Meiji

The Sho family's material at the Naha City Museum of History, 1,292 items. Other archives burned or were destroyed; what had been kept in Tokyo survived.

Moved from Izena Island, this late-Meiji house keeps the rare separated-building (bunmunē) form, its kitchen a wing of its own. Now an indigo studio.

One of Okinawa World's largest relocated houses, this late-Meiji home survived the 1945 battle, shell scars on its pillars. Now a bingata workshop.

Built at Shuri from timber of a demolished Naha mansion, this late-Meiji house has an unusual plan with no back rooms. Now a papermaking studio.

A fūru is an old Okinawan privy-and-pigsty. Built of cut Ryukyu limestone, this rare survivor records a rural custom that local hygiene law ended around 1917.

A coral-limestone wall built in 1909 rings the Kamiyama Residence on Kuroshima, running 87.4 meters of dry-laid stone shaped with care at its gate and corners.

A dug well from 1909 at the southwest corner of the Kamiyama Residence on Kuroshima runs about 4.2 meters deep, with a curb cut from local coral limestone.

Built in 1902 and moved to a Nago high school campus in 1965, this 9.4 sq m porch with a curved karahafu gable and Ryukyuan red tiles is a rare Meiji survivor.

Discover the Tōgē Family Residence Ichitarai on Yonaguni, Japan's westernmost inhabited island. This Registered Tangible Cultural Property preserves the traditional water-management heritage of Yaeyama domestic architecture.