Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Okayama

The early Showa storehouse behind the Kajimura estate in Tsuyama, Okayama: 25 square meters, ridge and eaves set level with the older storehouse beside it.

The Taisho storehouse at the rear of the Kajimura estate in Tsuyama, Okayama: 33 square meters, namako tiling over lime plaster, eaves carried on a layered cornice.

The early Meiji service wing of the Kajimura estate in Tsuyama, Okayama: 25 square meters of privies and utility space, registered as a building hard to reproduce.

A Taisho building at the Kajimura estate in Tsuyama, Okayama: a Western room with a thrown-mortar German wall joined to a tatami wing, 85 square meters in all.

Built in 1919 within the grounds of Kiyama Shrine in Maniwa City, Okayama, the Zenkaku Inari Shrine Worship Hall is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property designed by architect Egawa Saburohachi. This compact yet distinctive building blends traditional Japanese shrine carpentry with Western truss engineering, featuring clustered rafters, a coffered ceiling, and Western-style foundation stones.

Originally built in 1910 as the Soja Police Station, this is the only surviving example of Meiji-era Western-style architecture in Soja City, Okayama. Notable for its octagonal tower entrance and clapboard exterior, it was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2006. Today the building serves as a local museum showcasing roughly 1,600 items related to traditional Bicchu industries such as patent medicines, Aso cast metalwork, and rush-grass tatami products.

The Tsuyama Christian Library (now Keizo Morimoto Memorial Hall), standing before the Tsuyama Castle ruins in Okayama Prefecture, is Japan's only Christian public library. Founded in 1926 by Morimoto Keizo, a disciple of the renowned Christian thinker Uchimura Kanzō, this three-story wooden Western-style building designed by Sakuraba Komagorō features Ionic pilasters, a clock tower, and elaborate relief carvings. It was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in 1998.

The Main Hall of Tenchūin in Sōja City, Okayama Prefecture, is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan built in 1828. Belonging to the Tōfukuji branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism, this south-facing hall features a traditional hipped-and-gabled tile roof and a classic six-room hōjō floor plan. It is recognized as an outstanding example of late Edo-period provincial Zen architecture, with historical ties to the renowned Iyama Hōfukuji temple where the legendary painter Sesshū trained.

Tenrai-an in Kibichuo, Okayama is the first tea house designed by Mirei Shigemori, one of Japan's most celebrated landscape architects, when he was just 18 years old. Featuring a rare three-alcove arrangement and a striking concrete tea garden depicting ocean waves in colored cement, this Registered Tangible Cultural Property offers a unique glimpse into the origins of a modern master.

The Shoin Gessenin at Tōshōji Temple in Yakage Town, Okayama Prefecture, is a Meiji-period building that served as the head priest's residence at this historic Sōtō Zen temple. Featuring an elegant irimoya-zukuri roof with traditional tile roofing and fine interior craftsmanship, it was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2011. The structure preserves the refined living quarters of a Zen priest, complete with guest room, Buddhist altar room, and tea room.

The bell tower of Tōshōji Temple in Yakage Town, Okayama Prefecture, is a two-story wooden Edo-period structure registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property. Notable for its ornate design featuring cusped windows, diamond-lattice gable panels, and spiral carvings, it connects the main hall and meditation hall of one of the most historically significant Sōtō Zen monasteries in the Bitchū region.

A tile inscribed 1786 dates this headman's house in Niimi, Okayama, raised on a long stone wall below a mountain fortress. Still a private home, not open.

This 1916 Western-style house in Wake was built as a dental clinic with living quarters. Its corner tower and German siding made it a landmark of eastern Okayama.

Ten years in the building, this Taisho landowner's house anchors the medieval street grid of Bizen Fukuoka. It opens on scheduled days, with tea included.

A 29-square-metre late-Edo storehouse south of the Nagashiki main house on Konoshima. Namako-kabe at the corners, a granary on the earthen floor. Registered 2024.

A Taisho yakuimon gate in the Nagashiki garden on Konoshima, 1.3 metres wide, carrying a bracket block, a winged strut and close-set rafters. Registered 2024.

A late-Edo farmhouse on Konoshima that grew a Taisho guest parlour under temple-derived roofs. Doubled eaves, a tokonoma, a reclaimed sea below. Registered 2024.

The 1930 director's residence at Nagashima Aiseien, Japan's first national Hansen's disease sanatorium, pairs a Western wing with Japanese rooms. Registered 2019.

At the heart of Nagashima Aiseien stands its 1930 administration building, with Expressionist touches. Since 2003 it has held the History Museum. Registered 2019.

On Nagashima's north shore, the 1930 reception building was where new arrivals first entered, examined and disinfected, before a week's confinement. Registered 2019.