Edo

Explore Kojimaya Dozo, an 1836 Edo-period earthen storehouse in Higashihiroshima's sake brewing district. This registered cultural property features ingenious fire-resistant architecture and connects to the origins of Kamotsuru Sake Brewery. Learn about its history, architectural features, and how to visit this hidden gem in Japan's famous Saijo sake town.

Discover the Araki Family Residence, an Important Cultural Property in Shobara, Hiroshima. This 18th-century thatched-roof home of a hereditary Shinto priest showcases rare architectural features of the Chugoku region's mountain villages.

Discover the Oku Family Residence (Oku-ke Jutaku) in Miyoshi, Hiroshima Prefecture—a beautifully preserved 1788 farmhouse and storehouse designated as a national Important Cultural Property. Explore its five-layered beam structure, rare internal storehouse, and the heritage of a village headman family in rural Japan.

Dated to 1665 by an inscribed ridge tile, the Former Kihara Family Residence in Hiroshima housed sake-brewing salt merchants and keeps a rare early townhouse plan.

Kibitsu Shrine's main hall in Fukuyama, an Important Cultural Property rebuilt in 1648 by lord Mizuno Katsunari, is nearly 18.5 m wide with a Buddhist-hall interior.

Discover the Hatayama Family Residence in Miyoshi, Hiroshima — a mid-18th century thatched-roof farmhouse designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan, featuring archaic construction techniques and a dramatic relocation story.

Explore the Iroha Maru Exhibition Hall in Tomonoura, Fukuyama. Housed in a Registered Tangible Cultural Property warehouse from the Edo period, this museum showcases artifacts from Sakamoto Ryoma's famous 1867 maritime incident and his secret hideout.

Shorinbo's 1744 bell tower packs base blocks, tapered columns, two-stepped brackets and kaerumata struts into sixteen square metres. No walls, so the frame is on show.

Built in 1752 to keep sutras from burning, Shorinbo's Kyozo is a plastered box 3.8 metres square, yet brackets rise from its wall head and a coffered ceiling tops it.

Discover Tobigasako Sunadome, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Fukuyama City, Hiroshima. This massive Edo-period granite dam showcases Japan's pioneering sand control engineering amid seasonal fireflies and spider lilies.

The Nanzenbo Sanmon Gate in Tomonoura, Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture, is a unique bell tower gate registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2014. Built atop a traditional four-legged gate, its Chinese-inspired upper story features bengara-painted woodwork, flame-shaped windows, and dramatically curved eaves. Throughout the Edo period, the temple served as lodging for Joseon Tongsinsa (Korean diplomatic envoys), and the bell tower was added around 1810 in preparation for the 12th envoy mission. The temple also holds ancestral graves of renowned koto composer Miyagi Michio.

Discover Nanzenbo Main Hall, a nationally registered tangible cultural property in the historic port town of Tomonoura, Fukuyama. Rebuilt in 1860 with lavish late-Edo carvings, this Jodo Shinshu temple once hosted Korean diplomatic missions and holds the ancestral graves of koto master Miyagi Michio.

The Hida family's main house on Ōsakishimojima in Kure is the oldest of five registered buildings, a late-Edo tsushi-nikai farmhouse finished with a townhouse's care.

The ceremonial gate of the Hino Residence in Aki-Takata, Hiroshima. A late-Edo copper-roofed gate 1.7 metres wide, it divided the guest-room garden from the forecourt.

The main gate and attendant's room of the Hino Residence in Aki-Takata, Hiroshima. The 3.6-metre gate is said to have come from a Yoshida domain jinya.

The main house of the Hino Residence in Aki-Takata, Hiroshima, rebuilt around 1779. Its timber frame pairs an early-modern farmhouse core with modern openness.

The sake storehouse of the Hino Residence in Aki-Takata, Hiroshima, built in 1733. A 22-metre plaster kura with just two internal posts, it housed the family's brewing.

The storehouse and detached room of the Hino Residence in Aki-Takata, Hiroshima. The kura of about 1702 is the oldest building here and survived a great fire in 1770.