Monuments in Japan

A rare surviving set of early 17th-century bronze finials remain on this bridge.

A monument marking the first airplane flights in Japan hints at the dark history behind its peaceful park setting.

This abandoned park is home to hundreds of stone statues ranging from humans to mystical beings.

A replica of an ancient alien-like idol humorously represents spectacles in a corner of this shrine complex.

The burial site of 16 men’s hair buns, which were lopped off in place of their heads.

A mysterious, perhaps haunted plot of land, untouched by modern development.

This surreal thumbs-up monument commemorates a shiatsu legend.

The location of the site of one of the defining battles of feudal Japan is being fought over by two neighboring cities.

For but one summer in 1975, this rural suburb became a busy tourist spot when a local girl claimed to have seen ghostly faces on an old stele.

An unassuming set of tiles next to a mailbox mark the former location of one of the most famous springs in the city.

Once known for its eerie appearance, this semicircular monument is all that remains of a Tokyo industrial icon.

The oldest surviving stele in Japan is a personal dedication from a monk to his late mother.

Here once stood an opulent state guest house that symbolized the Westernization of Japan.

Buddha figures are carved into volcanic rocks on the seashore of Yamagara Prefecture.

Emerging from the sidewalk, this sculpture of a whale commemorates the importance of baleen in traditional Japanese puppetry.

This monument gives insight into how lost children were found in Edo-period Tokyo.