Cultural properties in Japan include those designated or registered under the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties (enacted in 1950) and its predecessor legislation, as well as those designated under cultural property protection ordinances and related regulations established by local governments.

This webpage introduces databases for searching cultural properties designated or registered by the national government. For cultural properties designated or registered by prefectural and municipal governments, see Locally Designated Cultural Properties (Research Navi). For buried cultural properties (archaeological sites) prior to designation or registration as cultural properties, see Archaeological Sites in Japan (Research Navi).

1. Individual Databases

The databases listed below allow you to search across multiple designation categories and holding institutions.

If you already know which institution holds the item you are looking for, please search for that institution's own database. For Important Cultural Properties held by the National Diet Library, see Important Cultural Properties at the National Diet Library. (Research Navi)

• National Cultural Properties Database (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
  This database allows you to search for cultural properties designated, registered, or selected by the national government. In addition to keyword searching, you can narrow down your results by cultural property classification (designation category) and prefecture. Searches using kyujitai (old character forms) are not supported. For information on the use of images, see 2. Notes for users (2. ご利用に当たって) on the database website.
• ColBase: Integrated Collections Database of the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan (National Institutes for Cultural Heritage)
  This database allows you to search the collections of four national museums (Tokyo National Museum, Kyoto National Museum, Nara National Museum, and Kyushu National Museum), two research institutes (Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties and Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties), and the Museum of the Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shozokan. Using the Advanced Search function, you can limit results to particular categories of cultural properties such as National Treasure, Important Cultural Property, and Important Art Object. For conditions on the use of images, see the "Terms of Use" page.
• Union Catalog of the Collections of the National Art Museums, Japan (National Museum of Art)
  This database allows you to search works held by five national art museums: The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; the National Museum of Western Art; the National Museum of Art, Osaka; and the National Crafts Museum. Images are provided mainly for works in the public domain. Results cannot be filtered by whether a work has been designated as a cultural property.
• Japanese cultural heritage GIS (Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties)
  This system enables you to search for basic information and location data on cultural properties throughout Japan, focusing on those designated at the national and prefectural levels. You can search by region, category, period, or keyword and display the results on a map. Some items, such as certain intangible cultural properties without associated location data, are not included.
• e-Museum (National Institutes for Cultural Heritage)
  You can search for high-resolution images of National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties held by four national museums (Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, and Kyushu) and the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties. For conditions of use, please refer to "Terms of Use".
• Cultural Properties Digital Content Download Site (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
  This site allows you to download high-definition video and still-image materials of cultural properties such as National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties. For details on how the content may be used, see the "Terms of Use."
• Architectural Monuments Repair Archive (Japanese Association for Conservation of Architectural Monuments)
  For each historic building conserved by the association, it provides photographs, drawings, the date of designation, the structural type, the repair history, and details of the conservation work. In addition to searching by name, you can narrow your results by designation category, period, building type, and region.
• Historical Architecture Catalog Database (Architectural Institute of Japan)
  This database enables you to narrow your search by architectural type (such as private houses or shrines) and by cultural property category (such as National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties).
• Japan's Preservation Districts (Japan Council for Preservation Districts for Groups of Historic Buildings)
  For each Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings, you can view an overview, photographs, the preservation district register (伝建台帳／伝統的建造物群保存地区台帳), and the "Changes in the Cityscape on the Map" feature.

2. Databases That Allow Cross-searching of Multiple Collections

• Cultural Heritage Online (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
  This portal enables integrated searching of collection information from museums, art museums, and other institutions in Japan, with a focus on cultural properties designated, selected, or registered by the national government. (Status of collection information by holding institution). From the search box at the top right of the home page, you can open Advanced Search to run keyword searches and narrow results by Time Period, Category, Designation, Image License, and other criteria.
• Japan Search (Study Group for Promoting Digital Archiving)
  This national platform links a wide range of digital archives—including Cultural Heritage Online, ColBase, and the Union Catalog of the Collections of the National Art Museums, Japan—and allows you to search them together (Coordinated Databases). In detailed Search, you can filter by Category (such as "Cultural Property"), Usage Condition (such as "Commercial"), and whether digital content is available (for example, "IIIF ready"). Within the Designated Searches, "National Treasure and Important Cultural Property Search" lets you search only works that are National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties drawn from Cultural Heritage Online, ColBase, and the Cultural Properties Digital Content Download Site.
• Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage (Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties)
  The Intangible Cultural Heritage Comprehensive Database allows you to search and browse information on intangible cultural heritage and intangible cultural properties throughout Japan by region, field, period, and other criteria.

Related Search Guides

• Repair Reports on Cultural Properties
• Locally Designated Cultural Properties
• Important Cultural Properties at the National Diet Library
• Archaeological Sites in Japan