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Ancient Tendai temple on the birthplace of Prince Shotoku — home to the mysterious Asuka-period 'Two-Faced Stone' carved with good and evil

Japan's oldest full-scale Buddhist temple, built by Soga no Umako — housing the Asuka Great Buddha cast in 609 by Tori Busshi, Japan's oldest surviving Buddhist statue

Ancient Engishiki shrine of Asuka tracing back to Emperor Sujin — nationally famous for the extraordinary Onda Matsuri fertility rite

Seventh stop on the Saigoku pilgrimage — Japan's first evil-warding sacred site, housing the country's largest clay Nyoirin Kannon

Japan's largest square burial mound attributed to Soga no Umako — visitors can enter the 77-ton megalithic chamber, a Special Historic Site

Special Historic Site where the vivid 'Asuka Beauties' murals stunned Japan in 1972 — National Treasure paintings viewable at the adjacent museum

Enigmatic Asuka-period stone monuments linked to Empress Saimei's palace — purpose still unknown, with turtle-shaped ritual stones unearthed in 2000

Octagonal mound considered the top candidate for Empress Saimei's tomb — stone chamber and bones unearthed in 2010, designated a National Historic Site

Asuka circular mound with National Treasure murals of the Four Deities, zodiac, and one of the world's oldest astronomical charts

The hill where the Soga clan built a palace rivaling the emperor's — razed by Soga no Emishi as the Taika coup unfolded in 645