Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan

Discover the Former Iida Family Residence in Jōetsu, Niigata — an 1853 Edo-period thatched-roof farmhouse registered as a Tangible Cultural Property. Featuring the distinctive chūmon-zukuri style of the Echigo region and massive timber framing built to endure heavy snowfall, this architectural treasure offers a rare glimpse into rural life in Japan's snow country.

Shaped natural stones stacked six courses and capped with coping form the wall framing the Kina saffron sake compound and giving Nagaoka's Settaya a street-side face.

Attached to the main house, this two-storey plaster storehouse carries saffron petals on its gable and dragons on its inner doors, an early work in the lime-relief craft.

Standing alone at the north of the grounds, this storehouse is the oldest survivor from when brewing began here, its gable shaped into the character for good fortune.

Behind a heavy gabled porch and its old saffron-sake signboard, the 469-square-metre timber main house in Nagaoka opens for guided visits on weekends and holidays.

Standing alone at the north, this single-storey rice storehouse shows a king-post truss inside and reopened in 2020 as a fermentation museum and cafe.

Iron sheet covers the roof, base and inner walls of this storehouse at the southwest corner, rumoured to have made fireworks though its original use is unknown.

Attached to the rear of the main house, this storehouse held the brewing tanks and raw stock, its four free-standing pillars carrying the roof over the tonic-sake floor.

Attached north of the main house, this storehouse held the drug store and bottling floor where herbs became the tonic sake, roofed on a queen-post truss.

The largest storehouse of the compound stands behind the main house, its six free-standing pillars carrying the roof over a floor of roughly 219 square metres.

Attached at the rear of the main house, this two-storey timber parlor greets guests through a cusped-gable porch and opens two garden-facing sides in glass.

The Former Kobayashi Kokei Residence in Takada Castle Site Park, Joetsu, Niigata, is a nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property designed by Yoshida Isoya, the pioneer of modern sukiya architecture, for the celebrated Japanese painter Kobayashi Kokei. Originally built in Tokyo in 1934 and relocated to Kokei's hometown in 2001, it showcases innovative techniques that modernized traditional Japanese residential architecture while preserving exceptional Kyoto-trained craftsmanship.

The Former Daishi Bank Sumiyoshi-cho Branch, relocated to the Niigata City History Museum Minatopia grounds, is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property completed in 1927. Its granite facade, Ionic columns, and magnificent interior with marble and white plaster showcase the grandeur of one of Japan's oldest banks. Free admission.

Located in the historic castle town of Murakami, Niigata Prefecture, the Former Daishi Bank Murakami Branch Manager's Residence is a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1936 as the home of the Murakami Credit Union president. It features a stately irimoya-style roof, elegant sasarako clapboard siding, and exquisite interior woodwork using precious kuro-gaki (black persimmon) timber.

A registered Meiji house in Sekiya, Niigata, raised after the Boshin War burned its predecessor in 1868. Exposed gable framing, bold beams, shoin rooms. Not open.

An 1882 earthen-walled kura beside the Nakanokuchi River, set on high ground against flood. Heavy rafters, close-set posts. Registered 2023. Privately held.

A late Edo storehouse said to have been moved to Sekiya around 1845. Its placed roof sits free above plastered walls, a fire defence. Registered in 2000. Not open.

A small detached room of middle Meiji date, open south onto a garden. Shoin alcove, tokonoma, a round tea hearth in the floor. Registered 2023. Not open.

The Sakata residence main house in Gosen, Niigata, once home to village headmen. Its 20-metre frontage and hipped-and-gabled roof mark a wealthy farming family's rank.

The Sakata family's timber new storehouse in Gosen, Niigata. Exposed close-set pillars and a black-plaster dado mark an unusually careful early-Showa kura.