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Corridor ruins of Shimotsuke Yakushiji — also where Dokyo was exiled — with restoration markers conveying its ancient scale

The only ordination platform site in eastern Japan, where Ganjin set up the kaidan in 761 — red poles mark the ancient layout

Ruins of the 741 Shimotsuke nunnery — the largest such site in eastern Japan, preserved as a National Historic Site

A historical park encompassing both kokubunji ruins, where 450 cherry trees bloom in the spring Tenpyo Flower Festival

Founded around 680, one of Japan's three official ordination platforms visited by Ganjin — the most important ancient Buddhist site in eastern Japan

Ruins of the Shimotsuke provincial temple built by imperial edict in 741, with foundation stones evoking the grandeur of the Nara period

A Tenmangu in Shimotsuke, long a center of learning since ancient times, beloved for plum blossoms and exam prayers

One of the Ankoku-ji temples founded by Ashikaga Takauji in 1345 to pray for war dead, built adjacent to the ancient Yakushiji ruins

Founded in 741 by imperial decree, where nuns chanted the Lotus Sutra praying for national peace — a rare nunnery ruin of Nara-period scale

Founded in 807 by a descendant of Fujiwara-no-Kamatari to enshrine the guardian deities of land reclamation — a Shimotsuke shrine renowned for warding off misfortune and ill directions