Japan's 36 Special Places of Scenic Beauty

Motsuji Garden, Hiraizumi毛越寺庭園Iwate

A 12th-century Pure Land garden built by the Fujiwara lords of Hiraizumi around the Oizumi-ga-ike pond; the halls that once lined it survive only as foundation stones, but the pond, its island and the winding stream keep their shape. On the fourth Sunday of May, poets still float wine cups down that stream at the Gokusui no En and compose verses as they pass.

Getting there: 7 min walk (0.7 km) from JR Hiraizumi Station; entry ¥700. Best: Mid June to early July, when 30,000 irises flower by the pond. Our morioka guide

Rikugien六義園Tokyo

Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, a retainer of the fifth shogun, was granted this land in 1695 and filled it with 88 scenes drawn from classical waka poetry, set around a large pond with hills and islands. The big weeping cherry inside the inner gate is in full bloom at the end of March and lit up at night; entry is ¥300.

Getting there: 7 min walk from Komagome Station (JR Yamanote Line south exit, or the Namboku Line). Best: Late March for the weeping cherry; late November for the lit maples. Our tokyo guide

Koishikawa Korakuen小石川後楽園Tokyo

Tokugawa Yorifusa of the Mito domain began this garden in 1629, and his son Mitsukuni added Chinese touches such as the Engetsu-kyo, a stone arch that completes a full moon with its reflection; the name Korakuen came from the Ming scholar Zhu Shunshui. Tokyo Dome, next door, stands on land that belonged to the same Mito estate.

Getting there: 5 min walk from JR Suidobashi Station (west exit) to the east gate, or 3 min from Iidabashi Station (Oedo Line exit C3) to the west gate. Our tokyo guide

Hama-rikyu Gardens旧浜離宮庭園Tokyo

Seawater from Tokyo Bay flows in and out of the Shioiri pond with the tide, so the level shifts through the day beneath the Shiodome towers, and two Edo-period duck-hunting ponds from 1778 and 1791 survive beside it. The shogun's teahouses all burned in the wartime air raids; four have been rebuilt, starting with the Nakajima teahouse on the pond's island in 1983.

Getting there: 5 min walk from Shiodome Station (Oedo Line exit 10, or the Yurikamome) to the Naka-no-gomon gate. Our tokyo guide

Kenroku-en兼六園Ishikawa

Named in 1822 for combining the six qualities of a perfect garden, from spaciousness to seclusion, it spreads over 11.7 ha of the slope beside Kanazawa Castle around Kasumiga-ike pond. It was the Maeda lords' private garden until it opened to the public in 1874, and adults now pay ¥320.

Getting there: 12 min by bus from JR Kanazawa Station to Kenrokuen-shita, then a 5 min walk to the Katsurazaka gate. Best: Mid November into winter, when the yukitsuri snow ropes go up over the pines. Visitor guide · Our kanazawa guide

Ichijodani Asakura Clan Gardens一乗谷朝倉氏庭園Fukui

Four gardens of the Asakura clan's valley capital, burned in 1573 and lost under rice fields until excavation began in 1967. The largest, at the Suwa-yakata site, sets a stone 4.13 m tall beside its waterfall, the largest waterfall-flanking stone in any Japanese garden.

Getting there: Keifuku bus 62 (about hourly) from Fukui Station to Fukugen-machinami; or JR Ichijodani Station, about 30 min on foot. Our fukui guide

Daisen-in Shoin Garden大仙院書院庭園Kyoto

A Muromachi-period dry landscape squeezed into the narrow strip around one corner of the abbot's hall: stones stand in for a waterfall, a bridge and a boat, and white gravel carries the river out to the sea. The hall it wraps around dates from 1513 and is a National Treasure; entry is ¥500, 9:00 to 16:30.

Getting there: 8 min walk from the Daitokuji-mae bus stop (city buses 101, 205 and 206 from Kyoto Station). Our kyoto guide

Kinkaku-ji (Rokuon-ji) Garden鹿苑寺（金閣寺）庭園Kyoto

The listing is Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's pond garden around the Golden Pavilion, which stands on the shore of Kyoko-chi, the mirror pond. The temple opened the garden to paying visitors in 1894 after losing its lands; it now costs ¥500, 9:00 to 17:00 every day.

Getting there: City bus 12, 59, 205 or M1 to Kinkakuji-michi. Visitor guide · Our kyoto guide

Ryoan-ji Rock Garden龍安寺方丈庭園Kyoto

Fifteen stones in groups of five, two, three, two and three on raked white gravel, a rectangle about 25 m by 10 m made around the 1499 rebuilding of the abbot's hall. In 1780 the guidebook Miyako Meisho Zue sent visitors to the temple's Kyoyo-chi pond for its mandarin ducks instead, and that pond garden is still there in the grounds; entry is ¥600.

Getting there: 7 min walk from Ryoanji Station on the Randen Kitano Line; city bus 59 stops at Ryoanji-mae. Visitor guide · Our kyoto guide

Ginkaku-ji (Jisho-ji) Garden慈照寺（銀閣寺）庭園Kyoto

Ashikaga Yoshimasa's 15th-century hillside retreat, though the shapes everyone photographs are later: the Ginshadan, a flat raked terrace of sand, and the Kogetsudai, a flat-topped sand cone, both took their present form in the late Edo period. Adults pay ¥1,000, and it opens at 8:30 from March to November.

Getting there: City bus 5, 7, 32, 102, 203 or 204 to Ginkakuji-michi, or EX100 or 105 to Ginkakuji-mae. Our kyoto guide

Hokongo-in Seijo Waterfall法金剛院青女滝 附 五位山Kyoto

When Emperor Toba's consort Taikenmon'in revived this temple in 1130, she had a waterfall of set stones built into its Pure Land garden; that Seijo no Taki, with the low hill of Goi-yama behind it, is what the listing covers. The pond below is now almost all lotus, which is why the temple calls itself the lotus temple.

Open only on the 15th of each month and during special periods announced on the temple's home page (spring 2026: March 23 to April 5), 9:30 to 16:00, ¥500, no booking needed.

Getting there: 5 min walk from JR Hanazono Station on the Sagano Line. Our kyoto guide

Tenryu-ji Garden天龍寺庭園Kyoto

Muso Soseki, the founding abbot, counted the Sogen pond among the temple's ten sights in 1346, and after repeated fires it is the one part of Tenryu-ji that still shows traces of its first form. The garden alone costs ¥500, 8:30 to 17:00, and from November 14 to 30, 2026 it opens early at 7:30.

Getting there: In front of Randen Arashiyama Station; 13 min walk from JR Saga-Arashiyama. Our kyoto guide

Nijo Castle Ninomaru Garden二条城二之丸庭園Kyoto

Kobori Enshu laid out this pond garden beside the Ninomaru Palace as commissioner of works when the castle was rebuilt from 1624 for Emperor Go-Mizunoo's visit. The ¥800 castle entry covers the garden, with last entry at 16:00; the palace interior is ¥500 more.

Getting there: Nijojo-mae Station on the Tozai subway line is at the gate. Visitor guide · Our kyoto guide

Konchi-in Garden金地院庭園Kyoto

The Crane and Turtle garden, made in 1632 for a visit by the shogun Iemitsu, is the only one of the many gardens credited to Kobori Enshu with documents proving he designed it. The long flat stone between the two islands was set there for bowing toward the Toshogu shrine next door.

Getting there: 5 min walk from Keage Station on the Tozai subway line. Our kyoto guide

Saihoji (Moss Temple)西芳寺庭園Kyoto

About 120 kinds of moss cover the pond garden Muso Soseki reshaped in the 14th century, though the moss only took over after floods in the 1600s left the garden neglected. Every visit begins with copying a sutra in the main hall before you walk the garden, about 60 minutes in all.

Visits by advance application only: online through the temple's intosaihoji.com site from two months ahead until 23:59 the day before (¥4,000 or more per person by card, plus a ¥110 fee; up to two people per booking; age 13 and over), or by return postcard. The upper dry garden is shown only on the members' Oriori visits.

Getting there: Kyoto Bus 73 from Kyoto Station, about 60 min, to Koke-dera Suzumushi-dera, then 3 min on foot. Our kyoto guide

Daigo-ji Sanbo-in Garden醍醐寺三宝院庭園Kyoto

Toyotomi Hideyoshi drew up the basic plan himself in 1598 for his Daigo cherry-blossom party, and its prized Fujito stone was hauled from his Jurakudai palace. You view it from the Omote Shoin, a National Treasure; Sanbo-in alone is ¥600, or ¥800 in the spring season.

Getting there: 10 min walk from Daigo Station (exit 2) on the Tozai subway line. Best: Late March to mid April, the cherry season it was built for. Our kyoto guide

Joruri-ji Garden浄瑠璃寺庭園Kyoto

A Pure Land garden that keeps its original plan: the hall of nine Amida statues on the west bank looks across the pond to the three-storey pagoda of the Yakushi Buddha on the east, one Pure Land facing the other. The hall is the only nine-Amida hall left from the Heian period, and the pond was excavated and restored again from 2010.

Getting there: Kizugawa community bus (Tono line) from JR Kamo Station, about 20 min, to Joruriji-mae. Our nara guide

Heijo Palace East Palace Garden平城宮東院庭園Nara

An 8th-century banqueting garden at the south-east corner of the Nara palace, restored after excavation: a pond ringed entirely by pebble beaches, the shoreline style Japanese gardens followed for the next four centuries. It opened to visitors in 1998 (9:00 to 16:30, closed Mondays) and in August 2010 became the newest Special Place of Scenic Beauty.

Our nara guide

Heijo-kyo Sakyo Sanjo Nibo Palace Garden平城京左京三条二坊宮跡庭園Nara

Dug up in 1975 on a plot bought for a post office: an 8th-century pond about 55 m long that snakes from north to south over a bed of flat stones, with a rebuilt Nara-period hall beside it. Entry is free, 9:00 to 17:00, closed Wednesdays.

Getting there: About 1 km west of Kintetsu Shin-Omiya Station, or a bus from Kintetsu Nara Station to the Miyato Teien stop. Our nara guide

Okayama Korakuen岡山後楽園Okayama

Ikeda Tsunamasa's garden of 1687 to 1700 on an island in the Asahi River, borrowing Okayama Castle's keep across the water; its famous lawns began as a cost cut in 1771, when turf replaced the rice paddies. Red-crowned cranes, first given by the Chinese statesman Guo Moruo in 1956, are still kept here and let out on New Year's Day.

Getting there: 15 min by Okaden tram from Okayama Station to Shiroshita, then across the Asahi River; 25 min on foot from the station. Visitor guide · Our okayama guide

Ritsurin Garden栗林公園Kagawa

Six ponds and 13 hills at the foot of Mount Shiun, 75 ha in all and the largest garden on this list, with about 1,000 pines shaped by hand. It opens with the sun (5:30 from April to September, 7:00 in midwinter) for ¥500, and a boatman sculls six passengers round the South Lake for ¥850 each.

Getting there: 3 min walk from JR Ritsurin-koen Kitaguchi Station, or 7 min from Kotoden Ritsurin-koen Station. Our takamatsu guide

Shikinaen識名園Okinawa

The Ryukyu kings' second residence, finished in 1799 and used to entertain envoys of the Chinese emperor: a heart-shaped pond with a hexagonal Chinese pavilion on its island, stone arch bridges and Ryukyu limestone edging the water. The Battle of Okinawa destroyed it in 1945, and what you walk through was rebuilt between 1975 and 1996; ¥400, closed Wednesdays.

Getting there: Naha Bus 2, 3, 4, 5 or 14 to Shikinaen-mae. Our naha guide

Lake Towada and the Oirase Stream十和田湖および奥入瀬渓流Aomori

A double caldera lake and the stream that drains it: the Oirase runs about 14 km from Nenokuchi on the lakeshore down to Yakeyama, past waterfalls such as the 7 m Choshi Otaki, with a walking trail beside it the whole way. After heavy rain buried parts of the trail on August 19, 2025, Aomori Prefecture reopened it end to end on September 10, 2025.

Getting there: JR Bus from Aomori Station (Mizuumi-go, about 2 hours) or Hachinohe Station (Oirase-go, about 1 hour 30 min) to Oirase Keiryu Onsen; the lake is about 50 min further. Best: Late October, when the maples along the stream turn. Our aomori guide

Matsushima松島Miyagi

The designation takes in the whole bay from Shiogama round to Higashi-Matsushima: about 260 pine-topped islands of tuff. For the full spread, climb Otakamori on Miyato Island, 105.8 m, the one of the four classic viewpoints with nothing blocking the view on any side.

Getting there: 5 min walk from JR Matsushima-Kaigan Station (Senseki Line) to the cruise pier. Our matsushima guide

Kurobe Gorge黒部峡谷 附 猿飛並びに奥鐘山Toyama

Japan's deepest V-shaped gorge, cut into granite by the Kurobe River between the Tateyama and Ushiro-Tateyama ranges; the designation also names the Sarutobi narrows and the cliffs of Okukane-yama at the Keyakidaira end. The trolley line built to carry materials for the hydropower projects runs 20.1 km up it from Unazuki, about 80 minutes each way, ¥2,480 one way to Keyakidaira.

Rockfall in the January 2024 Noto earthquake cut the line, and trains run only as far as Nekomata until September 30, 2026. Through running to Keyakidaira resumes October 1, 2026, until the season ends on November 30: Keyakidaira seats are limited and bookable by phone only, and repair work keeps visitors there to the station plaza, rooftop and visitor centre.

Getting there: Kurobe Gorge Railway from Unazuki Station, 5 min walk from Unazuki Onsen Station on the Toyama Chiho Railway. Our toyama guide

Mitake Shosenkyo Gorge御嶽昇仙峡Yamanashi

About 5 km of granite gorge on the Arakawa north of Kofu, from Nagatoro Bridge up to the Senga-taki falls, with Kakuen-po, the gorge's symbol, rising almost sheer about 180 m from the water. The narrow road through the lower gorge turns pedestrian-only on busy weekends, which is the best reason to walk it.

Getting there: Yamanashi Kotsu bus from Kofu Station (south exit, stop 4) to Shosenkyo Takiue, 60 min, ¥1,090; from December to March buses stop at Shosenkyo-guchi, 5 to 6 km below the falls. Best: November, for the maples. Our kofu guide

Mount Fuji富士山Yamanashi

Japan's highest mountain at 3,776 m, shared between Yamanashi and Shizuoka, named a Place of Scenic Beauty on October 7, 1952 and raised to Special just 46 days later. The 2026 climbing season ran from July 1 (Yoshida and Subashiri trails) or July 10 (Fujinomiya and Gotemba) to September 10, with a ¥4,000 fee on every route.

The 2026 climbing season ended on September 10. The trails are closed above the fifth station (the sixth on the Fujinomiya route) until next summer; dates are announced before the season, and outside it the mountain is for looking at.

Kamikochi上高地Nagano

A flat valley floor at about 1,500 m on the upper Azusa River beneath the Hotaka peaks, walked on riverside paths and boardwalks from Taisho Pond past Kappa Bridge. Private cars are banned all year beyond the Kama tunnel, so everyone arrives by bus or taxi, and the road closes for the winter in mid November.

Getting there: Alpico train from Matsumoto to Shin-Shimashima (about 30 min), then about 1 hour by bus; drivers park at Sawando (¥800 a day) and take the shuttle. Best: Mid to late October, for the golden larches. Our matsumoto guide

Amanohashidate天橋立Kyoto

A pine-covered sandbar 3.6 km long and 20 to 170 m wide across Miyazu Bay, cut near the south end by a small swing bridge that turns 90 degrees to let boats through. The view from Amanohashidate View Land above the southern end has its own name, Hiryu-kan, the flying dragon.

Getting there: Amanohashidate Station on the Kyoto Tango Railway is about 400 m from the southern end.

Dorohatcho Gorge瀞八丁Nara

The lower Doro Gorge on the Kitayama River, where Nara, Wakayama and Mie meet: cliffs up to 50 m high line more than a kilometre of deep, still water, with rock walls such as the Byobu-iwa, 20 m high and 87 m wide. Totsukawa village points visitors to Tado on the Nara bank, reachable by road since the Dorokyo tunnel opened.

Getting there: Realistically a car trip: the jet boats that ran up the gorge from Shingu stopped in 2020 and were abolished on April 10, 2025.

Sandankyo Gorge三段峡Hiroshima

A 16 km gorge on the Shibaki River in the mountains of north-west Hiroshima Prefecture, the only gorge on this list west of Kansai, first publicised in 1917 by a local photographer, Kuma Nanpo. The trail from the main entrance reaches the deep pool of Kurobuchi in about two hours one way.

As of August 24, 2026, Akiota town listed three trail sections as restricted: Yokogo-guchi to Yoshigahara and the Sandan-daki junction (passable only on days the Sarutobi boat runs, until September 30), Sandan-daki to Shimo-Mochinoki (closed, no reopening date) and Kurobuchi to Mizunashi-guchi (closed until September 30 for bridge repairs). Enter from the main entrance.

Getting there: Hiroden bus from Hiroshima city to the Sandankyo stop at the main entrance. Our hiroshima guide

Itsukushima (Miyajima)厳島Hiroshima

The designation is the island itself, about 30 km around, not just the shrine: the forest rising behind Itsukushima Shrine to Mount Misen, 535 m, whose summit view Ito Hirobumi called the true worth of the Three Views. Every visitor pays a ¥100 Miyajima visitor tax, collected with the ferry ticket.

Getting there: Ferry from Miyajimaguchi (JR ferry ¥200 one way), plus the ¥100 visitor tax. Visitor guide · Our miyajima guide

Niji-no-Matsubara虹の松原Saga

About a million black pines in a belt 4.5 km long and about 500 m wide along Karatsu Bay, planted in the early 1600s by the Karatsu lord Terazawa Hirotaka to shelter new rice fields from wind and sand. The old coast road runs through the middle of the pines.

Getting there: JR Chikuhi Line to Nijinomatsubara Station. Our saga guide

Unzen温泉岳Nagasaki

Listed under its old written name, 温泉岳, the hot-spring peak: the volcanic massif in the middle of the Shimabara Peninsula, with steaming vents called the hells beside the Unzen Onsen resort, and one of Japan's first national parks in 1934. The eruption that began in November 1990 built the lava dome of Heisei Shinzan, 1,483 m and now Nagasaki's highest point; its pyroclastic flow of June 1991 killed 43 people.

Getting there: About 1 hour 30 min by bus from JR Isahaya Station, or 1 hour 45 min by express bus from Nagasaki Station. Our nagasaki guide