Important cultural property

The Ohashi Family Residence in Kurashiki, Okayama, built between 1796 and 1799, became an Important Cultural Property in 1978. Its four buildings and how to visit.

The Ohara merchant house in Kurashiki, whose main house, pavilion and eight storehouses were designated in 1971. Stone path, garden, hours, fees and photo rules.

Completed in 1900 in Tsuyama, this timber schoolhouse with a clock tower still holds classes. A rare surviving Meiji middle school, designated in 1995.

Built in the 1620s, Okayama Castle Tsukimi Yagura is the only original building on the main bailey: stone-drop hatches face out, tatami and a veranda face in.

Okayama Castle Nishite Yagura is the castle's other surviving turret: a small-windowed corner tower built for war around 1600, now inside a closed school's grounds.

Former Katayama Family Residence at Fukiya in Okayama: a bengara pigment merchant's compound of five buildings designated in 2006, with hours and access.

Rebuilt in 1612, the Okamaden at Kibitsu Shrine hosts the narukama rite, a fortune read from the sound of a heated cauldron. It was designated in 1980.

Rebuilt in 1543, the North Zuijinmon at Kibitsu Shrine mirrors its tiled southern twin but wears a cypress-bark roof. It became an Important Cultural Property in 1913.

Built in 1357, the South Zuijinmon is the oldest building at Kibitsu Shrine, a tile-roofed eight-legged gate listed as an Important Cultural Property in 1911.

Tsuyama's largest surviving townhouse, a sake brewer's compound of ten buildings designated in 2016. The 28.5 m front, rooftop lookout, storehouses and street views.

A symmetrical timber schoolhouse in Maniwa, completed in 1907 and designated in 1999. Coffered assembly hall, film sets, uniform rental, free entry, hours, access.

Begun around 1833 by salt magnate Nozaki Buzaemon, this Kurashiki estate keeps 12 Important Cultural Property buildings. Hours, fees, access and repair-work notes.

A daimyo inn that doubled as a sake brewery in Yakage, Okayama: the 1832 guest wing, a 29.6m sake storehouse and 11 designated buildings, plus hours and access.

The former Takakusa residence in Yakage, Okayama, the secondary official inn of a Sanyodo post town, keeps nine buildings of 1764 to 1875 and opens at weekends.

The former Kyokuto Kindergarten in Okayama, built in 1908 by Egawa Saburohachi, set its rooms around an octagonal playroom, the prototype of the plum-blossom plan.

The main hall of Kumano Shrine in Kurashiki, Okayama, built in the late Muromachi period, is a one-bay kasuga-zukuri hall with corner rafters and a bark roof.

Goryusonryuin Temple Pagoda in Kurashiki is a 3.8-meter granite stupa said to date from 1240, with a relic chamber, carved celestials and Kamakura-style eaves.

A 764.9-metre cut-stone enclosure raised around 1701 at Shizutani School in Bizen City, chiselled to a rounded ridge and still free of weeds after three centuries.

Eleven structures at Shizutani in Bizen City, completed in 1684. The gilt bronze Confucius in the Taiseiden is shown only a few days a year, at the sekisai rite.

Eight structures of 1686 at Shizutani in Bizen City, honouring school founder Ikeda Mitsumasa. Set a terrace below the Confucian shrine as an act of deference.