Summery of Shrines and Temples of Nikko

"Shrines and Temples of Nikko" were registered as a World Heritage site at the 23rd session of the World Heritage Committee held at Marrakesh in Morocco in December 1999.

• Name of World Heritage site:
  Shrines and Temples of Nikko
• Location:
  Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture
• Scope of the registered site:
  The site consists of two Shinto shrines and one Buddhist temple (Futarasan Shrine, Toshogu Shrine, Rinnoji Temple) and their surrounding remains, and includes 103 buildings of which nine are classified as National Treasures and 94 as Important Cultural Properties.
• Area of registered site:
  50.8 hectares
• Area of buffer site:
  373.2 hectares
• Total:
  424.0 hectares

Corresponding registration standards and their content

Standard (1)

Most of the buildings are the work of some of Japanユs greatest 17th century artists, and they possess a very high artistic value.

Standard (4)

The Toshogu Shrine and the Taiyuin Reibyo are among the finest examples of the so-called Gongen-zukuri style of Japanese early modern religious architecture. They continued thereafter to exert a major influence on subsequent mausoleum and shrine architecture. The overall complex conveys the dignified appearance of shrines and temples centering on mausoleums in the Edo Period, and it therefore provides us with important information concerning architectural style in old Japanese forms.

Standard (6)

This is an important historical site which played a crucial historical role in supporting the political structures of the Edo Period. For instance, the site was visited by successive shoguns, by envoys dispatched from the imperial court in Kyoto, and by parties of diplomatic envoys sent from Korea. In addition, the natural environment surrounding the complex of buildings, along with the buildings themselves, is perfectly integrated with the space in which religious activities occur. This is, therefore, a good example of a cultural landscape that continues to transmit the sense of Japanese religious space handed down since ancient times.