Taishō

This late-Edo earthen wall flanks Kōshō-ji's Amida Hall gate on Horikawa-dōri. About 24m long, its plaster carries five rank stripes. Registered in 2025.

Discover the Saito Family Residence, a nationally registered tangible cultural property nestled on the slopes of Yoshida Mountain in Kyoto. Built in the 1920s as part of the Tanikawa Housing Group for Kyoto University professors, this elegant wooden home with copper roofing offers a rare glimpse into Japan's early modern residential architecture.

Discover the Sailer Family Residence Main House, a 1916 thatched-roof farmhouse registered as a national tangible cultural property in Nantan City, Kyoto. Home to the renowned Sailer Piano Duo, this traditional irimoya-style building hosts the celebrated Kayabuki Concerts amid idyllic Japanese countryside scenery.

Built in 1918 and registered in 2017, the Kannondō at Jōzenji in northern Kyoto housed the Kuramaguchi Jizō, a station on Kyoto's storied Six Jizō pilgrimage.

Standing on the summit of Higashiyama in Kyoto, Shoren-in Seiryuden was originally built in 1913 in front of Kitano Tenmangu Shrine to commemorate the enthronement of Emperor Taisho, then dismantled and reconstructed at its current site in 2014. A masterpiece of modern Japanese-style architecture combining traditional design with Western structural techniques, it was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in 2022. The hall enshrines the National Treasure Blue Acala painting, and its great wooden stage — about 4.6 times the size of Kiyomizu-dera's — offers sweeping views over the entire city of Kyoto.

Tucked behind the main hall of Jinkoin in northern Kyoto, the 1917 Chukodo blends pyramidal, hip-and-gable, and cusped-gable roofs with rare round-section rafters—a creative modern temple architecture recognized as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property.

The Chokufū Shingyō-den at Daikaku-ji Temple in Kyoto's Sagano district is an octagonal hall enshrining Heart Sutras hand-copied by six emperors, beginning with Emperor Saga. Designed in 1925 by architect Fujii Kōji in the style of Hōryū-ji's Hall of Dreams using reinforced concrete, this Registered Tangible Cultural Property guards imperially sealed sutras that are opened only once every sixty years.

Discover the Genkan (Entrance Hall) of Daishoji Temple in Kyoto, a nationally registered tangible cultural property rebuilt in 1923. This elegant structure with its copper-plated karahafu roof embodies the architectural grandeur of Japan's highest-ranking imperial convent.

Discover the Daishōji Tōmen Tsuiji, a nationally registered tangible cultural property in Kyoto. This traditional rammed-earth wall guards an imperial convent with over 600 years of history near the Kyoto Imperial Palace.

Discover Doshisha Women's College James Hall, a 1914 brick building by architect Takeda Goichi standing across from Kyoto Imperial Palace—where California-inspired walls meet a Japanese tile roof in a refined wakon-yōsai masterpiece.

A 1917 machiya-style sentō in Maizuru's Yoshiwara fishing town. Registered cultural property (2021) with original pine beams beside the 'Oriental Venice' canal.

Built around 1925 as the headquarters of Nikkosha, one of Kyoto's earliest automobile distributors, the Fuji Rabbit Building blends classical columns, tire-motif stained glass, and a sun-shaped roof tower a short walk from Kyoto Station.

On the same plot as Kyoto's famous Funaoka Onsen public bath stands the wooden two-story inn building that started it all. Built c. 1923 with a 1930 renovation, the Former Funaokarō preserves the small banquet rooms and second-floor hall of a Taishō-era ryokan, registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in July 2003.

A 29-square-meter wooden storefront tucked beside Funaoka Onsen in northern Kyoto, the former barbershop is an early example of kanban-kenchiku (signboard architecture) built around 1923. It was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in 2003 alongside three other buildings of the same bathhouse complex.

Standing at the eastern foot of Shijo-ohashi Bridge, directly across from the historic Minamiza kabuki theater, Restaurant Kikusui has been a pioneer of Western cuisine in Kyoto since 1916. Its striking 1926 reinforced-concrete building, designed in an Expressionist style with Art Deco and Spanish accents and crowned by an iconic parabolic elevator tower, was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 1997 and remains a beloved Taisho-era landmark of Gion.

Waka-no-yu, founded in 1903 and rebuilt in 1923 in West Maizuru's Hiranoya arcade, is a Western-style public bathhouse registered in 2018 as a national Tangible Cultural Property. Soak in soft water drawn from the same source as Manai-no-shimizu (one of Japan's Heisei 100 Famous Waters), heated by firewood, while admiring hand-painted Mount Fuji murals by one of the country's last sento muralists.