Japan’s Asuka-Fujiwara Sites Added to World Heritage List

Busan, South Korea, July 26 (Jiji Press)–The UNESCO World Heritage Committee on Sunday decided to inscribe the Asuka-Fujiwara archaeological sites, a collection of Asuka-period ruins in the western Japan prefecture of Nara, on the World Heritage List as a cultural property. The decision, made at the committee’s meeting in Busan, South Korea, marks the inscription of Japan’s 22nd cultural World Heritage site, following the addition of the Sado Island Gold Mines in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, in 2024. Including natural heritage sites, the total number of World Heritage properties in Japan now stands at 27. The committee said the property demonstrates exchanges with the Chinese mainland and the Korean Peninsula, as well as the introduction of Buddhism, which had a profound cultural impact on later generations. It also described the property as important tangible evidence of the process through which ancient capitals were formed in East Asia. The Asuka-Fujiwara property consists of 19 archaeological sites dating from the sixth to eighth centuries and associated with the ancient Imperial capitals of Asuka and Fujiwara, scattered across the village of Asuka and the cities of Kashihara and Sakurai in Nara Prefecture. They include the ruins of the Asuka palace and those of the Fujiwara palace, which succeeded Asuka as the Imperial capital, as well as the Takamatsuzuka tomb, known for its vividly colored murals designated as a national treasure. The property was placed on UNESCO’s Tentative List in 2007. It took time, however, to demonstrate the “outstanding universal value” required for World Heritage inscription and to establish adequate measures for the protection of the property. Last year, the Japanese government submitted the property’s nomination to UNESCO, describing it as a unique heritage property that illustrates the emergence of a centralized state during the formative period of ancient East Asian nation-building through the transition between two ancient capitals. Following an on-site evaluation conducted in September last year, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, or ICOMOS, UNESCO’s advisory body, recommended in June that the property be inscribed on the World Heritage List. ICOMOS urged Japan to continue research into the preservation and possible restoration of mural paintings removed from the Takamatsuzuka and Kitora tombs, and the recommendation was incorporated into the World Heritage Committee’s latest decision. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]