Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan

The early-Meiji ridged gate at Shimomori Brewery in Tsuwano stands before the main house, its ridge in wave-pattern tiles and its paired beams cut from a single timber.

Explore the Shimada Family Residence Main House in Masuda, Shimane—a registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1888, featuring the striking Sekishu red-tile roof and traditional Meiji-era architecture.

Located in Matsue City, Shimane, the Shimane Prefectural Government Building Assembly Hall was completed in 1959 to a design by Yasuda Kataski and is registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property. This reinforced concrete structure on the former third bailey of Matsue Castle is celebrated as a leading example of post-war provincial modernist architecture.

Discover the Shimane Prefectural Government Main Office Building in Matsue, a 1959 modernist masterpiece designed by Shimane-born architect Yasuda Kataru. Standing on the former third bailey of Matsue Castle, this Registered Tangible Cultural Property harmonises exposed concrete, horizontal white canopies and local stone with the historic landscape.

Facing Matsue Castle across the moat, the Shimane Prefectural Civic Center is a 1968 modernist landmark designed by architect Yasuda Kataji. At the heart of the award-winning Shimane Prefectural Government Area Improvement Plan, it was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2021. Its colonnaded façade engages in a deliberate dialogue with the prefectural office across the water.

Standing across the moat from Matsue Castle in Shimane Prefecture, the Shimane Prefectural Library is a celebrated work of postwar Japanese modernism. Designed by Kiyonori Kikutake and completed in 1968, the building was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2021. Its L-shaped reading-room modules, bold steel-roofed central lobby, and carefully aligned wall-columns that preserve views toward the castle reveal an architect thinking deeply about both function and setting. Still in use as a public library today, it is freely open to visitors and sits within easy walking distance of Matsue Castle, the samurai streets of Shiomi Nawate, and other Kikutake works including the Shimane Art Museum on Lake Shinji.

Built in 1916 as a covered drill hall for the Imperial Army's 21st Infantry Regiment, this brick building is one of the earliest examples in the San'in region to combine brick masonry with a steel roof truss. It now serves as the Second Gymnasium of Shimane Prefectural Hamada High School and is a Nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property, designated in 1997 as a rare survivor of Hamada's life as a garrison town.

Discover Shimane Prefectural Budokan in Matsue, a 1970 martial arts hall designed by celebrated Metabolist architect Kiyonori Kikutake. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property, its bold closed façade and vast 40-meter steel truss dojo make it a hidden gem of modern Japanese architecture near Matsue Castle.

Discover the Sumikawa Power Station Main Building in Masuda, Shimane—a rare 1943 modernist industrial landmark, still generating power today, tucked deep in the Hikimi River valley of western Japan.

Discover the Chugoku Electric Power Hikimi Power Station Main Building, a registered tangible cultural property in Masuda City, Shimane. Built in 1928 with large concrete blocks in a charming Western church-like style, it remains a working hydroelectric plant on the Hikimi River, an evocative landmark of early Showa modernization heritage set amid the Nishi-Chugoku mountains.

The Tsumori Internal Medicine Clinic in Honjō-chō, Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, is a nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in the late Taishō period. Featuring a steeply pitched copper-plate half-hipped roof, an elegant bay window, and refined Western-style detailing, this charming clinic has served the community for nearly a century. Combine your visit with nearby attractions including Mount Makuragi's Kezōji Temple and the scenic shores of Lake Nakaumi.

Discover Tsuwano Catholic Church, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Shimane Prefecture. This Gothic-style wooden church with unique tatami flooring honors the 37 Christian martyrs of Otome Pass and blends Western and Japanese traditions.

Discover the Masuda History and Folk Museum, a nationally registered tangible cultural property originally built as the Mino District Office in 1921. Now Rekishiina, this beautifully restored Taisho-era building serves as a gateway to Masuda's medieval Japan Heritage sites including Sesshu gardens and samurai castle ruins.

Completed in 1924 under the supervision of the influential architect Ito Chuta, the worship hall of Miho Shrine in Mihonoseki, Matsue, is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property. Its open-sided, boathouse-inspired design—without walls or ceiling—works with the forested mountains behind to create remarkable acoustics befitting the head shrine of Japan's Ebisu deity, renowned as a god of music.

Standing just outside the gate of Miho Shrine in the historic port town of Mihonoseki in Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, this stone well was built in 1861 in the final years of the Edo period. Its cylindrical shaft about 3.8 meters deep is crowned by an unusual octagonal parapet of stone slabs. Known as the Well of Gratitude thanks to a legend in which the deity Miho Daimyojin revealed its location during a severe drought, it quenched the thirst of sailors on kitamaebune cargo ships and pilgrims alike, and is registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan.

Standing at the heart of Aoyama Gakuin University's campus in Shibuya, Tokyo, Berry Hall was completed in 1931 as the new School of Theology building, the final phase of recovery from the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. This three-story reinforced concrete Neo-Gothic structure honors Dean Arthur D. Berry, who led the American fundraising campaign for its construction. Inside, the Charles Oscar Miller Memorial Chapel houses a 1932 German Walcker pipe organ — believed to be the oldest of its maker still in active use in Japan — and inspired the famous Showa-era song 'Student Days.' Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2008.

Discover the Arai Family Residence Inner Storehouse (Uchigura) in Chofu, Tokyo — a nationally registered tangible cultural property dating from the late Edo period. Explore this rare surviving example of traditional Musashino farmstead architecture surrounded by historic estate woodland.

A 1.5-metre kitchen gate of about 1907 with sliding board doors, a lamp hung between lintel and ridge beam, and moulded brackets facing a Ueno back lane.

A two-metre bracket gate of about 1907, gabled and tiled, with a lattice window above the opening, chamfered timbers, and a black-plastered wing wall in Ueno.

This 25-square-metre kura of about 1907 looks like stone but is brick over a timber frame, rendered and scored with false joints. Its ground floor held the altar.