Shōwa

Completed in 1927, the Kyoto City Hall Main Building is an architectural gem that blends a Neo-Baroque framework with decorative motifs from Japanese, Chinese, Indian, and Islamic traditions. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2025, discover the history, design, and visitor highlights of this remarkable civic landmark.

The Kintetsu Yodogawa Bridge in Fushimi, Kyoto is a 164.6-metre pierless steel truss built in 1928 to clear an army drill ground. Still Japan's longest simple-truss railway span, it is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property and a JSCE A-rank civil engineering heritage.

Turning south from Kōshō-ji's main gate, this early-Taishō earthen wall runs about 45m along Horikawa-dōri, the longest in the precinct. It was registered in 2025.

Discover the Kotobuki Building (壽ビルディング), a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Kyoto's Shijo Kawaramachi area. Built in 1927, this five-story reinforced concrete gem blends Art Deco elegance with early Showa-era design—now home to stylish boutiques, galleries, and a beloved children's bookshop.

This abbot's quarters is a spacious six-room shoin hall rebuilt in 1936 after the 1934 fire, with screens by Kubota Kinsen, on former Aizu headquarters ground.

Fronting the abbot's quarters, this four-legged gate covers barely seven square metres yet concentrates early-Showa Kyoto carving in its copper gable and transoms.

East of the abbot's quarters, this 1936 hall carries a copper-gabled car porch. Inside, a Western board-floored reception room sits beside a shoin tatami room.

Turning at a right angle from the karamon gate, this 57-metre earthen wall frames the abbot's south garden. Its five horizontal lines mark the highest temple rank.

Kurodani's main hall enshrines a portrait of Honen at seventy-five. Rebuilt after a 1934 fire by Kyoto University's Amanuma Shunichi in revived Kamakura style.

Kyoto's 1932 alumni hall for the Prefectural Normal School — Spanish-tile parapets, arched windows, and Art Deco round windows survive intact in northern Kyoto.

Discover Taigaku Bunko, a 1928 reinforced-concrete archive building designed by renowned architect Goichi Takeda. Located within the former retreat of Meiji Restoration hero Iwakura Tomomi in northern Kyoto, this Registered Tangible Cultural Property houses precious historical artifacts from Japan's transformative era.

Discover the Zangetsu-tei tea room at Daishoji Temple, a registered tangible cultural property built in 1938 within one of Kyoto's most prestigious imperial convent temples near the Kyoto Imperial Palace.

Discover the Takabei (high wall) of Daishoji Temple, a nationally registered tangible cultural property in Kyoto. This graceful plastered wall from around 1942 divides the sacred precinct of Japan's highest-ranking imperial Buddhist convent, located on the historic site of the Muromachi Shogunate's Flower Palace.

Discover the Main Hall of Daishoji, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Kyoto relocated from the Aoyama Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Explore the history of this imperial Buddhist convent founded in 1382, its elegant hōjō-style architecture, and the legacy of imperial princesses who called it home.

Discover the covered corridor (watari-rōka) of Daishoji Temple, a nationally registered tangible cultural property in Kyoto. This imperial nunnery near Kyoto Imperial Palace preserves centuries of royal Buddhist heritage.

Discover the Grand Torii of Takeisao (Kenkun) Shrine, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1934 from Taiwanese Alishan hinoki cypress. Standing at the foot of Mount Funaoka in Kyoto, this majestic gate marks the entrance to the shrine honoring the legendary warlord Oda Nobunaga.

Discover the Kenkun Shrine Shamusho (Social Affairs Office), a nationally registered tangible cultural property built in 1929, nestled on Mount Funaoka in Kyoto. Explore the shrine dedicated to Japan's legendary unifier, Oda Nobunaga.

Discover the Holy Trinity Church in Kyoto, a nationally registered tangible cultural property built in 1930. Designed by American architect J.V.W. Bergamini, this unique wooden church blends Japanese traditional architecture with Western ecclesiastical design, featuring exposed timber framing, plaster cross decorations, and an elegant geometric truss chapel.

A 1932 concrete bathhouse in northern Kyoto reuses stone railings from the demolished Kikusui Bridge, with majolica tile walls and circular clerestory windows.

Behind Kyoto's Heian Jingu sanctuary runs the inner corridor, a 1940 vermilion cloister on a stone platform with latticed windows and round pillars.