The Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties defines 'a group of historic buildings' as that which forms a historic landscape in unison with its surrounding environments such as towns formed around castles, posts (shukuba), Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, ports, and/or farming or fishing villages.
文化財保護法で言う「伝統的建造物群」とは、城下町、宿場町、門前町、寺内町、港町、農漁村などの、周囲の環境と一体をなして歴史的風致を形成している伝統的建造物群を指す。