Best places: Heritage buildings in Muramatsu, Japan

Ornate palace & residence for the Tokugawa shoguns, with screen paintings & traditional gardens.

Palace complex & former Imperial family residence reconstructed in 1855, with gardens & gates.

Scenic grounds of a 17th-century palace destroyed by fire, with tree-lined footpaths & ponds.

Ancient mountaintop burial ground next to a temple with observation decks for sweeping views.

Worship hall & pilgrimage site first built in 813, housing an ornate, 8-handed deity sculpture.

👍👍 What a beautiful home! Everything is well kept and taking the length to restored. The hand out also gives one a very clear idea on each and every room, on the history, the owner and fun details. Visitors are few and you could take your time to explore this big house and it’s two gardens on your own....

😐 The former Nara Prison is an important cultural property. Nara Juvenile Prison was previously closed in 2017. In 2026, it will become a luxury hotel within Hoshino Resorts. Advance reservations are required for tours. One of the five major prisons of the Meiji period, the red brick building built in...

Former residence of the Mitsui family built in 1925, with a tea room & landscaped water gardens.

Thatched hermitage of 17th-century haiku master Mukai Kyorai, with poems displayed in ink & stone.

Renaissance-style former prefecture HQ from 1904, with tours & a cherry tree in the courtyard.

👍👍 日本の緑茶を考案した永谷宗円の生家。テレビで度々紹介されてますが、観光地擦れした雰囲気は全くなく地元のボランティアの方のご説明はフレンドリーで大変勉強になりました。お茶漬け海苔で有名な永谷園は親戚筋らしいです。五月上旬の新茶祭りの時は多くの人で賑わうとのこと。 アジサイを見るために再訪。 生家も良い...

👍👍 Take a look inside the Kyocera Museum of Art on a special exhibition optional tour. Shimadzu Corporation was founded in 1875 in the 8th year of the Meiji era, and was completed in 1927 in the 2nd year of the Showa era with the aim of creating a company building that would be a symbol of Shimadzu and...

😐 京都御所の入り口です。一般公開時のみここから入場します。お金は不要。手荷物検査が有ります。

👍👍 小西家は，初代儀助が安政3年(1856)に京都より大阪道修町に出て，小西屋の屋号で薬種業を創業した商家である。住宅は南が道修町通り、北が伏見町通り、西が堺筋に面する敷地に建ち、主屋、衣装蔵及び二階蔵の3棟が重要文化財に指定されている。 主屋は店舗の表屋と奥の居室部からなる表屋造の町家で、道修町に南面して建っ...