Asuka-Fujiwara Capital Ruins Added to World Heritage List

2026-07-26

Registration decided

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee, meeting in Busan, South Korea, on the 26th, decided to add the Asuka-Fujiwara Capital Ruins in Nara Prefecture to the World Cultural Heritage list. The site group shows the process by which an ancient centralized state emerged, bringing Japan's total number of World Heritage sites to 27 - 22 cultural and five natural.

Made up of 19 properties

Asuka-Fujiwara comprises 19 properties in total, including former imperial palace ruins and Buddhist temple ruins built in the Asuka period (late 6th century to early 8th century). It is regarded as heritage that shows how a centralized system took shape under influences from the Chinese mainland and the Korean Peninsula and developed into a ritsuryo state. At its core are the Asuka Palace ruins in Asuka, Nara Prefecture, the site of the Isshi Incident that led to the Taika Reform, and the Fujiwara Palace ruins in Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, the heart of Fujiwara-kyo, regarded as Japan's first full-scale capital city. It was the political and cultural center until the capital was moved to Heijo-kyo in 710.

Three items remain on tentative list

Other included sites are the Kitora Tomb, with depictions of the Four Gods and astronomical charts; the Takamatsuzuka Tomb, where the vividly colored mural of the Asuka Beauty was found; and Ishibutai Tomb, which some believe to be the tomb of Soga no Umako. A UNESCO advisory body recommended in June that Asuka-Fujiwara be inscribed. Three Japanese candidates remain on the tentative list. Hikone Castle in Shiga Prefecture became the first in Japan to use UNESCO's preliminary evaluation system in 2023, but the advisory body said its case for Outstanding Universal Value needs to be expanded. The national Council for Cultural Affairs has passed over it as a candidate for recommendation in 2027, and the local government submitted a revised nomination draft to the Agency for Cultural Affairs in May, aiming for registration in 2028. 'The Ancient City of Kamakura' in Kanagawa Prefecture received a recommendation against inscription in 2013 and the government withdrew the nomination. Hiraizumi in Iwate Prefecture, listed in 2011, is seeking to extend its registered area.

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