Groups of Traditional Buildings

is a Japanese category of historic preservation introduced by a 1975 amendment of the law which mandates the protection of groups of traditional buildings which, together with their environment, form a beautiful scene. They can be post towns, castle towns, mining towns, merchant quarters, ports, farming or fishing villages, etc. The Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs recognizes and protects the country's cultural properties under the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties.

Municipalities can designate items of particular importance as and approve measures to protect them. Items of even higher importance are then designated by the central government. The Agency for Cultural Affairs then provides guidance, advice, and funds for repairs and other work. Additional support is given in the form of preferential tax treatment.

As of May 23, 2024, 129 districts have been classified as Important Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings.

List of Important Preservation Districts

Criteria

Important Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings are designated according to three criteria:

1. Groups of traditional buildings that show excellent design as a whole
2. Groups of traditional buildings and land distribution that preserve the old state of affairs well
3. Groups of traditional buildings and their surrounding environment that show remarkable regional characteristics

Statistics

Type	No. of Districts
Brewers town	4
Casters town	1
Castle town	4
Dyeing and weaving town	2
Farming village	5
Fishing village	2
Hot-spring town	1
Jinaimachi	2
Lacquerware town	1
Merchant quarter	29
Mining town	2
Mountain village	15
Porcelain-maker town	1
Port quarter	13
Post town	11
Salt works town	1
Sericulture community	5
Ship-owner quarter	2
Shrine quarter	1
Silk spinning town	1
Tea house quarter	3
Temple town	8
Textile town	1
Samurai quarter	14
Wax maker quarter	1
Zaigō town	13

Prefecture	City	No. of Districts
Aichi	Nagoya	1
	Toyota	1
Akita	Semboku	1
	Yokote	1
Aomori	Hirosaki	1
	Kuroishi	1
Chiba	Katori	1
Ehime	Seiyo	1
	Uchiko	1
	Tsushima	1
Fukui	Obama	1
	Wakasa	1
	Minamiechizen	1
Fukuoka	Asakura	1
	Ukiha	2
	Yame	2
Fukushima	Kitakata	1
	Minamiaizu	1
	Shimogō	1
Gifu	Ena	1
	Gujō	1
	Mino	1
	Shirakawa	1
	Takayama	2
Gunma	Kiryū	1
	Nakanojō	1
Hiroshima	Fukuyama	1
	Hatsukaichi	1
	Kure	1
	Takehara	1
Hokkaidō	Hakodate	1
Hyōgo	Kōbe	1
	Sasayama	2
	Tatsuno	1
	Toyooka	1
	Yabu	1
Ibaraki	Sakuragawa	1
Ishikawa	Hakusan	1
	Kaga	2
	Kanazawa	4
	Wajima	1
Iwate	Kanegasaki	1
Kagawa	Marugame	1
Kagoshima	Izumi	1
	Minamikyūshū	1
	Satsumasendai	1
	Minamisatsuma	1
Kōchi	Aki	1
	Muroto	1
Kyoto	Ine	1
	Kyoto	4
	Nantan	1
	Yosano	1
Mie	Kameyama	1
Miyagi	Murata	1
Miyazaki	Hyuga	1
	Nichinan	1
	Shiiba	1
Nagano	Chikuma	1
	Hakuba	1
	Nagiso	1
	Shiojiri	2
	Suzaka	1
	Togakushi	1
	Tōmi	1
Nagasaki	Hirado	1
	Nagasaki	2
	Unzen	1
Nara	Gojō	1
	Kashihara	1
	Uda	1
Niigata	Sado	1
Ōita	Hita	1
	Kitsuki	1
Okayama	Kurashiki	1
	Takahashi	1
	Tsuyama	2
	Yakage	1
Okinawa	Taketomi	1
	Tonaki	1
Osaka	Tondabayashi	1
Saga	Arita	1
	Kashima	2
	Ureshino	1
Saitama	Kawagoe	1
Shiga	Higashiōmi	1
	Hikone	1
	Ōmihachiman	1
	Ōtsu	1
Shimane	Ōda	2
	Tsuwano	1
Shizuoka	Yaizu	1
Tochigi	Tochigi	1
Tokushima	Mima	1
	Miyoshi	1
	Mugi	1
Tottori	Daisen	1
	Kurayoshi	1
	Wakasa	1
Toyama	Nanto	2
	Takaoka	3
Wakayama	Yuasa	1
Yamaguchi	Hagi	4
	Yanai	1
Yamanashi	Hayakawa	1
	Kōshū	1

Usage

The table's columns (except for Remarks and Images) are sortable by table headings. The following gives an overview of what is included in the table and how the sorting works.

• Name: name of the important preservation district as registered in the Database of National Cultural Properties
• Type: type of the district (samurai / merchant / tea house /... quarter, post town, mountain village, mine town,...)
• Criterion: number of the criterion under which the district is designated (see list of criteria above)
• Area: area covered
• Remarks: general remarks
• Location: "town-name prefecture-name"; The column entries sort as "prefecture-name town-name".
• Images: picture of the structure

List

Name	Type	Criterion	Area	Remarks	Location	Images
	port quarter	3		Old Hakodate port area, which was among the first ports to be opened during the bakumatsu period at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Due to a fire in the Meiji period, the district consists of a mix of western, Japanese, and eclectic style town houses, religious and community buildings from the Meiji to the early Shōwa period.		Two joined red gabled brick houses with black roofs and entrances on the gable ends.
	samurai quarter	2		Former samurai castle town of the Tsugaru Domain dating to the Keichō era (1596–1615) with principal houses, the front gate, sawara hedges and wooden fences.		File:Hirosaki City Nakacho1.jpg
	merchant quarter	1		Merchant town and transportation center along the coastal road that prospered since the establishment of the Kuroishi Tsugaru family by Tsugaru Nobufusa in 1656.		File:Narumi Brewery.jpg
	samurai quarter	2		Samurai town at the order of the Date Domain established in strategic position on the Kitakami River with thatched houses and hedges.		—
	merchant quarter	1		Trading center in dealing in safflower during the Edo and in cocoons starting from the Meiji period.		File:Kuranomatunami.jpg
	zaigō town	2		Edo period town noted for its uchigura, storage and community space that is incorporated into the building itself.		Decorated black door to a black structure.
	samurai quarter	2		Large number of samurai residences, a front gate and wooden fences of a former castle town created by a branch of the Satake clan.		A street lined by wooden plank fences and small wooden gates.
	post town	3		Part of the Aizu Nishi Kaidō. Consisting of about road lined by large equally spaced thatched wooden buildings.		Street lined by similar wooden houses with white walls and thatched roofs.
	mountain village	3		Village built from the late Meiji to the early Shōwa period with thatched houses in the chūmon style.		File:Maezewa minamiaidu fukushima japan 01.jpg
	zaigō town and brewers quarter	2		Developed as a market town in 1582, in recent times brewing of sake, soy sauce and miso was practiced.		—
	zaigō town	2		Town appeared around Makabe Castle in the Sengoku period and was further developed by the Kasama clan during the Edo period. Japanese and western style town houses from the Edo period from after a Tenpō era (1830–1844) fire remain. Plots are fenced in with a yakuimon providing access and some town houses feature a sodegurastorehouse.		A traditional Japanese style hotel in Makabe.
	zaigō town	2		Residential and storehouses from the end of the Edo period onward, that formed alongside the Nikkō Reiheishi Kaidō.		File:Kauemon-cho.JPG
	weaving town	2		Edo period rural market town with machiya and textile related storehouses laid out along a main street.		File:Nokoyane.jpg
	mountain village and sericulture community	3		Meiji era sericulture farming village noted for its two or three-storied buildings. Component of The Tomioka Silk Mill and Related Industrial Heritage.		File:Kuni-Akaiwa settlement02.JPG
	merchant quarter	1		Machiya and storehouses from after a great fire in 1893 and post Taishō period western style buildings.		A black two-storied house with hip-and gable roof and a pent roof on the first storey.
	merchant quarter	3		River port prospering from the Edo to the Taishō period with a variety of town houses, storehouses and western style architecture.		A small street and wooden houses next to a canal.
	port quarter	2		Port city founded in the 17th century to ship gold and silver.
	port quarter	3		Edo period boat builder and ship owner quarter of dense two-story houses that look plain from the outside with luxurious interior.		File:Sado Shukunegi.jpg
	casters town	1		Town houses, storehouses and workshops of a metal caster community that formed around Takaoka Castle.		Street with traditional Japanese wooden houses.
	merchant quarter	1		Traditional buildings from the Meiji to the early Shōwa period, such as: storehouses, town houses, western style buildings and rick structures.		Street with old storehouses.
	zaigō town	2		Established in 1655, Yoshihisa prospered as a rice distribution center of the Kaga Domain.		Street with traditional wooden houses in winter.
	mountain village	3		Village with 9 gasshō-zukuri houses and store houses. Part of the World Heritage Site Historic Villages of Shirakawa-gō and Gokayama		Wooden thatched houses in a mountainous landscape.
	mountain village	3		Village with 20 gasshō-zukuri houses and store houses. Part of the World Heritage Site Historic Villages of Shirakawa-gō and Gokayama		Wooden thatched houses and rice field in a mountainous landscape.
	ship-owner quarter	2		Residences of ship owners and boatsmen of kitamaebune ships which were active from about the late Edo to the mid Meiji period.		A large house beyond a wall.
	mountain village	3		Four charcoal maker villages that prospered from early modern times to the early Shōwa period.		—
	temple town	2		Neighborhood that developed along the approach roads (sandō) between the Hokkoku Kaidō and temples or shrines.		File:Kanazawa-shi Utatsu-sanroku, Ishikawa, temple district.JPG
	temple town	2		Temple town formed in early modern times along the Noda and Tsurugi roads. Myōryū-ji, popularly known as Ninja-dera ("Ninja temples") is located here.		Temples along a street.
	tea house quarter	1		Tea house neighborhood that developed from the late Edo to the early Shōwa period with tall two-storied houses to which in recent times a third level has been added. The site is said to have been the residence of a Kaga Domain deputy, giving the district its name.		Houses along a riverfront.
	tea house quarter	1		Tea house neighborhood with two-storied houses that was created in 1820 by moving buildings from central Kanazawa.		Small street lined by wooden two-storeyed houses.
	ship-owner quarter	2		Early 16th century settlement that grew with the development of the shipping industry in the Sea of Japan during the Edo period. The district contains residences of ship-owners and sailors, temples, shrines, storehouses and gardens.		Wooden and black tile-roofed ship-owner houses.
	sericulture community	3		Sericultrue village in a narrow valley location.		Street with two-storied wooden houses.
	post town	3		Located on the Saba Kaidō, which connected Wakasa Province with the capital in Kyoto.		Two-storeyed houses whose ground floor is occupied by shops next to small street and stream.
	merchant and tea house quarter	2		Merchant houses and tea houses in an old port town that served as a relay point for goods from the Japan Sea side to Kyoto.		File:Obama nishigumi.JPG
	post town	2				—
	mountain village and sericulture community	3		Dry field farming village during the Edo period that turned into silk farming in the mid Meiji period. To accommodate the silk worm culture, the central part of the roof was raised.		Old silk-raising farmer houses with a unique shape roof.
	mountain village, post town for pilgrims	3		Lodgings for pilgrims going to Kuon-ji, head temple of Nichiren-shū. Located between Mount Shichimen and the temple's sacred mountain, Mount Minobu.		File:Old accommodations Osakaya in Akasawa.JPG
	post town	3		Post station of the Nakasendō and largest of the Kisoji with buildings from the Edo until the Meiji period.		Small street lined by wooden two-storeyed houses.
	lacquerware town	2		Town houses and storehouse where Kiso lacquerware continues to be produced by traditional methods.		Small street lined by wooden two-storeyed houses.
	merchant quarter	2		Originally founded during the Tenshō era as a castle town, Inariyama became a post station after the castle was abandoned in the Keichō era. Commercialization started in the 19th century and it turned into a distribution center for raw silk and textile products at the start of modern Japan.		File:Inariyama-juku Kurashikan 1.jpg
	temple lodging (shukubo), temple town	2		Shukubo temple lodgings and houses of lay devotees around the lower and middle shrine of Togakushi Shrine.		—
	post town and sericulture community	1		Post station on the Hokkoku Kaidō established in 1625. From the Meiji period, the spacious rooms have been reused for silk farming.		Small street lined by wooden two-storeyed houses.
	post town	3		One of the 69 Stations of the Nakasendō and part of the Kisoji. In addition to the late Edo early Meiji period inn town, the designation includes part of the rural surroundings and three villages.		Small street lined by wooden two-storeyed houses.
	mountain village	3		Small mountain village with thatched houses and storehouses, about 200 rice fields, an irrigation channel from the late Edo, early Meiji period.		File:Aoni.jpg
	merchant quarter and silk spinning town	1		Town that developed throughout the early modern period as a trading center and flourished in modern times with the rise of the silk industry.
	castle town	3		Dense town of two-storied houses below Gujō Hachiman Castle with a water supply system surrounded on all sides by mountains and a river.		File:Gujo-shi Gujo-hachiman kitamachi, Gifu, castle town.JPG
	merchant quarter	3		Merchant district of a former castle town that prospered during the Edo period as a political, cultural and economic center of the Tōnō region		File:Iwamura Nishimachi 2021-01 ac (3).jpg
	merchant quarter	1		Edo and Meiji period merchant houses in a former castle town.		File:Shimoninomachi Takahaya Gifu pref01s3s3870.jpg
	merchant quarter	1		Edo period merchant houses in a former castle town.		Small street lined by low two-storied wooden houses.
	mountain village	3		Farming village with gasshō-zukuri houses, paddy and other fields. Part of the World Heritage Site Historic Villages of Shirakawa-gō and Gokayama		Many wooden houses with steep thatched gabled roofs.
	merchant quarter	1		Former castle town that prospered as a commercial center during the Edo period.		Two storied traditional Japanese houses next to a street.
	mountain village	3		Village located in a river valley along a former main transportation road farming citrus fruits, tea and tobacco using seasonally occupied farmwork huts.		File:Yaizu hanazono area 01.JPG
	merchant quarter	1		An example of a commercial center in a mountain location that prospered through the circulation of goods. Large number of Edo period town houses .		File:Manrin-kouji Alley in 2019 ac.jpg
	dyeing and weaving town	1		Founded in 1608 where the Tōkaidō crosses the Owari Hills between Chiryū-juku and Narumi-juku, the town prospered through the invention of Arimatsu Shibori (tie-dye) which continues to be produced here.		File:Arimatsu Historic Townscape, Midori Ward Nagoya 2013.jpg
	post town	3		Post station on the Tōkaidō extending for in east-west direction including two-storied town houses and the military headquarters.		Two storied wooden houses next lining a street.
	merchant quarter	1		Built on the east side of Lake Biwa at the intersection of the Hokkoku Kaidō with the Nakasendō the town was used as a base by Ōmi merchants which is reflected in the large number of elegant town and storehouses.		Two storied wooden houses next lining a street.
	monks' dwellings and temple town	3		Temple town and study place for monks from Hiyoshi Taisha and Enryaku-ji.		A path through a wooded area next to a wall of unhewn stones.
	merchant quarter	2		Business district south east of the castle town of Hikone Castle that prospered from the Edo to the early Shōwa period.		File:Hikone Teishinsha201606.jpg
	farming village	3		Farming village with a core of residences of Ōmi merchants surrounded by traditional farm houses developed from the late Edo to the early Shōwa period.		File:Akindo street Kondo-cho Gokasho01nbs4592.jpg
	fishing village	3		Fishing village located on an inlet that is surrounded on three sides by mountains. Built from the late Edo to the early Shōwa period, the residential part of the town houses are built on top of the boat shed.		Wooden houses built on and above water.
	tea house quarter	1		Pleasure quarter centered around Shinbashi-dori with buildings constructed just after a great fire in 1865.		Wooden two-storied houses lining a small street. The upper stories' windows are covered.
	temple town	3		Temple town with thatched houses centered around Adashino Nenbutsu-ji along the Atago Highway which leads to the Atago Shrine.		Large red torii next to a wooden thatched house.
	temple town	3		Former temple town serving among others, Hokan-ji, Kiyomizu-dera and Yasaka Shrine. The stretch from Sannei-zaka towards Ninen-zaka is lined by single-storied shops and tea houses with mushikomado (虫籠窓) latticed windows. From Sannei-zaka to Kōdai-ji there are two-storied Taishō period buildings in sukiya-zukuri style.		Stone steps on a slope lined by houses.
	shrine quarter	3		Residential neighborhood for the head priests of Kamigamo Shrine including a stone bridge, earthen walls, gates, front gardens and single storied houses with sangawarabuki tile roofs,		File:Kamigamohondori1.JPG
	mountain village	3		Village with about 50 thatched roof houses and hardened stone walls extending for about along the upper stream of the Yura River.		Wooden houses with thatched roofs in a mountain setting.
	textile town	2		Former castle town that developed in early modern Japan until the early Shōwa period as a production center for Tango chirimen silk crêpe.		File:Yosano-cho Kaya, Kyoto, historic industrial town.JPG
	jinaimachi town, zaigō town	1		Founded as an Ikkō Jōdo Shinshū jinaimachi in the late Muromachi period on a terrace of the Ishi river and centered around Kōshō-ji Betsuin temple. In the Edo period it became a zaigō town with large town houses lining the street.		A narrow street lined by houses with a wooden lower part, a white upper storey and tile roofs.
	castle town	2		Samurai houses, merchant houses and the early Edo period Sasayama Castle founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu.		Thatched house beyond a white wall with a small gate which both have a thatched roof.
	post town, farming village	豊岡市出石3		Post town and farming community that developed along a major road with two storied tile roofed and single storied thatched houses, with entrances on the gable end.		File:Fukusumi Kawahara 2021-10 ac (1).jpg
	mountain village and sericulture community	3		Formerly one of the leading silk farming centers in Tajima Province prospering from the late Meiji to the early Shōwa period.
	port quarter	1		District of foreign residences from the late Meiji and early Taishō Period that were established after the opening of the Port of Kobe in 1867.		A row of non-Japanese looking wooden houses along a street.
	castle town	2		Town houses, temples, shrines, and samurai residences, that appeared in connection with the construction of Izushi Castle by Koide Yoshihide in 1604.		Wooden houses and a wooden clock tower on a stone base.
	merchant quarter and brewers quarter	1		Castle town beneath Tatsuno Castle that developed into a merchant district during the Edo period and a major producer of soy sauce with a tradition dating back to the 17th century.
	merchant quarter	1		Located between Mount Shiroyama and the Uda River, Matsuyama developed from a castle town to a political and economic center of the Uda District. The town houses date from the late Edo to the early Shōwa period.		Wooden houses lining small streets.
	jinaimachi town, zaigō town	1		Originating as an autonomous religious community centered around during the Muromachi Period, the town was formerly surrounded by a moat.		Wooden houses with a white upper storey lining a small street.
	merchant quarter	1		Large number of Edo period town houses of a flourishing merchant town of south Yamato.		File:130629 Gojo Shinmachi Gojo Nara pref Japan14s3.jpg
	brewers quarter	2		Soy sauce maker district that flourished at the end of the 16th century, with shops and storehouses dating to the Edo period, the oldest are two-storied structures with gabled roof and hongawara tiles		A small street lined by wooden two-storied houses.
	merchant quarter	1		Commercial and industrial city that prospered from the Edo to the Taishō period. The preservation district consists of town house, storehouses with white plaster walls and reddish roofs.		Wooden houses with white upper stories.
	farming village	3		Farming village with river irrigation from the Amida River, consisting of large scale main buildings and affiliated houses from the early modern period until the early Shōwa period including the .		Large wooden house with thatched roof.
	merchant quarter	3				—
	port quarter, hot-spring town	2		The hot spring area developed from medieval times as port for the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine (a World Heritage Site). The current townscape of hot spring ryokan located in a narrow and steep valley date from the late Edo to the early Shōwa period.		Small street lined by wooden houses.
	mining town	3		Townscape around the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine (a World Heritage Site) with a mixture of samurai residences and town houses built from the Edo period onward.		File:180504 Omori of Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine Oda Shimane pref Japan01bs4.jpg
	samurai quarter, merchant quarter	2		Developed in the early Edo period as a castle town of Tsuwano Castle, Tsuwano contains residences of senior vassals and a merchant district centered along the old San'indō.		File:Tsuwano street 003.JPG
	mining town	3		Copper mining town and leading producer of copper in Chūgoku from the Muromachi to the Meiji period. With the decline of copper production in the Edo period, production shifted to Red Iron Oxide (Bengala) which prospered until the Taishō period. The houses feature red clay tile roofs, rouge mud walls and latticework.		Small street lined by wooden houses.
	merchant quarter	1		Founded by Ukita Hideie, it later became the port of the Bitchū-Matsuyama Domain and served as relay point for goods to Kyoto. The townscape consists of glazed tile roofs and canals.		White houses with roof tiling next to a small channel.
	merchant quarter, temple town	2		Edo period temple town with large scale temples in the western part of the old castle town and a commercial district along the Izumo Kaidō.		—
	merchant quarter	1		Merchant district that developed from the castle town of Tsuyama Castle, with buildings constructed from the Edo to the Shōwa period, featuring kōshiirimado (格子入窓) and mushikomado (虫籠窓) latticed windows, namako walls and sodekabe (袖壁) side walls.		File:Joto Tsuyama Okayama10n3200.jpg
	post town	2		Post station on the San'yōdō containing a sub-honjin from the Edo period.		File:160320 Yakage-juku Yakage Okayama pref Japan05n.jpg
	port quarter	2		With the development of the shipping route through the Seto Inland Sea in the Edo period, Yutaka-machi Mitarai on the island of Ōsakishimojima grew as a port for ships waiting for rising tide or favourable winds. The town includes gabled houses with sangawarabuki roofs and is dotted with western style house. The port area retains its historical character with groynes, stepped piers and a lighthouse.		Wooden houses with white walls.
	salt works town	1		Market and port town that prospered with the introduction of salt pans in 1650. From the late Edo period and backed by the economic development the town became a center of learning, tea ceremony and other refined cultural activities. The current townscape with hongawarabuki roofs and dates from the Edo to the early Shōwa period.		A row of black houses.
	port quarter	2		Port town along the main shipping routes along the Seto Inland Sea with Edo period town houses, temples, shrines, stone structures and harbour facilities.
	temple town	2				—
	port quarter	2		Port town formed together with a castle town at the mouth of the Abu River. It flourished in early modern Japan in the shipbuilding and fishery industry and prospered from the Taishō to the early Shōwa period as a trading center for small dried sardines (イリコ) and Natsumikan.		File:Hamasaki Hagi 01.JPG
	samurai quarter	2		Samurai residences near the Hashimoto River that were created with the development of the castle. In addition to residential architecture the district includes a Nagayamon gate and storehouses.		File:Hagi-hiyako yamaguchi japan.JPG
	samurai quarter	2		This district covers almost the whole area of the third bailey of Hagi Castle founded by Mōri Terumoto in 1608. It contained the domain's offices and residences of Mōri's household and high ranked samurai.		File:Hagi-shi Horiuchi-chiku, Yamaguchi, samurai quarter.JPG
	post town	2		A former post town set among rice fields and situated along the main highway of the Hagi Domain. The town was redeveloped by the appearance of tea houses in early modern times. Houses with thatched and sangawarabuki roofs		File:Hagi-shi Sasanamiichi, Yamaguchi, post town.JPG
	merchant quarter	1		Due to its strategic location on the Seto Inland Sea and on Yanai River, Yanai flourished since ancient times as a trading center. Merchant houses with hongawarabuki roofs and .		File:Yanai City 01.JPG
	mountain village	3		Village and farmland on a steep mountain slope supported by dry-stone walls with private houses dating to the 18th century.		File:Higashi-Iya Ochiai 201303-1.JPG
	merchant quarter	1		A district that preserves private houses from each period after the beginning of the 18th century. The houses have a distinctive design with tile roofs, decorative posts and the frame cased in a .		Wooden houses with white walls, roof tiles and protruding walls.
	fishing village	3		Fishing village formed around a cove at the northern end of Teba Island from 1800 due to the immigration policy of the Tokushima Domain. From the Meiji to the prewar Shōwa period it prospered through bonito and tuna fishing.		Small boats and houses.
	port quarter	3		A former castle town with houses from the mid-Edo to the Meiji period, where members of the Shiwaku Suigun lived.		White two-storied houses.
	zaigō town	2		Former zaigō hometown of the Uwajima Domain originating from a castle town of that functioned during the Edo period as a trading center for agricultural produce and hinoki cypress as well as a post station on the Uwajima road and gateway to Meiseki-ji on the Shikoku Pilgrimage. The preservation district includes remains of town houses from the Edo to the Shōwa Period as well as western style churches and schools.		Street lined with wooden houses with white walls.
	wax maker quarter	3		Wax maker town with houses from the Edo and Meiji Period that developed along the Konpira road of the Shikoku Pilgrimage. The buildings line a long street and have plastered fireproof walls (漆喰塗大壁).		File:Uchiko1,Uchiko-town,Japan.JPG
	zaigō town	3		Distribution center for goods that developed from the late Edo period to modern times on a narrow site near the mouth of the Iwamatsu river. The site includes townhouses, storehouses, outbuildings and farmhouses as well as the walls of waterways.		—
	samurai quarter	2		Samurai town with narrow ordered streets, hedges, fences and houses from the late Edo to the early Shōwa period.		File:Noradokei 02.JPG
	zaigō town	1		Residential town with merchant and store houses on a narrow plot along the road connecting Kōchi with Muroto. Buildings have white plastered walls and characteristic .		File:Kiragawacho 03.JPG
	mountain village	3		Villages with irrigation channel rice farming along the Kumanoue River valley in the Minō Mountains. The villages contain houses with thatched yosemune style roofs as well as irimoya style tile-roofed houses that gained popularity starting in the Meiji period. In addition the preservation district includes stone walls, main and wayside Shinto shrines.		File:Niikawa Tagomori.jpg
	zaigō town	3		A former post station along the Bungo Road that, in the second half of the Edo period, developed into a residential town and economic center of the Chikugo district. After a large fire in 1867, houses received plaster fireproofing walls.		White houses with a characteristic net pattern on the lower part of the outer walls.
	zaigō town	3		Rural town with water irrigation channels.		File:Yame-kurogi fukuoka japan.JPG
	castle town	2		Former castle town of the Akizuki branch of the Kuroda clan established in the early Edo period. The district includes merchant houses and residences of samurai and of Shinto priests.		File:Route322 old Akizuki.JPG
	merchant quarter	2		Townscape with storehouses in a former castle town of the Yanagawa Domain Fukushima Castle. Later with the abandonment of the castle it was taken over by the Kurume Domain and flourished as a trading center for locally produced agricultural products.		File:Yame-fukushima fukuoka japan.JPG
	merchant quarter	2		Former river port town utilizing the tidal movement which flourished as a trading center for rice, ceramics, raw materials and Amakusa pottery.		Wooden houses with white walls.
	port quarter and zaigō town	2		Districts with thatched and sangawarabuki roofs that developed in connection with a river port.		File:Hamasyuku kashima saga japan.JPG
	brewers town	1		Town on the Nagasaki Kaidō where sake brewing became popular in the mid Edo period and towards the late Edo period there were around ten buildings involved in this business. The remaining structures date from the late Edo to the Shōwa period.		File:Happongi kashima saga japan.JPG
	porcelain-maker town	3		Arita's townscape was formed after the great Bunsei era fire of 1828 and consists of a mixture of machiya town houses and western architecture.		File:Donbai Wall.jpg
	samurai quarter	2		Edo period samurai district centered around the Nabeshima Residence including waterways, stone walls and hedges.		Small street lined by walls.
	port quarter	2		Stone paving, brick walls and western houses from the Meiji to the Taishō period along the Dutch Slope.		Slope, stone walls and a wooden house.
	port quarter	2		Foreign settlement that opened during the bakmatsu on a gentle slope with western style houses from the end of the Edo to the Meiji period.		The Glover Garden.
	port quarter	2		In the middle ages, the port of call of kenminsen in the Genkai Sea and later the headquarter of the whaling industry. The town includes gabled houses with sangawarabuki roofs and trapezoidal floor plans matching the curved streets.		File:Konoura hirado nagasaki japan.JPG
	merchant quarter	2		Developed from a castle town to the political and economical center of Kyushu after becoming under the jurisdiction of the bakufu shogunate in 1639. Houses from different eras are preserved and form an orderly townscape with two streets running north-south crossed by five streets in east-west direction.		Wooden houses.
	samurai quarter	2		Residential neighborhood for upper and middle-class samurai from the Kitsuki Domain around Kitsuki Castle. It consists of two parts, Kita-dai and Minami-dai separated by a valley and connected via stone steps and slopes of masonry.		Sloped streets with masonry walls.
	mountain village	3		Settlement on a terraced hillside in the central part of the Kyushu mountain range.		File:Shiibamura miyazaki japan.JPG
	port quarter	2		Port town that flourished as a ship building center from the bakumatsu to the Taishō period. The townscape consists of gabled houses along three main streets and fire prevention road known as tsukinuke.		Two-storied wooden houses.
	samurai quarter	2		Samurai district of a former castle town of the Itō clan with stone walls, the , and other gates.		File:Obi06.jpg
	samurai quarter	2		Samurai district with pebble fences and hedges on stone walls, located between Kiyoshiki Castle and the Hiwaki River.		Small street lined with low stone walls.
	samurai quarter	2		Oldest and largest among the outer castles established by the Satsuma Clan.		File:Tatebaba dori Izumi.JPG
	samurai quarter	2		Part of the outer castles established by the Satsuma Clan and in possession of the Chiran-Shimazu Clan (Sata Clan), the district is centered around the feudal lord's residence.		Small street lined with low stone walls.
	samurai quarter	2		An outer castle in possession of the Shimazu clan since the 15th century.
	farming village	3		Village with red tile roofs and streets of white sand in the flat central part of Tonaki Island.		File:View of Tonaki Island.jpg
	farming village	3		Traditional composition and arrangement of wooden one-storey residential houses with red tile roofs surrounded by stone walls.		Houses surrounded by low stone walls of unhewn stones.

See also

• Tourism in Japan