Edo

The main hall of Renchoji, a Nichiren Buddhist temple in Nara's Aburasaka-cho, is an Important Cultural Property of Japan believed to have been originally built by Toyotomi Hidenaga and relocated here in 1653. Its open-front corridor features magnificent polychrome ceiling paintings of celestial maidens, dragons, phoenixes, and kalavinka. Just a 4-minute walk from Kintetsu Nara Station, this hidden gem offers free admission in a tranquil setting.

Kōriyama Castle in Nara, a National Historic Site, preserves walls built partly from reused Buddhist statues and an inverted Jizō, remains of a Toyotomi power base.

A small late-Edo storehouse in the Ota brewery courtyard in Tatsuta, Ikaruga. Its sea-cucumber plaster and framed doorway show a care that earned its listing.

A long late-Edo shed at the Ota brewery in Tatsuta, Ikaruga, linking the old kitchen to the inner storehouse. One side is open, the other a boundary wall.

The main house of the Ota sake brewery in Tatsuta, Ikaruga. A roof-tile inscription dates it to 1829, a rare benchmark for dating the region's town houses.

A late-Edo tea room at the Ota brewery in Tatsuta, Ikaruga, behind the main house across a courtyard. Its three-mat plan and crawl-in door reveal the family's wealth.

Discover the Sanmon Gate of Jōkyō-ji Temple in Nara, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property from the late Edo period. This elegant yakuimon gate features exquisite carvings and stands on the historic Sanjō-dōri, where Ernest Fenollosa delivered his landmark lecture on preserving Japan's cultural heritage.

Tamaya Hanare Zashiki is a detached guest room of a former Edo-period inn standing before Taima-dera in Katsuragi, Nara. Designated a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, it offers visitors a chance to dine in a quiet, 170-year-old pilgrim's retreat surrounded by a courtyard garden.

A National Treasure: a Southern Song edition of Ouyang Xiu's works, edited by Zhou Bida, once in the medieval Kanazawa Bunko library and nearly complete at Tenri.

Discover the Song Edition of Liu Mengde's Collected Works, a National Treasure held at Tenri University Library in Nara. Printed in 12th-century China, brought to Japan by Zen master Eisai, and once admired by shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, this rare printed book offers a remarkable glimpse into the literary exchange between Tang China and medieval Japan.