Tokaido Road

One of the five major highways connecting Edo and Kyoto, featuring 69 post towns. The section between Tsumago and Magome in particular preserves Edo-period atmosphere and has become an enormously popular trekking route among international hikers.

Historic post towns on the Nakasendo road preserving Edo-period atmosphere in the Kiso Valley. Tsumago, Japan's first town to undertake streetscape preservation, and Magome with its beautiful stone-paved slopes are connected by a hiking route popular with international tourists.

A collection of woodblock prints by Edo-period ukiyo-e artists depicting pilgrimage to the Saigoku 33 temples. Works such as Hokusai and Hiroshige's 'Saigoku 33 Temples Landscape Compendium' introduced pilgrimage sites nationwide and encouraged visitation. These prints exemplify how cultural media merged religious faith with tourism.

Traditional scroll paintings and woodblock prints depicting the Saigoku 33 Temples pilgrimage in the Kansai region. Developed from the Edo period onward as artistic visualizations of each temple's principal deity and pilgrimage scenes. Functioning as both pilgrim guidebooks and ukiyo-e artworks, they remain valued reference materials for contemporary pilgrims.

An ancient pilgrimage network registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site under 'Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range.' The trails linking the three Kumano grand shrines share a sister-road partnership with Spain's Camino de Santiago.

A roughly 1,200km pilgrimage circuit visiting 88 sacred temples associated with the monk Kukai (Kobo Daishi) on Shikoku island. The white-robed pilgrims are an iconic sight, with the full walking circuit taking 30 to 60 days. International pilgrims have been increasing in recent years.