Why don’t you visit registered cultural properties that have been carefully handed down from generation to generation, collect “Gozai-in” (seal of wealth), and participate in events to get in touch with local history, culture, and people, and take a fresh look at your own culture?

Registered cultural properties are cultural assets that represent the history and culture of an area that has been cherished and nurtured over the years. By actively utilizing registered cultural properties, they hope to increase understanding and interest in registered cultural properties in Japan and abroad, and to promote the history and culture of the region. To this end, we will plan and implement a project that aims to encourage people to become attached to Osaka’s cultural properties by experiencing the history and culture of historical buildings while having fun, and sometimes interacting with their owners. Specifically, the “Gozai-in Tour” and “Unique Avenue” will be implemented. The “Gozai-in Tour” is a program in which individuals, groups, families, etc. can visit historical buildings in Osaka Prefecture, mainly nationally registered cultural properties, where Gozai-in are installed, and collect them in a Gozai-in book (a book of collected seals).

Project Inauguration

Osaka has been a major stage of Japanese history from ancient times to the present day, and has an uninterrupted supply of representative cultural assets from each period that tell its story. For example, Osaka ranks fifth in Japan in the number of national treasures and important cultural properties, and is first in the country in the number of nationally registered cultural properties. However, these facts are not well known. Against this backdrop, in 2020, when Sennan City in Osaka Prefecture asked us for advice on how to utilize cultural properties to attract visitors, they decided to create a “Goshuin” (red seal) version of historical buildings and also a “Unique Avenue” so that visitors could enjoy touring cultural properties and learn more about Osaka’s history and culture. The “Goshuin” is a unique and fun way to learn about Osaka’s history and culture.

Project Activities

At the start of the fiscal year 2020, there were 15 spots for the distribution of Gozai-in (seals), but by the end of March 2025, with the help of subsidies, grants, and funds from building owners, the number of spots had increased to 130. We also cooperate with other organizations related to the subject. In addition, we have planned a town tour of the places where the Gozai-in (seal of approval) is placed and unique venues, such as making Japanese sweets at a nationally registered tangible cultural property, which is an intangible registered cultural property, so that adults and children who will lead the next generation can actually experience and enjoy the importance of tangible and intangible cultural properties. The project is a part of our efforts to promote the appreciation of tangible and intangible cultural assets.

Future Prospects for the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai

Currently, one of the trends regarding cultural properties is to preserve them through utilization. They would like to use the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai as an opportunity to show the world that Osaka is a city proud of its culture and history that has inherited some of the best cultural properties in Japan, and we would like many people to become fans of Osaka’s cultural properties, both tangible and intangible, and to use the Expo as an opportunity to preserve them. To this end, we plan to increase the number of locations where the Gozai-in seal will be placed in the future. At the same time, they plan to actively hold events related to town tours and the history, culture, and performing arts that have been nurtured in Osaka.