi
Shirakawa, Gifu
A snow-country farming village where steep thatched gassho-zukuri farmhouses stand in rows on terraces along the Sho River, all facing the same way. Listed as a World Heritage Site with Gokayama in 1995, it still re-thatches its roofs through yui, a tradition of communal labor.
Historic districts
Sanmachi, Takayama
Takayama, Gifu
The merchant quarter of Takayama, a town ruled directly by the shogunate from the late 1600s. Townhouses with gently sloping roofs, deep eaves and fine wooden lattices line the three streets of Ichinomachi, Ninomachi and Sannomachi, backed by storehouses that served as firebreaks.
Edo · Shrines · National Treasures
Kunozan Toshogu
Shizuoka, Shizuoka
At Kunozan Toshogu you can see the National Treasure shrine buildings (Honden, Ishi-no-ma and Haiden), built in 1617 on Mount Kuno where Ieyasu was buried, whose gongen-zukuri style became the model for Toshogu shrines across Japan. You can also take in the black and red lacquer and flower-and-bird carvings, the stone-step approach overlooking Suruga Bay, and Ieyasu's tomb.
Momoyama · Castles · National Treasures
Inuyama Castle
Inuyama, Aichi
Standing on a hill above the Kiso River, Inuyama Castle's keep is a National Treasure that the castle's official site calls the oldest surviving keep in Japan. Climb its steep stairs to the top-floor lookout for views over the river, the old castle town and the Nobi Plain.
Muromachi · Temples · National Treasures
Onjo-ji (Mii-dera)
Otsu, Shiga
At Mii-dera you can see the large Momoyama-period Kondo and the Shinra Zenjin-do with its graceful cypress-bark roof. The shoin-style guest halls of Kangaku-in and Kojo-in can be seen on a special visit arranged in advance.
Momoyama · Shrines · National Treasures
Hiyoshi Taisha
Otsu, Shiga
At Hiyoshi Taisha you can see the main sanctuaries of the Nishi Hongu and Higashi Hongu, built in the Hiyoshi-zukuri style found only at this shrine. The grounds at the foot of Mt. Hiei, with about 40 shrines, are a well-known spot for autumn leaves.
Edo · Temples · National Treasures
Enryaku-ji
Otsu, Shiga
Founded by the monk Saicho, Enryaku-ji on Mt. Hiei is a World Heritage temple known as the mother of Japanese Buddhism. Its National Treasure, the Konponchudo main hall in the Todo area, houses the Eternal Flame, said to have burned before the principal image for 1,200 years.