Meiji

A late Meiji fire-pump shed and boundary fence in the Hirao estate, Morio, Toyooka: double doors across the front, a fire-water pond beside it, 3.6 metres of fence.

The 1896 main house of the Hirao estate in Morio, Toyooka: 348 m² over 2 storeys, a farmhouse form on Western roof trusses, with an earth floor and formal rooms.

A mid-Meiji farm shed in the northwest corner of the Hirao estate, Morio, Toyooka: 6 bays and 2 storeys, open to the yard and to the fields, with a service gate.

An 1887 storehouse for tableware northwest of the Hirao main house in Morio, Toyooka: 2 storeys, floating roof, and two hooded windows offset on the north wall.

A late Meiji retirement house behind the Hirao main house in Morio, Toyooka: a single storey of 94 m² with an alcoved main room at the garden end, renovated in 2004.

The Odagaki Family Residence Wall is a 22-meter late Meiji wall in Tamba-Sasayama, with board, plaster and tile bands and copper-roofed garden gates on the street.

A mid-Meiji wall along the street front of the Hirao estate in Morio, Toyooka: 58 metres of tile-topped wall, plastered to the street and plain clay inside.

A mid-Meiji service gate at the west end of the Hirao estate in Morio, Toyooka: a bracketed gate 3.2 metres wide with sliding doors, set at the end of the road.

A mid-Meiji well shelter between the rice storehouse and carpenters' shed of the Hirao estate in Morio, Toyooka: 2.7 metres square over a stone well curb.

A mid-Meiji gate and fence before the formal entrance of the Hirao main house in Morio, Toyooka: a 1.5-metre bracketed gate with 12 metres of black plaster fence.

A mid-Meiji gate for honoured guests before the Hirao guest house in Morio, Toyooka: a 2.5-metre bracketed gate with 27 metres of lattice-windowed wall by the river.

A mid-Meiji partition wall and gate between the Hirao guest house and main garden in Morio, Toyooka: white plaster toward the guests and plain clay toward the house.

A mid-Meiji partition and wicket gate between the Hirao guest house and inner garden in Morio, Toyooka: white plaster, a plank door, and a bay under the eaves.

A mid-Meiji porch on the Hirao ceramics storehouse in Morio, Toyooka, with a back gate between two storehouses; its bare gable timbers stand out on plaster.

A mid-Meiji rainwater basin among the Hirao storehouses in Morio, Toyooka: 1.8 metres square in cut stone with a brick rim and a 15-metre drain westward.

A mid-Meiji partition and wicket gate by the Hirao treasure storehouse in Morio, Toyooka: a 10-metre board fence dividing two gardens, clad differently on each side.

A mid-Meiji wall and gate beside the Hirao retirement house in Morio, Toyooka: 8.6 metres of boarding left open at the top, with a 1.6-metre bracketed gate.

A tiny Meiji-period subsidiary shrine at Tomari Shrine in Kakogawa, Hyogo, registered in 2008, matching the Sumiyoshi shrine beside it in size, form and carving.

Painted in 1890 by Honda Kinkichirō, Hagoromo Tennyo (The Heavenly Maiden in the Legend of Hagoromo) is a Meiji-era oil painting that depicts a celestial maiden soaring above Mt. Fuji and Miho-no-Matsubara. Designated a National Important Cultural Property in 2024, it is held at the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art in Kobe. This guide introduces the painting's blend of Japanese subject and Western technique, its painter's life, its remarkable journey across the Pacific, and how to visit.