Shōwa

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.

The Tea House of the Nakano Family Residence in Nagaokakyo, Kyoto, built in 1951, is a four-and-a-half-mat room named Koan with a lit four-panel woven ceiling.

The early Showa gate of a Yawata villa is just 2.1 metres wide, yet packs a bowed roof, adze-finished posts and a slatted transom into it. Registered in 2012.

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.

The great torii of Kyoto's Heian Jingu, raised in 1928 in reinforced concrete, stands about 24 meters tall. Once Japan's largest, it anchors the Okazaki district.

On the west of Heian Jingu's south court stands the 1940 Gakuden, a rest-and-assembly hall modeled on an ancient palace hall, with board doors and lattice shutters.

On the east of Heian Jingu's south court, the 1940 Kaguraden sits on a stone platform, open on three sides, hosting sacred dance and Shinto weddings.

Outside Heian Jingu's east corridor, the 1940 Saikan is a refined modern Japanese hall with a karahafu gabled entrance and finely coffered ceilings.

Extending east and west from Heian Jingu's main gate, the 1940 Shinmon Yokuro adds tatami rooms and vermilion woodwork under tiled roofs, shaping the shrine's front.

Behind Heian Jingu's sanctuary, a see-through fence and small rear gate close off the rear precinct. Built in 1940 by Sunami Takashi and Tani Shigeo, it runs 90 meters.

Beside its eastern twin, Heian Jingu's West Saikiko is a 1940 two-story plaster storehouse for ritual vessels, with namako-style joints at its base and plastered eaves.

Behind Heian Jingu's sanctuary, the 1940 West Shinko is a small log-built sacred storehouse, strictly symmetrical with its eastern twin. A fine miniature azekura hut.

On the west of Heian Jingu's south court, the West Gate, or Shozenmon, and its L-shaped corridor enclose the court. Built in 1940, it mirrors the east side.

Behind Heian Jingu's sanctuary, the 1940 East Shinko is a small log storehouse about 3.6 meters square, its bare white wood standing out amid the vermilion precinct.