24 spots
牽牛子塚古墳
An octagonal burial mound, now widely thought to be the tomb of Empress Saimei.
マルコ山古墳
A hexagonal burial mound 24 m across between opposite sides, a shape rarely found anywhere in Japan.
岩屋山古墳
Five minutes from the station: walk straight into a burial chamber built of tightly fitted cut stone.
中尾山古墳
A small octagonal mound thought to be the tomb of the cremated Emperor Monmu.
鬼の俎・鬼の雪隠
The pieces of a kofun burial chamber, split apart on either side of a slope.
亀石
A granite boulder with a turtle's face, loved for its friendly look. One of Asuka's best-known stone monuments.
飛鳥寺・蘇我入鹿首塚
Japan's first full-scale Buddhist temple. The Great Buddha of Asuka still sits on the spot where it was made, 1,400 years ago.
橘寺
The temple said to stand on the birthplace of Prince Shōtoku, home to the two-faced Nimenseki stone.
川原寺跡（弘福寺）
One of the four great temples of Asuka. Its foundation stones still show how large its halls once were.
岡寺（龍蓋寺）
Japan's first temple for warding off misfortune, home to a huge clay statue of Nyoirin Kannon.
飛鳥宮跡（伝 飛鳥板蓋宮跡）
The political heart of Asuka, where several palaces were built one on top of another.
飛鳥水落遺跡
The site of Japan's first water clock, built by Prince Naka-no-Ōe.
檜隈寺跡／於美阿志神社
A temple site linked to the Yamato no Aya, a clan of immigrant origin, with a thirteen-storey stone pagoda.
都塚古墳
A square burial mound built of stepped stone, like a step pyramid.
飛鳥京跡苑池
The site of a palace garden, regarded as the earliest example of a Japanese garden.
大官大寺跡
The site of the largest state temple of Asuka-Fujiwara, once crowned by a nine-storey pagoda.
飛鳥川の飛び石
No bridge, just stones set in the riverbed to hop across. A crossing often linked with a poem from the Man'yōshū.
南淵請安墓
A small mound said to be the grave of a scholar who returned from Sui-dynasty China. Prince Naka no Ōe and Nakatomi no Kamatari came here to study with him.
飛鳥稲淵宮殿跡
A mid-7th-century site on the left bank of the Asuka River where buildings stood in a neat formation. It is considered a candidate for a temporary palace.
Components of the World Heritage Site "Asuka-Fujiwara", and other places worth visiting nearby
新沢千塚古墳群
About 600 burial mounds spread over low hills: one of Japan's most important kofun clusters.
菖蒲池古墳
A square mound about 30 m on each side, with two house-shaped sarcophagi side by side. The stone chamber is inside a protective shelter.
与楽カンジョ古墳
A stone chamber with a ceiling so high you have to crane your neck, and a floor paved entirely with river stones.
高取城跡
Stone walls surviving on a mountaintop 583 m above sea level. One of Japan's three great mountain castles.
芋峠
A pass on the old road linking Asuka and Yoshino. Prince Ōama is said to have crossed it.