Meiji

The Former Inada Family Residence Red Brick Storehouse in Hitachi-Ota City, Ibaraki Prefecture, is a nationally registered tangible cultural property built in 1910 by the prosperous sake brewing family Inadaya. This rare three-story Meiji-era brick storehouse features exquisite timber framing by master shrine carpenter Tatsukichi Saito and distinctive black lacquer plaster doors, now serving as a community art gallery on the historic Kujira-ga-Oka (Whale Hill).

Built in 1910 in Daigo Town, Ibaraki, Former Uwaoka Elementary School Building 1 keeps 4 classrooms off a north corridor and boarded walls. Free entry at weekends.

At Iwai in Bando City, the Former Otsuka Sake Brewery Shop and Main House dates from the middle Meiji era, and its floorboards were cut from sake vat lids.

Built in 1895 at Iwai in Bando City, the Former Otsuka Sake Brewery Main Storehouse covers 795 square meters, its hall carried on 10 larch-beamed pillars.

A mid-Meiji, 3-storey timber pavilion at Takabe in Hitachiomiya. Coloured glass and a sake signboard filled its top wall. Registered in 2022; open a few days a year.

Discover the Former Onoseke Residence Main House, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Ryugasaki, Ibaraki. This elegant Meiji-era wooden home reveals the lifestyle of a prosperous dried-sardine merchant family that shaped the region's economic history.

A middle Meiji gate in Chikusei City, Ibaraki, facing the main house from the south. It is 2.5 meters across, thatched, and built without metal fittings.

The Former Kabaho Elementary School Building in Makabe, Sakuragawa City, is a mid-Meiji timber schoolhouse moved here in the Taisho era and registered in 2004.

The Former Kurokawa Rice Store in Yuki City is a 1912 earthen-walled merchant shop with a high ridge, outsized end tiles and a shopfront that opens end to end.

An early Meiji building in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki, with a storehouse exterior, a hipped roof and tatami reception rooms in series inside. It covers 134 square meters.

An early Meiji storehouse at the back of the Daitoku plot in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki, built for bedding and tableware. Its east gable carries a bracketed pent roof.

The Former Tonoike Kimono Store in Daigo, Ibaraki, is an 1896 merchant storehouse in black lime plaster, with four fireproof shutters on its upper floor.

An 1886 gatehouse at Yoshise in Tsukuba, dated by the ridge tag in its roof space, which also names the carpenter. Deep segai eaves, zelkova doors, a gallery inside.

An early Meiji storehouse on Tsuchiura's old highway, set beside the shop front. Its sugar stock filled the ground floor. Registered in 2016; now a workshop.

A middle Meiji merchant house facing Tsuchiura's old highway, its shop and living wings crossed in a T. Registered in 2016 and open free of charge today.

A small early Meiji storehouse at the back of a Tsuchiura merchant plot, its doors finished in black lime plaster. It held family goods including hina dolls.

A middle Meiji brick storehouse behind a Tsuchiura merchant house, laid in English bond with arched openings. Registered in 2016 and now used as a cafe.

Discover the Former Machiya Substation (Kyu Machiya Hendensho), a nationally registered tangible cultural property in Hitachiota, Ibaraki. This Meiji-era red brick substation is one of the earliest power-generation heritage sites in the prefecture, also known as an NHK drama filming location.

Brick piers 3.8 meters high and a 2.2-meter wall of the late Meiji era in Ryugasaki, Ibaraki, taken down in 2006 and rebuilt by residents in 2015 on a park site.

Discover the Gokiso Brick Warehouse, a registered tangible cultural property in Joso City, Ibaraki. Built in 1882 by the wealthy Gokita merchant family, this three-story brick storehouse stands as a striking reminder of the prosperous river trade along the Kinugawa River.