To protect Japan's cultural heritage, the country's government selects through the

Agency for Cultural Affairs The is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture. The agency's budget for FY 2018 rose to ¥107.7 billion. Overview The ag ...

important items and designates them as Cultural Properties under the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties. Designated items are classified in a number of categories, one of which is . This category includes historic locations such as shell mounds, ancient tombs, sites of palaces, sites of forts or

castles A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified ...

, monumental dwelling houses and other sites of high historical or scientific value; gardens, bridges, gorges, mountains, and other places of great scenic beauty; and natural features such as animals, plants, and geological or mineral formations of high scientific value. The government further designates "significant" monuments classifying them in three categories: , , and . Items of particularly high significance receive higher classifications: , , and respectively. As of December 17, 2022 there are 1,038 Natural Monuments, 1881 Historic Sites, 427 Places of Scenic Beauty, 75 Special Natural Monuments, 36 Special Places of Scenic Beauty and 63 Special Historic Sites. Since a single item can fall under more than one of these categories, the total number of sites is less than the sum of designations.

Criteria

The Agency for Cultural Affairs designates monuments based on a number of criteria. A monument can be designated based on more than one of these criteria:

Places of Scenic Beauty and Special Places of Scenic Beauty

# Parks and gardens # Bridges and embankments # Flowering trees, flowering grass, autumn colors, green trees and other places of dense growth # Places inhabited by birds and wild animals, fish/insects and others # Rocks, caves # Ravines, gorges, waterfalls, mountain streams, abysses # Lakes, marshes, wetlands, floating islands, springs # Sand dunes, spits, seasides, islands # Volcanoes,

onsen In Japan, are the country's hot springs and the bathing facilities and traditional inns around them. As a volcanically active country, Japan has many onsens scattered throughout all of its major islands. There are approximately 25,000 hot ...

# Mountains, hills, plateaus, plains, rivers # Viewpoints

Historic Sites and Special Historic Sites

# Shell mounds, settlement ruins,

kofun are megalithic tombs or tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century CE.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞典』� ...

, other historic ruins of this type # Ruins of fortified towns, castles, government administration offices, old battlefields and other historic ruins related to politics or government # Remains of shrines and temples, former compound grounds and other historic ruins related to religion # Schools, research institutions, cultural facilities and other historic ruins related to education, learning or culture # Medical care and welfare facilities, life related institution, other society and life related historic ruins # Transport and communication facilities, forest conservation and flood control facilities, manufacture facilities and other historic sites related to finance or manufacture activities # Graves and stone monuments with inscriptions # Former residences, gardens, ponds and other areas of particular historical significance # Ruins related to foreign countries or foreigners

Natural Monuments and Special Natural Monuments

# Animals ## Well-known animals peculiar to Japan and their habitat ## Animals which are not peculiar to Japan, but need to be preserved as well-known characteristic Japanese animals, and their habitat ## Animals or animal groups peculiar to Japan within their natural environment ## Domestic animals peculiar to Japan ## Well-known imported animals presently in a wild state, with the exception of domestic animals; their habitat ## Particularly valuable animal specimen # Plants, vegetation ## Old trees of historic interest, gigantic trees, old trees, deformed trees, cultivated pulpwood, roadside trees, shrine forests ## Representative primeval forests, rare forest flora ## Representative alpine plants, special clusters of plants on rock ground ## Representative clusters of waste land plants ## Representative examples of coastal and sand ground vegetation ## Representative examples of areas of peat forming plants ## Clusters of plants growing in caves or grottoes ## Rare water plants in garden ponds,

, lakes, marshes, streams, sea, etc.; algae, moss, microbes, etc. ## Remarkable occurrence of

epiphytic An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

plants on rocks, trees or shrubs ## Remarkable plant growth on marginal land ## Remarkable growth in the wild of crop plants ## Wild habitat of rare or near extinct plants # Geological and mineralogical features ## Rocks, mineral and fossil producing sites ##

Conformable In mathematics, a matrix is conformable if its dimensions are suitable for defining some operation (''e.g.'' addition, multiplication, etc.). Examples * If two matrices have the same dimensions (number of rows and number of columns), they are ...

and unconformable

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...

## Fold and thrust

## Geological features caused by the work of living creatures ## Phenomena related to earthquake dislocation and landmass motion ## Caves, grottoes ## Examples of rock organization ##

Onsen In Japan, are the country's hot springs and the bathing facilities and traditional inns around them. As a volcanically active country, Japan has many onsens scattered throughout all of its major islands. There are approximately 25,000 hot ...

and their sediments ## Erosion and weathering related phenomena ##

Fumarole A fumarole (or fumerole) is a vent in the surface of the Earth or other rocky planet from which hot volcanic gases and vapors are emitted, without any accompanying liquids or solids. Fumaroles are characteristic of the late stages of volcani ...

s and other items related to volcanic activity ## Ice and frost related phenomena ## Particularly precious rock, mineral and fossil specimen # Representative territories rich in natural monuments to be protected (Natural Protected Areas)

Usage

The table's columns (except for ''Remarks'' and ''Photo'') are sortable pressing the arrows symbols. The following gives an overview of what is included in the table and how the sorting works. * ''Name'': name of the monument as registered in th
Database of Cultural Properties
* ''Special Place of Scenic Beauty'': criteria under which the monument has been designated or "-" if it is not a Special Place of Scenic Beauty * ''Special Historic Site'': criteria under which the monument has been designated or "-" if it is not a Special Historic Site * ''Special Natural Monument'': criteria under which the monument has been designated or "-" if it is not a Special Natural Monument * ''Remarks'': general remarks * ''Location'': "town-name prefecture-name" and geo coordinates of the monument if applicable ::* sorts as "prefecture-name town-name" * ''Photo'': picture of the monument

Special Places of Scenic Beauty, Special Historic Sites, Special Natural Monuments

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Special Places Of Scenic Beauty, Special Historic Sites And Special Natural Monuments * * * * Japan history-related lists Lists of tourist attractions in Japan