Castles & historic sites in Japan

Places in Japan of this type, by prefecture.

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• Former Hanada Family Herring House (Obira) Hokkaido
  A huge wooden herring-fishing lodge from around 1905 on the Sea of Japan coast, where over 200 fishermen once lived; nets and tools are on show.
• Former Hokkaido Government Office (Red Brick Office) Hokkaido
  The red-brick former Hokkaido government office, completed in 1888. It reopened in July 2025 after a major renovation, with exhibits on Hokkaido history and culture.
• Former Maruichi Honma Merchant House (Mashike) Hokkaido
  A large merchant's house and shop completed in 1902 in the old herring port of Mashike; the restored rooms and storehouses are open inside.
• Goryokaku Park (Hakodate) Hokkaido
  A star-shaped Western-style fort where the Boshin War ended, with a rebuilt magistrate's office and cherry trees along the moat.
• Hoheikan Hokkaido
  A white-and-blue Western-style hotel from 1880, built by the Meiji government. It now stands in quiet Nakajima Park.
• Kakinoshima Site (Hakodate Jomon Culture Center) Hokkaido
  A Jomon settlement site with a 190 m long, U-shaped earthwork built around 2000 BCE. The nearby Hakodate Jomon Culture Center displays the National Treasure hollow clay figurine.
• Kitakogane Shell Mound Hokkaido
  A historic park preserving a Jomon shell midden and settlement from about 7,000 to 4,500 years ago. Shells mark out the extent of the buried mounds, and reconstructed pit dwellings can be seen.
• Matsumae Castle & Park Hokkaido
  Matsumae (Fukuyama) Castle, finished in 1854, was the last castle in Japan built in the old style; the keep is a 1961 rebuild. Around the castle some 10,000 cherry trees of 250 varieties bloom in turn from mid-April to late May.
• Sapporo Clock Tower Hokkaido
  The wooden drill hall of Sapporo Agricultural College, built in 1878. Its clock, installed in 1881, still keeps time.
• Former Hirosaki City Library Aomori
  A three-story wooden Western-style building from 1906 with twin octagonal towers, used as the city library until 1931. The restored interior is free to visit.
• Hirosaki Park Aomori
  About 2,600 cherry trees around a castle and its moats — one of Japan's most famous cherry blossom spots.
• Komakino Site Aomori
  A Jomon ritual site on a hilltop where a triple stone circle about 55 m across remains. Finds are displayed at the Komakino Museum (Jomon no Manabiya).
• Sannai-Maruyama Site Aomori
  A 5,000-year-old Jomon village with rebuilt longhouses and a giant six-pillar tower.
• Goshono Jomon Site Iwate
  A large Middle Jomon village site in Ichinohe. Earth-roofed pit dwellings and stone circles have been rebuilt in the park, and a museum explains Jomon life.
• Hashino Iron Mining Site Iwate
  Ruins of Japan's oldest surviving Western-style blast furnaces, first fired in 1858, in a quiet mountain valley. Part of the World Heritage "Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution".
• Morioka Castle Ruins Park Iwate
  The stone walls of the Nanbu clan's castle, completed in 1633, now form a park in central Morioka with cherry trees, a pond and a poem stone by Ishikawa Takuboku.
• Muryokoin Temple Ruins Iwate
  The pond and island of a temple built by Fujiwara no Hidehira, modelled on Byodoin's Phoenix Hall. Mount Kinkeisan lines up behind where the hall stood.
• Former Yubikan School and Garden Miyagi
  An Edo-period school for samurai of the Iwadeyama Date family; the school building faces a garden, and the station of the same name is right outside.
• Sendai Castle Ruins (Aobajo) Miyagi
  The hilltop site of Date Masamune's castle, with restored stone walls, his equestrian statue and a wide view over Sendai city.
• Shiroishi Castle Miyagi
  The castle of the Katakura family, senior retainers of the Date clan. Its three-storey keep was rebuilt in wood in 1995 using traditional methods.
• Tagajo Castle Ruins Miyagi
  The site of Tagajo, founded in 724 as the government seat for the northern frontier. Foundations of the central office remain, and the south gate has been rebuilt.
• Zuihoden (Sendai) Miyagi
  The mausoleum of Date Masamune, the warlord who founded the Sendai domain, a short bus ride from Sendai Station.
• Akita Castle Ruins (Akitajo) Akita
  Site of a Nara–Heian period government fort that guarded the northern frontier on the Sea of Japan side, with rebuilt walls and gate, and a small museum.
• Isedotai Jomon Site Akita
  A Jomon-period site with four stone circles side by side, all over 30 m across, part of the Jomon Prehistoric Sites World Heritage property. The Jomon-kan next door shows clay figures and other finds.
• Korakukan Theatre (Kosaka) Akita
  A wooden theatre built in 1910 for workers of the Kosaka mine, Western on the outside and a traditional playhouse inside, still staging regular plays.
• Oyu Stone Circles Akita
  Two large Jomon-period stone circles, Manza and Nonakado, with a guidance centre showing finds from the site.
• Senshu Park (Kubota Castle Site) Akita
  The site of Kubota Castle, seat of the Satake lords of Akita, now a park with moats, a rebuilt corner turret and about 700 cherry trees.
• Kajo Park (Yamagata Castle Ruins) Yamagata
  The wide moated grounds of Yamagata Castle near Yamagata Station, with a rebuilt main gate, a statue of lord Mogami Yoshiaki and about 1,500 cherry trees.
• Uesugi Family Mausoleum Yamagata
  The graves of the Uesugi lords of Yonezawa, from Kenshin to the 12th lord, standing in a row of wooden mausoleums inside a quiet grove of tall cedars.
• Iimoriyama and Sazaedo Fukushima
  The hill where the young Byakkotai samurai took their lives in 1868, with their graves and a view over Aizu-Wakamatsu, and the 1796 Sazaedo hall with its double-spiral ramp.
• Kasumigajo Park (Nihonmatsu Castle Ruins) Fukushima
  The stone walls of Nihonmatsu Castle, which fell in the Boshin War of 1868, now a hillside park with about 2,500 cherry trees and the Nihonmatsu chrysanthemum doll show in autumn.
• Shirakawa Komine Castle Fukushima
  The 'gateway castle' to the north, rebuilt in 1632 and lost in the Boshin War; its turret and gate were rebuilt in wood in the 1990s and its stone walls repaired after the 2011 quake.
• Tsuruga Castle Fukushima
  A white castle with rare red-tiled roofs, surrounded by about 1,000 cherry trees.
• Kodokan (Mito Domain School) Ibaraki
  The school of the Mito domain, opened in 1841 by lord Tokugawa Nariaki. Its wooden halls stand among about 800 plum trees.
• Nishiyama Goten (Seizanso) Ibaraki
  The plain thatched retreat where Mito lord Tokugawa Mitsukuni spent his last years, set in a quiet wooded garden.
• Tsuchiura Castle Ruins (Kijo Park) & Machikado-gura Ibaraki
  The site of Tsuchiura Castle, whose surviving turret gate is the only one of its kind in the Kanto region. Nearby, Edo-period storehouses on the old Mito Kaido road serve as a visitor centre.
• Ashikaga Gakko (Ashikaga School) Tochigi
  Known as Japan's oldest school, it taught over 3,000 students through the age of civil wars. The Edo-period buildings and gardens are restored.
• Karasawayama Castle Ruins Tochigi
  The ruins of a mountain castle over 400 years old, with earthwork gates, a deep moat cut and a large well that still holds water. The summit looks over the Kanto Plain.
• Nikko Cedar Avenue Tochigi
  About 12,000 tall cedars line 37 km of the old roads to Nikko, planted in the 1600s as an offering to Toshogu. Guinness lists it as the world's longest tree-lined avenue.
• Nikko Tamozawa Imperial Villa Memorial Park Tochigi
  An imperial summer villa used by three generations of emperors and crown princes from 1899 to 1947, mixing Edo, Meiji and Taisho building styles.
• Arafune Cold Storage (Arafune Fuketsu) Gunma
  Stone-lined pits built around 1905–1914 that used cold air from cracks in the rock to store silkworm eggs, letting farmers raise silkworms several times a year. Air at around 2°C still blows out in summer.
• Iwajuku Archaeological Site Gunma
  Where stone tools found in 1946-49 first proved people lived in Japan before the Jomon era; a dome shows the soil layers and a museum explains it.
• Tago Stele & Kozuke Sanpi Gunma
  One of three stone monuments from the 7th-8th centuries in southern Takasaki, among Japan's oldest; a small museum explains them.
• Takayama-sha Sericulture School Site Gunma
  The farmhouse where Takayama Chogoro taught a silkworm-raising method balancing airflow and heat that spread across Japan.
• Tomioka Silk Mill Gunma
  A brick silk factory from 1872 that helped start Japan's modern industry.
• Usui No. 3 Bridge (Megane-bashi) Gunma
  Japan's largest brick arch bridge, built in 1892 for the steep Usui Pass railway; walk across its top on the Abt Road trail.
• Hachigata Castle Ruins (Yorii) Saitama
  Earthworks and moats of a major Sengoku-era castle on cliffs above the Arakawa River, expanded by Hojo Ujikuni; a small museum explains it.
• Kawagoe Castle Honmaru Goten Saitama
  The surviving palace hall of Kawagoe Castle, first built in 1457 by Ota Dokan and his father.
• Minuma Tsusenbori Canal Saitama
  A lock canal completed in 1731 to ship rice to Edo, linking the Minuma irrigation channels with the Shiba River; a quiet walk in the green belt.
• Oshi Castle Ruins & Gyoda City Local Museum Saitama
  The "floating castle" that held out against Ishida Mitsunari's flooding siege in 1590, made famous by the film "The Floating Castle". The rebuilt three-storey turret is part of the city museum.
• Sakitama Kofun Park Saitama
  Nine large ancient burial mounds in Gyoda; the Inariyama mound yielded a national-treasure inscribed iron sword, and you can climb Marubakayama.
• Yoshimi Hyakuana Caves Saitama
  A soft sandstone hillside dotted with 219 burial holes dug in the late Kofun period, 6th–7th century.
• Former Hotta Residence (Sakura) Chiba
  The Meiji-era house of the Hotta family, former lords of Sakura. Its tatami rooms look out on a broad lawn garden.
• Kasori Shell Mound Chiba
  One of Japan's largest Jomon shell mounds, two rings of shells joined in a figure eight, with a free museum and a rebuilt Jomon village.
• Shiroyama Park & Tateyama Castle Chiba
  A hill park on the site of the Satomi clan's castle; the rebuilt keep displays material on the novel Hakkenden and looks over Tateyama Bay.
• Tojo-tei (Tojogaoka Historical Park) Chiba
  The Meiji-era home of Tokugawa Akitake, younger brother of the last shogun, completed in 1884. It is the only surviving Tokugawa family residence of the Meiji period, with 23 rooms in 9 linked wings and a lawn garden.
• Imperial Palace East Gardens Tokyo
  Gardens on the grounds of the former Edo Castle, with stone walls, the base of the main keep and a Japanese garden.
• State Guest House, Akasaka Palace Tokyo
  Built in 1909 as the Crown Prince's palace, it is Japan's only neo-Baroque palace. Now the state guest house for visiting heads of state, it opens its main building and gardens to the public.
• Hakone Checkpoint Kanagawa
  A fully restored Edo-period checkpoint on the old Tokaido road by Lake Ashi, rebuilt from documents found in 1983 using traditional techniques, with a museum of travel permits and weapons next door.
• Odawara Castle Kanagawa
  The Hojo clan's stronghold, its keep rebuilt in 1960 to the Edo-period design. Inside is a history museum; the top deck looks over Sagami Bay.
• Old Tokaido Stone-Paved Road (Hakone) Kanagawa
  Stretches of the Edo-period Tokaido highway over the Hakone hills, paved with stones in 1680, with a rebuilt milestone mound at Hatajuku and an old teahouse.
• Kitazawa Flotation Plant Ruins Niigata
  Ruins of the ore-dressing plant that helped modernise the Sado gold and silver mines. It was the first in Japan to apply flotation to gold and silver, handling up to 50,000 t of ore a month and earning the name "best in the East". Massive concrete foundations remain.
• Nishimikawa Gold Placer Site (Sado Nishimikawa Gold Park) Niigata
  The remains of what is said to be Sado's oldest gold placer mine. At Sado Nishimikawa Gold Park you can pan for gold, and the gold you find can be processed for you.
• Sado Gold Mine Niigata
  Walk through Edo-period mine tunnels where robotic figures show how miners worked, on Sado Island.
• Sado Magistrate's Office (Sado Bugyosho) Niigata
  The Edo-period government office of Sado in Aikawa, rebuilt in 2000, including the court and the workshop where gold and silver were refined.
• Shibata Castle Niigata
  A castle with original Edo-period gate and turret and white-and-black namako walls; the rebuilt main turret has a unique T-shaped roof with three shachi.
• Takada Castle Park Niigata
  A 50 ha park on the site of Takada Castle in Joetsu with a rebuilt three-tier turret; its night cherry blossoms are counted among Japan's top three.
• Takaoka Castle Park (Kojo Park) Toyama
  The moats and earthworks of Takaoka Castle, built by Maeda Toshinaga and abolished in 1615, now form a large park known for cherry blossoms.
• Toyama Castle Park Toyama
  A moated castle park 10 minutes' walk from Toyama Station; the 1954 keep holds the city history museum and a top-floor lookout.
• Kanazawa Castle Park & Gyokusen-inmaru Garden Ishikawa
  Former seat of the Maeda lords next to Kenrokuen, with turrets and the long Gojikken Nagaya storehouse rebuilt in 2001 by traditional methods.
• Echizen Ono Castle Fukui
  A hilltop castle above the old town of Ono, famous for sometimes appearing to float above a sea of clouds on autumn mornings.
• Fukui Castle Ruins Fukui
  Site of Fukui Castle, built in 1606 by Yuki Hideyasu, second son of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Stone walls and moats remain; the prefectural office stands on the main enclosure, and below the keep base is the 'Fuku-no-i' well said to have given Fukui its name.
• Ichijodani Asakura Clan Ruins Fukui
  Excavated castle town of the Asakura clan, who ruled Echizen for about 100 years in the Warring States era. Part of the town has been rebuilt.
• Kanegasaki Castle Ruins & Kanegasaki-gu Shrine Fukui
  Castle ruins on a small hill overlooking Tsuruga Bay. A battlefield of the Nanboku-cho wars, it is also known as the scene of Oda Nobunaga's desperate 'Kanegasaki retreat'. Kanegasaki-gu Shrine at its foot has about 400 cherry trees.
• Maruoka Castle Fukui
  The only surviving original castle keep in Hokuriku, an Important Cultural Property. Said to date from 1576, it collapsed in the 1948 Fukui earthquake and was rebuilt reusing over 70% of its main timbers.
• Kofu Castle (Maizuru Castle Park) Yamanashi
  Stone walls of a castle built in the late 16th century after the Takeda clan fell. The keep base looks over Kofu, with Mt. Fuji on clear days.
• Komoro Castle Ruins (Kaikoen) Nagano
  Ruins of Komoro Castle, said to be Japan's only 'ana-jiro' castle built lower than its town, turned into a park in 1926. Known for cherry blossoms and autumn leaves, with museums and a small zoo inside.
• Matsumoto Castle Nagano
  A black original castle from the 1590s, standing over its moat with the Alps behind.
• Matsushiro Castle Town Nagano
  The former castle town of the Sanada lords south of Nagano city: restored castle gates and walls, the Sanada residence, an old domain school and samurai houses.
• Tatsuoka Castle Goryokaku Nagano
  A star-shaped fort completed in 1867, one of only two Western-style star forts in Japan with Hakodate's Goryokaku. The moat, stone walls and the old kitchen building remain.
• Ueda Castle Ruins Park Nagano
  The castle built by Sanada Masayuki in 1583 that twice drove off Tokugawa armies. Moats, stone walls and three turrets remain in a park known for cherry blossoms.
• Gifu Castle & Mt. Kinka Gifu
  The castle of Saito Dosan and Oda Nobunaga on top of Mt. Kinka. The Kinkazan Ropeway climbs in about 4 min to views over the Nobi plain and the Nagara River.
• Naegi Castle Ruins Gifu
  A mountain castle site above the Kiso River whose stone walls are built around huge natural boulders, with a lookout on the keep site facing Mt. Ena.
• Sekigahara Battlefield Gifu
  Farmland where the decisive battle of 1600 was fought, dotted with commanders' camp sites and flags, plus a hands-on memorial museum with a view tower.
• Takayama Jinya Gifu
  The Edo-period government office of Hida Province, the only one of its kind whose buildings survive almost complete, with offices, a court room and rice storehouses.
• Hamamatsu Castle Shizuoka
  Tokugawa Ieyasu's base for 17 years, called the "castle of promotion". Rough stone walls from about 400 years ago surround a 1958 keep with a history museum and a lookout over the city.
• Kakegawa Castle Shizuoka
  The first castle keep in Japan to be rebuilt in traditional wood (1994), next to an original Edo-period palace building.
• Nirayama Reverberatory Furnace Shizuoka
  Brick chimneys of an iron furnace finished in 1857 to cast cannons. It is part of a World Heritage site, with a guidance centre next door.
• Sumpu Castle Park Shizuoka
  The site of Tokugawa Ieyasu's retirement castle in central Shizuoka, with moats, rebuilt gates and turrets, and the Momijiyama Garden.
• Toro Archaeological Site Shizuoka
  Remains of a Yayoi-period farming village of about 2,000 years ago, with rebuilt pit houses and rice paddies, and a museum beside the park.
• Inuyama Castle Aichi
  One of Japan's oldest original wooden castles, on a hill above the Kiso River.
• Nagoya Castle Aichi
  A castle topped with golden dolphin-like ornaments. The rebuilt palace inside is richly painted.
• Okazaki Castle Aichi
  The castle where Tokugawa Ieyasu was born, with a 1959 keep housing exhibits, in a large park with a museum on Ieyasu and his Mikawa samurai.
• Iga Ueno Castle Mie
  A castle built by Todo Takatora, known as Hakuho-jo. Its stone walls of about 30 m are among the tallest in Japan; the wooden keep dates from 1935.
• Matsusaka Castle Ruins Mie
  A hilltop castle built in 1588 by Gamo Ujisato. No buildings remain, but its massive stone walls, among the finest in Japan, still stand. One of Japan's 100 Fine Castles.
• Saiku Historic Site Mie
  The wide site of the palace where imperial princesses lived while serving Ise Shrine, with a museum on the grounds.
• Azuchi Castle Ruins Shiga
  The ruins of the castle Oda Nobunaga built from 1576 on 198 m Mt. Azuchi. The keep was said to be painted red, blue and gold.
• Hikone Castle Shiga
  One of only five castles that are National Treasures, above Lake Biwa. Look for the cat mascot Hikonyan.
• Maizuru Red Brick Park Kyoto
  Brick warehouses built for the former Maizuru naval district, now a park with a city history corner, shops and workshops by the harbour.
• Nijo Castle Kyoto
  The Tokugawa shoguns' Kyoto residence. Walk through the painted rooms of Ninomaru Palace on its 'nightingale' floors.
• Furuichi Kofun Group (Emperor Ojin's Tomb) Osaka
  The 425 m Emperor Ojin's Tomb, Japan's second-longest keyhole-shaped mound and the largest by volume, at the heart of the Furuichi tomb group.
• Imashirozuka Kofun Osaka
  A large 6th-century keyhole-shaped burial mound turned into a park, with rows of replica clay figures set where they were dug up.
• Kishiwada Castle Osaka
  A castle that guarded the south of Osaka in the Edo period; the 1954 keep has exhibits and a lookout above a modern rock garden.
• Mozu Tombs (Emperor Nintoku's Tomb) Osaka
  Sakai's huge keyhole-shaped burial mounds; the largest, about 486 m long, is ringed by a 2.8 km path around its moat.
• Osaka Castle Osaka
  A white-and-gold castle tower on huge stone walls, inside a large park with moats.
• Akashi Castle (Akashi Park) Hyogo
  The stone walls and two surviving corner turrets of Akashi Castle stand in a large park just north of Akashi Station.
• Ako Castle Ruins Hyogo
  A rare seaside castle of the Ako domain, linked with the story of the 47 Ronin. Restored gates, stone walls and gardens remain.
• Himeji Castle Hyogo
  Often called Japan's most beautiful original castle — the 'White Heron', for its white walls.
• Takeda Castle Ruins Hyogo
  Stone castle walls on a mountaintop that seem to float above a sea of clouds on autumn mornings.
• Asuka Palace Site (traditionally Itabuki-no-miya) Nara
  The site of palaces that successive emperors used in the 7th century. It was the stage for events such as the Isshi Incident of 645.
• Fujiwara Palace Site Nara
  The site of the palace Empress Jito moved to in 694. A part of the red-painted pillar row is reconstructed, and flower fields spread over the grounds through the seasons.
• Heijo Palace Site Nara
  The vast open site of the 8th-century imperial palace, with the rebuilt Former Audience Hall and Suzakumon Gate on a wide grassy plain.
• Ishibutai Kofun (Asuka) Nara
  A 6th-century tomb whose earth mound is gone, leaving a huge stone chamber in the open, in the rural heart of Asuka village.
• Sakafune-ishi Site and Turtle-shaped Stone Basin Nara
  A ritual site from the mid-7th century. The mysterious Sakafune-ishi stone sits on the hill, and a turtle-shaped stone basin was found at its foot.
• Wakayama Castle Wakayama
  Seat of the Kishu Tokugawa lords, on a hill in central Wakayama. The rebuilt white keep gives 360-degree views over the city to the sea.
• Graves of the Ikeda Lords of Tottori Tottori
  A wooded cemetery of the Tottori lords with 78 tombstones on turtle-shaped bases and more than 260 stone lanterns given by their retainers.
• Ishitani Residence, Chizu Tottori
  The largest house in the old Chizu post town: about 40 rooms and seven storehouses around a large Japanese garden.
• Mukibanda Yayoi Site Park Tottori
  One of Japan's largest Yayoi-period settlements, spread over 170 ha of hills below Mt. Daisen, with rebuilt pit houses and four-cornered burial mounds.
• Tottori Castle Ruins (Kyusho Park) Tottori
  Stone walls of a mountain castle that ruled Tottori from the 16th century to 1868, set in a park with over 400 cherry trees and a hilltop view of the city.
• Wakasa Station (Wakasa Railway) Tottori
  Terminus of a small rural line whose early-Showa station, hand-turned turntable and water tower are protected; a C12 steam engine is kept and sometimes runs.
• Yonago Castle Ruins Tottori
  Well-kept stone walls of a castle that once had a five-tier keep; the hilltop gives a wide view of Mt. Daisen, Lake Nakaumi and the Shimane Peninsula.
• Former Taisha Station Shimane
  A grand Japanese-style wooden station from 1924 built for pilgrims to Izumo Taisha; closed with the line in 1990, it reopened after restoration in April 2026.
• Iwami Ginzan Ryugenji Mabu Mine Shaft Shimane
  The only shaft of the World Heritage Iwami Ginzan silver mine open year-round; a walk through tunnels still marked by Edo-period chisels.
• Kojindani Archaeological Site Shimane
  A hillside site where 380 bronze objects (swords, bells and spearheads) were dug up, now a free park with a museum.
• Matsue Castle Shimane
  A dark original castle tower surrounded by moats. See it from a small boat that ducks under low bridges.
• Bitchu Matsuyama Castle Okayama
  Japan's highest original castle, on a mountaintop that floats above the clouds on autumn mornings.
• Former Shizutani School Okayama
  A school for commoners founded in 1670 by the Okayama domain, with a lacquered-floor lecture hall and two Chinese pistache trees that turn red in autumn.
• Kinojo Castle Ruins (Mt. Kinojo) Okayama
  A 7th-century hilltop fortress with a 2.8 km ring of walls and a rebuilt west gate, linked to the demon of the Momotaro legend.
• Okayama Castle Okayama
  A castle across the river from Korakuen Garden. Its keep reopened in 2022 after a major renovation.
• Tsukuriyama Kofun Okayama
  A 350 m keyhole-shaped burial mound from the early 5th century, the fourth largest in Japan. Its three-tiered mound shows the power of the ancient Kibi kingdom.
• Tsuyama Castle (Kakuzan Park) Okayama
  Castle ruins built from 1616 with stone walls about 45 m high and a rebuilt Bitchu Turret; about 1,000 cherry trees bloom in April.
• Fukuyama Castle Hiroshima
  Built in 1622 as a stronghold for western Japan, a castle whose five-story keep stands just north of JR Fukuyama Station.
• Hiroshima Castle Hiroshima
  A moated castle site in central Hiroshima. The keep can be seen from outside, and the Ninomaru gate and turrets have been restored.
• Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park & Atomic Bomb Dome Hiroshima
  The ruined dome left as it stood after the 1945 atomic bombing, and a museum that tells the story.
• Hagi Reverberatory Furnace Yamaguchi
  The remains of a Western-style metal-melting furnace that the Hagi domain tried to introduce in 1856 to cast iron cannons. Built of basalt and brick, it stands 10.5 m tall.
• Iwakuni Castle Yamaguchi
  A rebuilt castle keep on a hilltop above Kintaikyo Bridge, reached by a 3-minute ropeway, with views to the islands of the Inland Sea.
• Kintaikyo Bridge Yamaguchi
  A wooden bridge of five graceful arches, built without nails, with a castle on the hill behind.
• Chiiori Tokushima
  A 300-year-old thatched farmhouse, restored by writer Alex Kerr.
• Heike Yashiki (Asa Family Residence) Tokushima
  Said to be the home of a samurai who fled here after a lost battle 800 years ago.
• Tokushima Castle Ruins & Omote-goten Garden Tokushima
  Stone walls of the Hachisuka clan's castle surround a park next to Tokushima Station. Its Momoyama-style garden has a dry landscape and a pond garden.
• Marugame Castle Kagawa
  One of Japan's 12 castles with an original keep, standing on tiers of high stone walls. The small keep looks out over Marugame and the Inland Sea.
• Takamatsu Castle Ruins (Tamamo Park) Kagawa
  Seaside castle of the Ikoma and Matsudaira lords whose moats are filled with seawater. Turrets, a gate and the Hiunkaku hall remain, and you can feed the sea bream in the moat.
• Imabari Castle Ehime
  A seaside castle built by Todo Takatora, whose wide moats are filled with seawater; the rebuilt keep houses a museum.
• Matsuyama Castle Ehime
  An original castle on a hilltop in the city center. Ride a chairlift up for views of the Seto Inland Sea.
• Ozu Castle Ehime
  A castle above the Hiji River whose four-storey keep was rebuilt in wood in 2004 using old drawings, joined to original Edo-period turrets.
• Tonaru Besshi Copper Mine Ruins Ehime
  Brick and stone ruins of the Besshi Copper Mine's former headquarters at about 750 m in the mountains above Niihama, nicknamed the 'Machu Picchu of the East'.
• Uwajima Castle Ehime
  A small hilltop castle in Uwajima whose three-storey keep survives from the Edo period, reached by a short climb through woods.
• Kochi Castle Kochi
  One of only 12 original castle towers in Japan. Nearby, the Sunday Market and Hirome food hall are lively.
• Dazaifu Government Office Ruins Fukuoka
  Foundation stones of the ancient office that governed all of Kyushu from the late 7th century, set in a wide, grassy park.
• Fukuoka Castle Ruins (Maizuru Park) Fukuoka
  Stone walls and the keep base of the Kuroda clan's castle, now a large park next to Ohori Park with a free history exhibit.
• Kokura Castle Fukuoka
  Rebuilt keep of the castle founded in 1602 in central Kitakyushu, with history exhibits inside and a Japanese garden next door.
• Miike Coal Mine Miyanohara Pit Fukuoka
  A brick winding house and steel headframe from a coal pit opened in 1901, preserved as they were when the Miike mine closed.
• Shinbaru-Nuyama Burial Mounds Fukuoka
  41 tombs of the ancient Munakata clan scattered among rice fields, with a lookout over the mounds and the Genkai Sea.
• Hizen Nagoya Castle Ruins Saga
  Stone walls of the huge castle Toyotomi Hideyoshi built in the 1590s for his invasions of Korea, on a hill above the sea. A free museum stands next to it.
• Karatsu Castle Saga
  A castle keep on a point at the mouth of the Matsura River, with views over Karatsu Bay and the Niji-no-Matsubara pine forest.
• Yoshinogari Historical Park Saga
  One of Japan's largest Yayoi-period villages (about 2,000 years old), rebuilt with watchtowers and moats.
• Dejima Nagasaki
  The fan-shaped island where Dutch traders lived during Japan's isolation. Restored warehouses and residences show daily life of the time.
• Glover Garden Nagasaki
  Western merchants' houses from the 1860s on a hillside above Nagasaki harbor.
• Hara Castle Ruins Nagasaki
  Clifftop ruins above the Ariake Sea where the Shimabara-Amakusa rebels held out in 1637–38. Part of the Hidden Christian Sites World Heritage.
• Hirado Castle Nagasaki
  The castle of the Matsura lords on a hill above Hirado port, built in the rare Yamaga style. Its keep has digital exhibits and a lookout over the Hirado Strait.
• Isahaya Meganebashi Bridge (Isahaya Park) Nagasaki
  A double-arched stone bridge built in 1839 and moved into Isahaya Park after a flood. It was the first stone bridge in Japan named an Important Cultural Property.
• Meganebashi Bridge Nagasaki
  A double-arched stone bridge over the Nakashima River, said to date from 1634. Its reflection in the water forms a pair of 'spectacles'.
• Shimabara Castle Nagasaki
  A white five-tier keep rebuilt in 1964 on the castle built in the 1620s. Inside are exhibits on the Christian history of the region and the Unzen eruptions.
• Hitoyoshi Castle Ruins and Onsen Kumamoto
  Stone walls of the castle of the Sagara clan, who ruled Hitoyoshi for about 700 years, set where the Kuma and Mune rivers meet. Hitoyoshi Onsen, dating from 1910, lines the Kuma River nearby.
• Kikuchi Castle Ruins (Kikuchijo) Kumamoto
  A 7th-century hilltop fortress built by the Yamato court, where 67 building sites were found. It is now a history park with rebuilt structures and a museum.
• Kumamoto Castle Kumamoto
  A massive black castle with curved stone walls, being rebuilt after the 2016 earthquakes. The main tower is open again.
• Manda Pit Kumamoto
  A Miike coal mine shaft from the Meiji era. Brick buildings, the winding headframe and the engine room with its huge machines survive as they were.
• Tsujunkyo Bridge Kumamoto
  An 1854 stone arch aqueduct that still carries water to rice terraces. On set days water shoots out of its sides to flush the pipes.
• Yachiyoza Theatre Kumamoto
  A working kabuki-style playhouse built in 1910 in Yamaga, with a revolving stage and hanamichi walkway. Open for tours when there is no show.
• Nakatsu Castle Oita
  A castle first built by Kuroda Kanbei at the mouth of the Yamakuni River, counted among Japan's three great water castles. The keep, built in 1964, shows armour, swords and documents of the Okudaira lords.
• Oka Castle Ruins Oita
  Tall stone walls of a mountain castle on a cliff-ringed plateau above Taketa, with views to the Kuju and Aso mountains from the main enclosure.
• Ikime Burial Mounds and Yukokan Miyazaki
  A group of ancient burial mounds on the west side of Miyazaki city, with a free museum of excavated finds and hands-on crafts like magatama beads.
• Saitobaru Burial Mounds Miyazaki
  More than 300 ancient burial mounds spread over a plateau about 4 km long, now a park with seasonal flower fields and an archaeology museum.
• Chinen Castle Ruins Okinawa
  A quiet gusuku with a cut-stone arched gate, made up of an old enclosure of rough stone and a newer one of dressed stone; a stop on the Agari-umaai pilgrimage.
• Katsuren Castle Ruins Okinawa
  A World Heritage gusuku, the home of the lord Amawari, built on a natural cliff. Its elegantly curved walls look out over the Pacific from the top.
• Miyara Donchi (Ishigaki) Okinawa
  An 1819 residence of a Yaeyama official, built like a Shuri samurai house, with a dry rock garden; descendants still live here.
• Nakagusuku Castle Ruins Okinawa
  A World Heritage gusuku whose curving stone walls and gates still stand on a hilltop in central Okinawa.
• Nakijin Castle Ruins Okinawa
  Long stone walls of a World Heritage gusuku wind across a hilltop in northern Okinawa; cherry trees bloom here in winter.
• Shuri Castle Okinawa
  The red palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom. Rebuilt after the 2019 fire, the main hall reopens on November 23, 2026.
• Tamaudun Royal Mausoleum Okinawa
  The mausoleum of the kings of the Second Sho dynasty of Ryukyu, built around 1501. Three burial chambers stand side by side in a walled enclosure.
• Urasoe Yodore Royal Tombs Okinawa
  Cliffside tombs of early Ryukyu kings below Urasoe Gusuku; a small museum nearby shows a full-size replica of King Eiso's tomb chamber.
• Zakimi Castle Ruins Okinawa
  A World Heritage gusuku said to have been built by the master castle builder Gosamaru. Curved walls and an arched stone gate surround two enclosures, and the top gives a view over almost all of Yomitan.

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