Edo

The keep of Matsumoto Castle in Nagano, built between 1594 and 1599, rises five tiers on gently sloped walling. Five buildings of differing dates make it up.

An Edo-period thatched main house in Azumino, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Its own date over there is given only as a span of some 78 whole years even now.

The Komatsu Family Residence in Kataoka, Shiojiri, Nagano, a thatched farmhouse of the early 18th century, is counted among the oldest houses in eastern Japan.

The 1766 house of wholesalers who also kept a hatago lodging house at Mochizuki-juku on the Nakasendo in Saku, Nagano, an Important Cultural Property since 1973.

Built in the Kyoho era (1716-1735), the Shimazaki Family Residence in Shiojiri, Nagano is the oldest known fully formed honmune-zukuri farmhouse in Japan.

The kuri of Joshoji at Suhara in Kiso, a large gabled kitchen and priests' quarters of 1654, stands with the main hall and gate of the old Zen temple.

The gate of Joshoji at Suhara in Kiso, a four-legged gate of 1661 under cypress bark, leads to the early Edo main hall and kuri of the old Zen temple.

The main hall of Joshoji at Suhara on the Nakasendo, an early Edo Zen hall, belongs to the oldest of the three great temples of Kiso, closed until 2027.

Shinmei Shrine in Omi, Nagano, keeps five Edo-period buildings from 1684 to 1840, including a large shinmei-style sanctuary and an early rural kabuki stage.

The Sunohara Family Residence in Tomi, Nagano, a thatched farmhouse of around 1688 to 1704, keeps a huge earthen floor and archaic frame; it is open free.

Suwa Shrine in Okkoto, Fujimi, keeps the 1617 worship and offering halls of Suwa Taisha's Upper Shrine, moved here in 1849 and restored after a 1948 fire.

Suwa Taisha Kamisha Honmiya has no main hall: worship faces Mount Moriya. Its 16 listed buildings range from the 1608 gate to Tatekawa carvings. Hours and access.

Suwa Taisha Shimosha's Harumiya and Akimiya share one plan but rival carvers. A guide to its seven listed buildings, the 1835 kagura hall, hours and walking access.

Finished in 1759 and an Important Cultural Property since 1965, Zenkoji Kyozo centres on a six-metre revolving case holding 6,771 volumes of the Buddhist canon.

Dating from 1750 and protected as an Important Cultural Property since 1965, Zenkoji Sanmon has been climbable again since 2008. Monju waits on the upper floor.

Rebuilt in 1707 and made a National Treasure in 1953, Zenkoji Hondo runs fourteen bays deep against five wide. A pitch-dark passage circles beneath its altar.

Built around the mid-1600s in Azumino, Nagano, this farmhouse belongs to the honmune-zukuri type but opens on its eaves side, showing the style before it settled.

A boarded-roof honmune farmhouse on a terrace above the Tenryu River in Takamori, Nagano. A ridge tablet fixes its date to 1799; it was listed in 1973.

The Tezuka Family Residence at Narai in Shiojiri, Nagano, comprises a main house and reception wing of 1840 and a storehouse of 1863, designated in 2007.

Nishina Shinmei Shrine in Omachi, Nagano, has a main hall and gate, a National Treasure since 1953, in the purest shinmei style, rebuilt every 20 years.