Places of Scenic Beauty(名勝, meishō): A place with beautiful scenery and historical value. A designated type of Japanese cultural property.

What is a Places of Scenic Beauty(名勝, meishō)?

A “Places of Scenic Beauty” is a place that meets the following conditions. This designation is made by the national and local governments.

• Place with beautiful scenery
• Places with high value as historical landscapes in Japan
• A highly rare place with nature and creatures that have existed since ancient times in Japan

In other words, a “nationally designated scenic spot” means that the country is saying, “This is a very beautiful scenery. It has great historical value, and it is an original landscape of Japan, so please cherish it.” That’s what it means.

In addition, “Special Places of Scenic Beauty” are designated as those with particularly high value.

What is designated as a scenic spot is the “place” itself

(Togetsu-kyo Bridge: Sagano/Arashiyama, Kyoto Prefecture)

The Japanese version of Wikipedia mentions Places of Scenic Beauty as follows:

“Land of high artistic or ornamental value”

This means that the land, or “place,” is designated as a place of scenic beauty.

Furthermore, it is written:

gardens and bridges. Also, valleys, coasts, and mountains. Places such as these are designated as scenic spots. Strictly speaking, a bridge is not a place, but it can be thought of as a “place” by including the bridge and the surrounding landscape.

Perspective of “historical value”

(Kenrokuen Garden: Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture)

And from here, there are descriptions that link historical value to landscape.

This designation as a scenic spot also has the meaning of “Let’s preserve the wonderful old-fashioned scenery that can be seen in Japan**.” It is also an “initiative” so to speak. Rather than just designating a place as a scenic spot just because it is beautiful, let’s continue to preserve its beauty. This designation as a place of scenic beauty reflects intention.

These natural conservation perspectives such as “old-fashioned scenery” and “historical value” are defined as “monuments” under Article 2, Paragraph 1, Item 4 of the Cultural Properties Protection Act. This is how it is defined:

This means that

“Let’s protect not only nature, but also things that have high value as historical landscapes of Japan, such as ancient tombs and castle ruins.”

It has been shown that.

Perspective of “ancient species/natural value”

(Tateyama Mountains: Toyama Prefecture)

In addition, the aforementioned Cultural Properties Protection Act also mentions “landscapes inhabited by precious nature and living things”.

What feels “nice” or “beautiful” differs from person to person. Therefore, we define “a wonderful scenery” as “a scenery that impresses everyone.” In the same way, “landscapes inhabited by precious nature and creatures” can be defined as “places where Japan’s ancient nature and creatures live and are highly rare”.

Items designated by the country for cultural property protection

The following is a description of Article 109, Paragraph 1 of the Cultural Properties Protection Act.

In other words, Japan has designated the following three landscape-related cultural properties.

• Places of Scenic Beauty (名勝, meishō): places
• Historic Sites (史跡, shiseki): ruins/remains
• Natural Monuments (天然記念物, tennen kinenbutsu): living things, plants, minerals, etc.

Places of scenic beauty include many gardens such as Kenrokuen (Ishikawa Prefecture) and mountains such as Kamikochi (Nagano Prefecture).

The castle is designated as a cultural property as a historic site.

Marimo at Lake Akan and the Yakushima cedar primeval forest are designated as cultural properties as natural monuments.

As you can see, there is a clear classification.

Items designated as scenic spots, historic sites, and natural monuments

There is a document published by the Cultural Properties Protection Committee called “Standards for Designating Special Historic Sites, Places of Scenic Beauty, and Natural Monuments and Historic Sites, Places of Scenic Beauty, and Natural Monuments [PDF]”.

According to this document, the following are subject to cultural property designation.

Historic Sites (史跡, shiseki)

Among the items listed on the left, those that are indispensable for a correct understanding of our country’s history, and that have academic value in terms of the scale of the ruins, remains, excavated artifacts, etc.

1. Shell middens, village ruins, ancient tombs, and other similar ruins
2. Castle ruins, Koku-gun office ruins, castle ruins, government offices, battle ruins, and other political ruins
3. Ruins of shrines and temples, former precincts, and other ruins related to rituals and beliefs
4. Schools, research facilities, cultural facilities, and other educational, academic, and cultural ruins
5. Medical and welfare facilities, life-related facilities, and other social and life-related ruins
6. Transportation and communication facilities, mountain and flood control facilities, production facilities, and other ruins related to economic and production activities
7. Tombs and monuments
8. Old houses, garden ponds, and other areas with a particularly long history
9. Ruins related to foreign countries and foreigners

Special historic site

Historic sites that have particularly high academic value and are symbols of Japanese culture

Places of Scenic Beauty (名勝, meishō)

Of the items listed on the left, those that are indispensable as Japan’s outstanding national beauty, and in terms of natural features, those that have excellent scenic beauty, those that are famous places or have high academic value, and those that are humanistic. Items of high artistic or academic value

1. Parks and gardens
2. Bridges and embankments
3. Places where flowering trees, flowering plants, autumn leaves, green trees, etc. grow thickly.
4. Places where birds, animals, fish and insects live
5. Rocks, caves
6. Canyons, waterfalls, mountain streams, abyss
7. Lakes, marshes, floating islands, springs
8. Dunes, spits, beaches and islands
9. Volcanoes, hot springs
10. Mountains, hills, plateaus, plains, rivers
11. Viewpoint

Special Places of Scenic Beauty

Among the scenic spots, those with particularly high value

Natural Monuments (天然記念物, tennen kinenbutsu)

Among the animals, plants, and geological minerals listed on the left, those that are academically valuable and commemorate the nature of our country.

1. Animals
   1. Famous animals unique to Japan and their habitats
   2. Animals that are not endemic to Japan but need to be preserved as famous animals in Japan, and their habitats.
   3. Distinctive animals or fauna groups in the natural environment
   4. Farmed animals unique to Japan
   5. Famous non-domestic animals that were imported into Japan from overseas and currently remain in the wild, and their habitats.
   6. Particularly valuable animal specimens
2. Plants
   1. Famous trees, giant trees, old trees, deformed trees, logs of cultivated plants, rows of trees, and shrubs.
   2. Representative virgin forests and rare forest flora
   3. Representative alpine plant zones and special rocky plant communities
   4. Typical wild plant communities
   5. Typical coastal and sandyland plant communities
   6. Typical areas where peat-forming plants occur
   7. Plant communities that grow naturally in caves
   8. Areas where rare aquatic plants, algae, moss, microorganisms, etc. occur, such as ponds, hot springs, lakes, rivers, and the sea.
   9. Rocks or trees with significant occurrence of epiphytes
   10. Significantly marginal areas of plant distribution
   11. Remarkable native habitat of cultivated plants
   12. Native habitat of rare or endangered plants
3. Geological minerals
   1. Occurrence status of rocks, minerals and fossils
   2. Consistency and unconformity of strata
   3. Sliding and thrusting of strata
   4. Geological phenomena caused by the action of living things
   5. Phenomena related to earth mass movements such as earthquake faults
   6. Cave
   7. Rock structure
   8. Hot springs and their sediments
   9. Phenomena related to weathering and erosion
   10. Caused by magnetic holes and volcanic activity
   11. Phenomena caused by ice, snow, and frost
   12. Particularly valuable rock, mineral and fossil specimens
4. Representative areas rich in natural monuments that should be protected (naturally protected areas)

Special natural monument

Among natural monuments, those that have particularly high national or international value

Places designated as scenic spots, historic sites, and natural monuments

You can check the specific places designated as cultural properties from Nationally Designated Cultural Properties Database - Agency for Cultural Affairs.

Conclusion

“Nationally designated scenic spots” are “scenic spots” designated by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The following locations are specified.

• Place with beautiful scenery
• Places with high value as historical landscapes in Japan
• A highly rare place with nature and creatures that have existed since ancient times in Japan

It is designated from the perspective of preserving history, culture, and nature rather than promoting tourism.

The fact that it is designated as a cultural property means that it is representative of Japan in beauty, has a valuable existence, and has a long history.

If you can be aware of these cultural property designations when traveling or sightseeing, your trip will be a little more enjoyable.