Taishō

Discover Minami Kawachi Bridge, a 1926 steel lenticular truss bridge spanning Kawachi Reservoir in Kitakyushu. Designated as an Important Cultural Property, it is the only surviving bridge of its kind in Japan.

Discover Art Space Taniwo in Nogata City, Fukuoka—a nationally registered Taisho-period bank building blending brick-tile façades, Secession-style details, and a distinctive corner turret that tells the story of Chikuho's coal-fueled prosperity.

The Ishihara Shōten Store in Nogata City, Fukuoka, is a two-story wooden merchant house built in 1926 and registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property. Together with the adjacent Maedaen Honten Store, it forms one of the most evocative historic streetscapes along the former Nagasaki Kaidō highway, featuring a distinctive three-tiered façade, a partial double-height shop interior, and a traditional second-floor zashiki.

The Former Osaka Shosen Building in Mojiko, Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka, was completed in 1917 as the Moji branch of the Osaka Shosen shipping company and is registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan. Designed by Kawai Ikuji, a pioneer of Osaka architecture, it features striking orange tiles, white granite bands, and a distinctive octagonal tower. The building is celebrated for blending Tatsuno-style Free Classic with Vienna Secession influences, and today serves as a cultural hub of the Mojiko Retro district.

Standing in the heart of Kurume City in Fukuoka Prefecture, the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Kurume Church Chapel was designed by the American-born architect William Merrell Vories and completed in 1918. The oldest surviving Vories-designed building in Kyushu, it was registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in 2019. Its column-free worship hall, supported by an exposed wooden scissors truss, beautifully embodies Vories's early architectural style.

Yoriguchi Bridge, spanning the Hoshino River in Joyo, Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture, is a double-arched stone bridge built in 1920 during the Taisho era. Known as one of the celebrated Hifumiyo Bridges — a unique group of four stone bridges with one to four arches — it was registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2023. Visitors can enjoy cherry blossoms in spring, river play in summer, and firefly viewing in early summer, all set against a bridge that has served its community for over a century.

The front gate of Ryotei Kinnabe in Wakamatsu, Kitakyushu is a nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property built around 1917. Featuring a modern sukiya-style design with square pillars, natural log timbers, glass transoms, and a copper-clad canopy, this elegant gate preserves the prosperity and refined dining culture of Wakamatsu's coal-boom era.

The main building of Ryotei Kinnabe in Wakamatsu, Kitakyushu is a nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property and one of Kyushu's most historically significant dining establishments. Founded in 1895 as Kyushu's first beef hot pot restaurant, the current three-story wooden building dates from around 1917 and features refined sukiya-style architecture with a striking black lacquer plaster exterior. A component of the Japan Heritage site Kanmon Nostalgic Strait, this still-operating ryotei preserves the culinary traditions and architectural grandeur of Wakamatsu's coal-boom era.