Taishō

Completed in 1921 and designed by Ministry of Communications architect Iwamoto Roku, this former telephone exchange in Kyoto's Nishijin district features a strikingly original façade akin to German Expressionism. Designated an Important Cultural Property as the sole surviving work of the brilliantly gifted architect who died at 29, the building now serves as a coworking and innovation space.

Discover Seifuso Villa in Kyoto, an Important Cultural Property and former private residence of Prime Minister Saionji Kinmochi. Explore the exquisite sukiya-zukuri architecture by master carpenter Yagi Jinbee II and the celebrated garden by Ogawa Jihei VII.

An English Tudor villa the financier Kaga Shotaro designed himself, its half-timbered shell and Jacobean rooms now a museum showing Monet and Mingei crafts.

The largest of Amino Shrine's eight registered buildings, this worship hall was rebuilt in 1929 after the 1927 earthquake, with layered chidori and kara gables.

At the center of Amino Shrine on the Sea of Japan coast stands its 1922 main hall, a compact nagare-zukuri building finely carved by its designer Kishi Kumakichi.

The Arai Family Residence Main Building in Yodo, Fushimi, Kyoto, is a registered tangible cultural property completed in 1926. This wooden two-story home elegantly fuses a Spanish-tiled Western wing with a sukiya-style Japanese parlor, embodying the refined taste of pre-war suburban living.

The two-story Romon on the south front of Imamiya Shrine was built in 1926, its three-stepped brackets a fine example of modern shrine-temple carpentry.

West of Imamiya Shrine's Romon, this 1926 corridor is a gabled, tile-roofed hall that borrows pre-medieval detail, with extended pillars and curving eaves.

East of Imamiya Shrine's Romon, this 1926 corridor is a gabled, tile-roofed hall whose carved gable, framed with a strut and projecting brackets, borrows old detail.

Standing on Shijo-dori in Kyoto's celebrated Gion district, Enma (Former Murai Bank Gion Branch) is a 1924 reinforced-concrete bank building designed by Yoshitake Choichi, the in-house architect of tobacco magnate Murai Kichibei. A Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan, it preserves the American-trained classical-revival aesthetics of the Taisho era, including a finely detailed parapet balustrade, and is easily seen on any walk between Yasaka Shrine and Hanamikoji.

Discover the Kawabata Yanosuke Family Residence in Kyoto's historic Shogoin district—a 1925 wooden house and atelier built for a Western-style painter who studied in Paris. Featuring a dramatic double-height studio with north-facing windows and distinctive red Western tiles, this Registered Tangible Cultural Property offers a rare glimpse into the creative life of a Taishō-era artist.

Built in 1915, this wall lines the old highway before the Kataoka Residence in Fukuchiyama. A Jizo hall set into its north end makes it a rare, designed streetscape wall.

Built in 1915 by the Kataoka merchant family, this formal shoin parlor once received Fukuchiyama's elite. It now houses a duck-hotpot restaurant open to diners.

A rare three-story earthen storehouse of 1915, raised on built-up ground to guard the Kataoka family's goods from the flood-prone Yura River, now part of a restaurant.

This 1915 storehouse, moved here in 1934, turns a decorated east face to the old highway to unify the Kataoka streetscape, now home to a duck-hotpot restaurant.

Built in 1925 to mark Kyoto University's 25th anniversary, the Rakuyu Kaikan is a Spanish Mission–style hall designed by Morita Keiichi, a founding member of Japan's first modern architectural movement. Registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property, the building features distinctive Y-shaped porch columns and exquisite Taisho-era interior decoration by Moriya Nobuo.

Built around 1924 in Kyoto's textile district, this wooden townhouse sits behind a high front wall and pairs refined Japanese rooms with Western-style parlors.

The Founder's Hall of Kōshō-ji, a Shin Buddhist head temple in Kyoto. Rebuilt in 1911 after the 1902 fire, this large gilded hall became a Cultural Property in 2025.

Kōshō-ji's bell tower of 1774, said to be an imperial gift, is the precinct's oldest building and the sole survivor of the 1902 fire, registered in 2025.

North-east of Kōshō-ji's Founder's Hall stands this small Taishō-era water pavilion, finely built with a dragon-carved strut and coffered ceiling. Registered in 2025.