Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Ehime

The 1937 main house of the Besshi mine director's residence pairs a zigzag corridor with garden-facing tatami rooms. Niihama's grandest company home survives.

This eight-mat tea room of 1937 sets its alcove post atop a 2.7-meter cabinet with a glowing shoji above, a free-spirited detail. Open Sunday mornings, free.

The Former Ninomiya Sawmill Office and Main House in Oda, Uchiko Town, Ehime Prefecture, is a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property that preserves the forestry heritage of one of Shikoku's most densely forested mountain communities. This combined office-residence tells the story of the timber industry that sustained the Oda district for generations.

Discover the Former Hadeba Hydroelectric Power Station in Niihama, Ehime — a registered tangible cultural property built in 1912 with German-made generators, featuring the Orient's greatest water drop of 597 meters. Free admission, open since 2023.

Discover the Former Hiraiso Submarine Cable Landing Station, a registered tangible cultural property in Ikata, Ehime. Built in 1927, this reinforced concrete structure once linked Shikoku and Kyushu via undersea telegraph cables across the Iyo-nada Sea.

Standing atop Mt. Shoji in Niihama, Ehime, the Former Yamane Smelter Chimney is a 19-meter Meiji-era brick chimney built in 1888 and registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2009. Discover its history, the Besshi Copper Mine, and how to visit "Entotsu-yama."

Kokon-so, a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Shikokuchuo City, Ehime Prefecture, is a refined wooden residence originally built around the end of the Meiji era as a secondary villa of an old family in former Kawanoe Village, then carefully relocated to its current site in Kamibun-cho during the late 1950s to mid-1960s. Its three formal rooms aligned in a row and its distinctive budo-dana (grape trellis) ceiling above the gallery corridor exemplify the high craftsmanship of late Meiji Japanese residential architecture.

Set on the grounds of the former Saijo domain headquarters in Ehime Prefecture, the Saijo Eiko Church Pastor's House is a two-story wooden building designed in 1951 by Urabe Shizutaro, one of the most influential architects of postwar Japan. Registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2021 together with the adjoining sanctuary and kindergarten, the building blends white plaster walls, cedar plank cladding, exposed timber framing, and lattice and shoji screens in a quietly confident folk-craft idiom—an early masterwork that anticipates Urabe's celebrated Kurashiki cityscape.

Standing within the former Saijo Domain Jinya district in Ehime, the chapel of Saijo Eiko Church is one of the earliest completed works of postwar Japanese architect Urabe Shizutaro. White plaster walls and a rhythm of slender vertical windows give the building a quietly modernist character, blended with Japanese folk-craft sensibility and the spirit of Christian worship. It was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2021.

Standing along the moat of the former Saijo Jinya in Ehime Prefecture, the Saijo Eiko Kindergarten Building is a single-storey wooden structure designed in 1953 by the celebrated architect Shizutaro Urabe. Together with the adjacent church chapel and pastor's residence, it was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in February 2021. Discover this rare ensemble of postwar wooden modernism on a quiet walk along the moat.

Visit the Sasaki Sake Brewery Main Building, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Tobe Town, Ehime. Built around 1908, this Meiji-era sake house preserves the streetscape of a once-thriving mountain highway village in Shikoku.

The Butokuden in Niihama City, Ehime Prefecture, is a wooden martial arts hall built in 1938 and registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property. Distinguished by its layered chidori-hafu gable and irimoya-zukuri entrance porch, it is one of Japan's rare surviving prewar Butokuden halls that continues to serve as an active martial arts training facility.

Discover Mikame Tunnel, a beautifully preserved Taisho-era brick tunnel in Seiyo City, Ehime Prefecture. Registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan, this 317-meter civil engineering heritage site features elegant stone and brick portal design from 1917.

Discover Minakuchi Sake Brewery's Taisho-era shop and main house, a nationally registered tangible cultural property near Dogo Onsen. Explore its unique blend of Japanese and Western architecture, sake heritage, and craft beer culture in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture.

Discover Myojo Soan, a beautifully restored Taisho-period thatched-roof farmhouse in Kihoku Town, Ehime Prefecture. Explore traditional rural life, a suikinkutsu water chime, and the scenic Hiyoshi district mountains.

The stone wall at Myosenji Temple in Onishi, Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture, is a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in two phases in 1838 and 1857 through donations from surrounding villages. Featuring granite from Yuzue-jima Island and various local stones, it showcases the refined masonry techniques of the late Edo period. Surviving construction documents that record the exact dates and names of the artisans make it an exceptionally well-documented heritage site.

Discover the Myosenji Bell Tower Gate (Shōrōmon) in Imabari, Ehime — a nationally registered tangible cultural property built in 1840. This rare one-bay, two-story gate features exquisite late Edo-period carvings and a suspended temple bell.

Standing at the entrance of Meiseki-ji, the 43rd temple of the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage in Ehime Prefecture, the Niomon is a striking three-by-two-bay irimoya-style two-story gate. Distinctive red tiles, dragon-adorned ridge tiles, and rare Fujin and Raijin guardian statues make it a fascinating example of regional temple architecture. Registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2007, it preserves the artistic and spiritual heritage of southwestern Shikoku.

The Main Hall of Meiseki-ji Temple in Seiyo City, Ehime Prefecture, serves as the principal building of the 43rd sacred site on the Shikoku Pilgrimage and was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2007. Constructed between 1882 and 1890 by master carpenters of the Ikata school, this five-bay-square hall features a striking red Sekishu-tile roof and an elaborate karahafu front porch adorned with intricate carvings of dragons, phoenixes, and mythical beasts. Discover a thousand-year-old temple where the heritage of Genko-zan Enshu-in Meiseki-ji meets the finest craftsmanship of Meiji-era religious architecture.