Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan

Discover the Former Tsujikawa Post Office in Fukusaki, Hyogo — a 1923 wooden pseudo-Western building with charming postal-mark decorations, now home to a yokai-themed book cafe and boutique inn near the childhood home of folklorist Yanagita Kunio.

No crawl entrance, only a high kijinguchi: this small Nishinomiya tea house follows the Fumai school of Matsue, a lineage rarely built in the Kansai region.

Tea-house scholar Okada Takao designed this 331-square-metre Nishinomiya house, which pivots from Spanish tile to tatami. Registered property, open by booking.

Japanese storehouses are normally earthen-walled; this one in Nishinomiya is reinforced concrete, with a tatami antechamber and a darkroom set at the front.

Tatsumi-gura, the southeast storehouse of the former Hirayasu residence in Kawanishi, Hyogo, dates from 1918. Cut stone base, boarded lower wall, round gable window.

The Onaya at the former Hirayasu residence in Kawanishi, Hyogo, dates from 1918. Two joined frames, an earthen floor, a mezzanine and exposed-post plaster walls.

Kita-gura at the former Hirayasu residence in Kawanishi, Hyogo, dates from 1918. Its eaves floor runs continuously with the covered passage from the main house.

The Lower Stone Bridge of the Hirao Family Residence, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Morio, Toyooka City, Hyogo, is a late Edo-period (1751–1829) stone bridge measuring 3.0m long and 1.5m wide. Built of four combined stones, it spans the Morio River within the grounds of the Hirao family — once Tajima's largest landowner and grand village headman (ōjōya). Together with the estate's gates, storehouses, and washing shed, it preserves a rare and complete pre-modern rural landowner's compound.

A late Edo-period stone bridge at the Hirao Family Residence in Toyooka, Hyogo. This 3.0-meter arched stone span across the Morio River, refined in the Meiji era and registered as a cultural property in 2008, links the gatehouse to the main residence of one of Tajima's foremost landowning families.

A steel-frame water tower in the Hirao Family Residence, Toyooka. Its early-Showa frame carries a riveted tank that once piped water through the estate. Not public.

On the Morio River's right bank stands the Hirao family's kawaido, a late-Edo well shelter with stone steps down to the water under a light pantiled roof. Not public.

An earthen garden wall in the Hirao Family Residence, about 19 m long. A rough rubble footing carries it, exposed inside and black-plastered outside. Not open to the public.

A bracket gate and 12 m of board fence south of the main house's formal entrance, Hirao Family Residence. Black-plastered walls give a composed Meiji approach. Not public.

A formal onarimon and a 27 m riverside wall in the Hirao Family Residence, built to receive honoured guests. White plaster marks its ceremonial air. Not open to the public.

A short partition wall and bracket gate dividing the detached quarters from the main garden in the Hirao Family Residence. Its finer face marks the intended front. Not public.

Stone walls line both banks of the Morio River as it divides the Hirao estate, about 148 m in all. Mixed granite and basalt coursing records generations of repair. Not public.

A partition wall and central wicket gate in the Hirao Family Residence, dividing the quarters' front from the inner garden. Its north end runs under a neighbouring eave.

A short 3.6 m wall linking the main house to the livestock shed, Hirao Family Residence. It cleanly separates domestic space from the working yards. Not open to the public.

A small forecourt shelter on the ceramics storehouse in the Hirao Family Residence, with a paired-door rear gate. Its exposed gable accents the storehouse cluster. Not public.

A 28 m board fence enclosing the inner garden's east side, Hirao Family Residence, set on a low fieldstone retaining wall. Plain boarding gives a quiet enclosure. Not public.