Shōwa

Kenzo Tange completed this Takamatsu government office in 1958, recasting the columns and beams of Japanese tradition in concrete over an open civic piloti.

Five arches on six buttresses, raised in 1929 by the Kagawa farmers who would drink the water. This concrete irrigation dam still works, and admission is free.

Discover the Isono Family Residence in Zentsuji, Kagawa — a Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1930 that beautifully combines traditional Japanese residential design with a charming Western-style wing. Explore this architectural gem near the birthplace of Kobo Daishi.

Built in 1931 at Ubushina Shrine in Utazu, Kagawa, this 162 sq m office takes a central-corridor house plan and carries a formal tiled entrance porch at one end.

Built in 1941 at Ubushina Shrine in Utazu, Kagawa, this 19 sq m hall for ritual food offerings pairs the simplest bracketing with a finely dressed cut-stone plinth.

Built in 1935 at Ubushina Shrine in Utazu, Kagawa, this 1.8 sq m sanctuary for the war dead keeps balustrade, veranda, stair and packed brackets at miniature scale.

Ubushina Shrine Main Hall in Utazu, Kagawa, was raised at Ise in 1953 as the Takanomiya sanctuary and moved here in 1976: a 22 sq m shinmei hall on buried posts.

Built in 1934 at Ubushina Shrine in Utazu, Kagawa, this 67 sq m registered hall puts a gabled offering room behind the worship hall, dragon and phoenix at the door.

Built in 1934 in Utazu, Kagawa, this 6.2 sq m salt-deity sanctuary at Ubushina Shrine layers two gables over packed bracketing, and is listed as a model of design.

Built around 1934 at Ubushina Shrine in Utazu, Kagawa, this 9.6-metre earthen storehouse for festival palanquins sets black render below white plaster, tiled above.

The No. 5 warehouse at Kamebishi in Hikita, Kagawa is an early-Showa moromi store whose red-ochre street walls carry the brewery's palette across the road.

The No. 3 warehouse at Kamebishi in Hikita, Kagawa now stores moromi, but a raised roof monitor for venting heat points to its origins as a boiler room.

The No. 13 warehouse at Kamebishi in Hikita, Kagawa is an early-Showa store with a roof monitor and red-ochre walls, closing the street beside the Red Gate.

Discover the Karato-oka no Shimizu Communal Water Station, a 1929 granite spring-water facility on Teshima Island, Kagawa Prefecture. This registered tangible cultural property connects the legend of Kobo Daishi with Seto Inland Sea island life and art.

A row of six rental shops in central Noma, Shodoshima, built in 1932 by the Ishii soy-brewing family, its tiled range facing the road apart from the estate.

A small 1941 barn on the Ishii estate in Noma, Shodoshima, on a lane below the storehouse: a plain earthen-walled shed anchoring a corner of the brewing yard.

An early-Showa annex on the Ishii estate in Noma, Shodoshima, on a stone wall below a garden: storage below, a room above, walls of charred cedar and white plaster.

Discover Kotohira Town Public Hall, a stunning 1934 wooden Japanese public hall registered as a national tangible cultural property. Located near the famous Kotohira-gu Shrine in Kagawa Prefecture, this irimoya-style building features a grand 300-seat hall, coffered ceilings, and a beautiful cherry blossom garden with a haiku monument by Yosa Buson.

Discover Komesse Utazu, a 1936 rice warehouse turned community hub in Kagawa Prefecture. This Registered Tangible Cultural Property tells the story of Utazu's prosperous past as a vital port town on the Seto Inland Sea.

Discover the Sakai Soy Sauce Industry Hydraulic Accumulator Shed, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on Shodoshima Island, Kagawa. This early Showa-era structure preserves a rare hydraulic pressing device that reveals the technological modernization of Japan's traditional soy sauce brewing.