Taishō

Discover THE COVE, a registered Tangible Cultural Property from 1916 at Gamagori Classic Hotel. This exquisite sukiya-style annex offers breathtaking Mikawa Bay views, traditional Japanese architecture, and a unique glimpse into Japan's literary heritage near Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.

Explore Museido, the historic Fourth Higher School Martial Arts Hall at Meiji Mura. This Registered Tangible Cultural Property features innovative Western-style architecture housing judo, kendo, and kyudo training spaces. Learn about its unique floor engineering and connection to Sun Tzu philosophy.

The Former Saionji Family Okitsu Villa 'Zagyoso,' preserved at the Museum Meiji-mura in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, was the seaside retreat of Prince Saionji Kinmochi, Japan's last elder statesman. Designated as an Important Cultural Property in 2017, the complex includes the main house, guard station, attendants' waiting area, and gate—showcasing exquisite sukiya-style craftsmanship and the political history of modern Japan.

Discover the Former Nukata County Public Hall and Products Exhibition Hall in Okazaki, Aichi. Designated as an Important Cultural Property, these 1913 Renaissance-inspired Western-style buildings showcase Japan's early mastery of European architecture in a provincial setting.

The 1913 Church of St. Matthew at Toyohashi is a wooden Orthodox sanctuary attributed to Kawamura Izo, Aichi's oldest, named an Important Cultural Property in 2008.

Granite gate pillars at Okazaki High School, Aichi, early Taisho. Western classical columns meet a Japanese rough stone finish, registered in 2017 and still in use.

Reinforced-concrete gate pillars raised around 1925 for a sericulture school in Nishio, Aichi. Their Secession-style geometry won national registration in 2017.

Kariya High School's 1923 gate in Aichi, its reinforced-concrete posts scored to mimic stone in the Secession style, registered as a cultural property in 2017.

Built in 1924 at Nagoya's Zuiryo High School, Kankido is the city's oldest reinforced-concrete auditorium. Note the four roof gables and Secession-style trim.

In Nagoya stand Zuiryo High School's old gate pillars, built around 1924 in reinforced concrete for a former commercial school in a straight-lined Secession style.

The 1923 reinforced-concrete front gate of Tsushima High School in Aichi became a Registered Cultural Property in 2017, listed with twelve other school gates.

Discover Eijuji Chinjuden, a registered tangible cultural property in Shinshiro, Aichi Prefecture. This Taisho-era guardian hall enshrines Dakiniten within the historic precinct of a Soto Zen temple linked to haiku master Matsuo Basho.

Standing at the western foot of sacred Mt. Hongu in Toyokawa City, Aichi Prefecture, the Otani Family Residence Main Building is a stately wooden home completed in 1916 (Taisho 5). It features remarkably thick structural timbers cut from the family's own mountain holdings, a formal shikidai entrance organizing reception rooms and a Buddhist altar room to the north and living quarters to the south through a central corridor, and an early reinforced concrete basement. Together with its earthen storehouse, rice storehouse, and connecting corridor, the residence was registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in October 2017.

Tucked into the foothills of Mount Hongū in Toyokawa City, Aichi Prefecture, the Otani Family Residence Earthen Storehouse is a small two-story dozō-zukuri building completed in 1916 to commemorate the enthronement of Emperor Taishō. Owned by the Otani family — once headmen of Ashiyamada village in the Edo period — it was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in 2017 alongside the main hall, rice storehouse, and connecting passageway. Its clapboard skirting, lattice-patterned namako-kabe façade, and butterfly-motif door stops embody the refined craftsmanship of early-Taishō rural architecture in Mikawa.

Discover the Okazaki Shinkin Bank Museum, a nationally registered tangible cultural property in Okazaki, Aichi. Built in 1917, this stunning Renaissance-style brick building was designed by Suzuki Teiji, a protégé of Tokyo Station architect Tatsuno Kingo.

Built in 1923 within the grounds of Kankyo Shuzo, a historic mirin brewery in Kanie, Aichi, this two-story wooden residence blends a refined shoin-style interior with a second-floor Western-style room. Registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in 2005, it embodies the architectural transition of the Taisho era.

Completed in 1923 alongside the family residence, the Kankyo Mirin Residence Earthen Storehouse in Kanie, Aichi Prefecture is a two-story dozō registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2005. Located within the working compound of Kankyō Shuzō — a mirin and sake brewery founded in 1862 — it features striking black-plaster walls and an unusual direct connection to the main residence, embodying the riverside heritage of one of Japan's longest-running fermentation enterprises.

A storehouse built around 1924 for a town office in Aichi, hiding reinforced concrete walls under a traditional plastered look, now the local museum's collection store.

A 1924 town council hall in Aichi, registered as a cultural property in 2006. Its tall assembly chamber, coffered ceiling and public gallery survive as a free museum.

Built in 1925 for eastern Mikawa's first private bank, this concrete landmark in Shinshiro is now the Horaikan cafe and a Registered Tangible Cultural Property.