Cultural properties
giving shape to stories

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  • Cultural properties giving shape to stories

Find out about major organized cultural properties
designated as Japan Heritages.

  • Nagoya City Arimatsu Preservation District for Groups of Historic Buildings

    The townscape of Arimatsu; the scene of a dyeing and textile town and the only in Japan to be selected as a National Important Preservation District for Groups of Historic Buildings.
    The community of Arimatsu grew with its tie-dyeing industry along the gently winding and historic Tokaido Road. Its scenery, reminiscent of woodblock prints from the Edo period, is maintained even today, and a number of buildings remain with the grand frontages characteristic of Arimatsu's tie-dye establishments.

  • House of Oka

    This house's frontage is the largest of Arimatsu's traditional buildings and still retains the characteristics of a tie-dye business at the end of the Edo period. It also features a skylight to let daylight shine in. The interior is open to the public, and you can view and learn about a tie-dye merchant's establishment. The building is said to have been built around the end of the Edo period.
    It is designated as a Municipal Tangible Cultural Property.

  • Parade float events
    of the Arimatsu Festival

    The Grand Autumn Festival (Arimatsu Float Festival) at Arimatsu Temmansha Shrine is a parade float event continuing since the Edo period as well as the stage for the three Jingu-Kogo-sha, Karako-sha, and Hotei-sha floats,respectively from the towns of Nishimachi, Nakamachi, and Higashimachi.
    Looking at all of the different elaborate costumes during the festival is another fun aspect of the event now held on the first Sunday of October every year.
    This gorgeous festival's culture, born from the prosperity of the tie-dyeing industry, is an integral part of Arimatsu's story and is designated as a Municipal Intangible Folk Cultural Property.

  • Arimatsu Dashi Float Museum

    Every year, one of the three Arimatsu Festival parade floats, designated as cultural properties of the City of Nagoya, are on exhibit here, and you can learn about the parade float procession through video (English available) as well as information about the culture of the festival.

  • Takeda Shoukuro Monument, Suzuki Kinzo Monument

    The Suzuki Kinzo Monument, created in commemoration of Suzuki Kinzo's role in rejuvenating Arimatsu's tie-dyeing industry, stands inside the Arimatsu-Narumi Tie-Dyeing Museum together with the Takeda Shoukuro Monument, dedicated to the man who fathered the tie-dyeing of Arimatsu.
    These two figures were instrumental in the development of the tie-dye techniques described in the Story section of this site. A memorial service is held in front of the stone monuments every year.

  • Arimatsu-Narumi Tie-Dyeing Museum and its tie-dye exhibits

    This museum was established in the heart of the Arimatsu district in 1984 to introduce visitors to Arimatsu's traditional industry of tie-dyeing mentioned in this site's Story section. View exhibits of precious tie-dyes, learn about tie-dyeing history and culture through video (English available), and see actual tie-dyeing craftspeople as they work.

  • Gionji Temple, the Stone of Buddha's Footprints, Empress Komyo's Buddhist Poetry Monument, 33 statues of Kannon Bodhisattva, and statues
    of the 16 Arhats

    Gionji Temple lies on the westward end of Arimatsu and has witnessed the history of Arimatsu described in this site's Story section. Many of Arimatsu's residents are laid to rest at this temple, which belongs to the Buddhist Soto sect.
    It was moved to and established at its current location in 1755 from its previous location in Narumi at Endoji Temple.

  • Arimatsu Temmansha Shrine

    Arimatsu Temmansha Shrine enshrines the local Shinto deity of Arimatsu.
    It is also where the community's parade float events are held.
    Seven deities are worshiped with Lord Sugawara no Michizane as the focus. It was originally located in Gionji Temple's precincts, but came to be in its present location at the beginning of the Kansei period (1789–1800).
    Following its relocation, it was renovated in 1824 and features a gorgeous, intricate roofed architectural style.

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