Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan

Large stone water basin (ichitarai) of the early Meiji period at the Togei house on Yonaguni Island, carved from sandstone and used to hold water against fire.

Early Meiji well at the Togei house on Yonaguni Island, cut 13 metres into Ryukyu limestone, with a washing area and small stone basin used for crops and tools.

Main house of 1953 on Yonaguni Island: hipped, red-tiled and 7 by 4 bays, with an amahaji veranda, a traditional Yaeyama plan, chagi timber and daimyo bamboo.

Concrete rainwater tank of 1953 beside the kitchen of the Togei house on Yonaguni Island, 1.6 metres high, filled from the gutters through a filter in its lid.

The Toyama Memorial Hall of 1935 in the centre of Kin, Okinawa, is a single-room concrete hall whose only ornaments are an arched porch and an octagonal window.

An early Showa gateway wall in Ishigaki, Okinawa: local awa-ishi laid in level courses about 2 metres high, pairing a 15-metre front run with a U-shaped enclosure.

An 1894 well beside a house in Ishigaki, Okinawa, with a 1.2-metre limestone curb, a concrete pulley support and a 3-metre washing floor, extended in early Showa.

A red-tiled 1925 house in Ishigaki, Okinawa, built by a postal worker from salt-cured island timber, with a ridge-beam charm and two front rooms joined as one space.

An 1894 stone toilet-and-pigsty behind a house in Ishigaki, Okinawa: limestone and awa-ishi blocks form 3 pens, each still holding its stone feeding trough.

Concrete lookout built in 1953 by villagers on Taketomi Island as a broadcasting platform, later a viewpoint over the red-tiled village. Climbing is now prohibited.

Pier of 1938 on Taketomi Island, 105 metres of limestone faced with concrete and ramped at the end for low-tide unloading; islanders sailed from here to Iriomote.

Timber building of 1940 on Kitadaito Island that housed and entertained phosphate miners. Two gable-entry wings joined on an I-shaped plan; an inn since 1982.

Standing on a coral-limestone bluff overlooking the West Port of Minami-Daito Island, this roofless stone shell built around 1924 once housed the steam engine that powered the winches used to haul boats ashore during typhoons. Constructed in irregular dry-stacked masonry from the island's own coral limestone, it overlooks the very cove where the 1900 pioneer expedition first set foot on this remote Pacific island. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2000, it is one of the most evocative surviving relics of Minami-Daito's unique frontier history.

The 1923 living wing of a doctor's clinic-and-home, moved in 1980 to what is now Ishigaki Yaima Village. Open, post-free rooms, a carved entrance, a daily folk show.

A 1909 shizoku house moved to Ishigaki in 1984: two rows of rooms, a porch jutting past deep eaves and a dated ridge-beam inscription. Why registered; how to visit.

A plain cement-tiled annex of about 1955 beside the red-tiled main house of the Yagi homestead in Oton, Yaese. Built as a rice store, it now seats diners.

A 1952 wall of Minatogawa limestone on the south edge of the Yagi homestead in Oton, Yaese: four courses, 1.3 m high, 50 m long, turning north to form the entry.

A 1952 household cistern behind the main house of the Yagi homestead in Oton, Yaese: a round rainwater pit with a mortar rim framed by L-shaped limestone blocks.

Built in 1952 in Oton, Yaese, this red-tiled farmhouse keeps the full Okinawan plan: hipped roof, plastered joints, deep amahaji eaves and no front door.

A 1952 screen wall of Minatogawa limestone before the main house of the Yagi homestead in Oton, Yaese: five courses of near-3 m blocks, 1.6 m high, 3.6 m long.