Taishō

Located in Sumita Town, Iwate Prefecture, the Kuriki Iron Works Ruins preserve the remains of a private ironworks that operated from 1881 to 1920. Designated a National Historic Site in 2021, it is the only surviving example in Japan of a complete small-to-medium scale blast furnace ironworks compound from the Meiji and Taisho periods, holding exceptional industrial archaeological value. Two blast furnace bases, office ruins, water channels, and casting factory remains lie quietly in the Tane-ga-hara highlands beloved by author Miyazawa Kenji.

The Former Kikuchi Western-Style Building (1926) in Hanamaki pairs a Western exterior with Japanese rooms. Saved from demolition, it stands in Miyazawa Kenji's home town.

The Former Tohoku Crushed Stone Factory in Higashiyama, Ichinoseki City, Iwate Prefecture, is a lime fertilizer production facility built in 1924 and the first limestone-industry site in Japan to be registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property. It is also known as the place where the beloved poet and scientist Kenji Miyazawa worked as an engineer in his final years, striving to improve farmland through affordable lime. Together with the adjacent Stone and Kenji Museum, it offers a unique encounter with industrial heritage and literary legacy.

Built in 1925, the Former Tono Homotsukan was the first reinforced concrete building in the Tono region of Iwate Prefecture. Featuring geometric exterior ornamentation, column-free interior spaces, and earthquake-resistant design, it was registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in 2017. Today it serves as a storage facility for the Tono Municipal Museum in the heartland of Japanese folklore.

Built in 1912, the Former Morioka Cathedral is a refined wooden church inspired by Romanesque architecture. Tracing the history of Catholic evangelization in Morioka by the Paris Foreign Missions Society, this remarkable structure features a three-aisled basilica plan with vaulted ceilings — European stone church elements realized entirely in wood. It was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2024.

The Sato Family Residence Western Building is a wooden two-story Western-style annex completed in 1924 in Senmaya, Ichinoseki City, Iwate Prefecture. Designated as a national Registered Tangible Cultural Property, it was commissioned by sake brewer Sato Shuhei of the Yokoya Brewery and grafted onto the family's earlier Meiji-era residence. Distinctive slate "namako-kabe" walls, copper drip awnings, and a central pediment make it a refined example of Taisho-era hybrid architecture. Today it is part of the Senmaya Sake Storehouse Cultural Exchange Facility and houses a cafe on its ground floor, with free admission.

The Koiwai Station Main Building on the JR Tazawako Line in Takizawa City, Iwate Prefecture, is a wooden station building constructed in 1921 (Taisho 10) at the opening of the Hashiba Light Railway. Registered as a Nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property in August 2025, it is also known as a place once visited by the poet Miyazawa Kenji. After a careful restoration in 2023, it serves both as a working station and as a beloved community gathering hub.

Standing on the banks of the Iwai River in Ichinoseki, Iwate, the Sekinoichi Sake Brewery Former Sales Warehouse is a single-story earthen storehouse built in 1919 during the Taishō era. Its white-plastered gable is elegantly framed in dark, over-fired clay bricks. Designed by Kohara Yūsuke, an architect in the school of Tatsuno Kingo of Tokyo Station fame, it was registered together with six other brewery buildings as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 1999, and remains in active use as part of a working sake and craft beer brewery.