Meiji

A Southern Song Jian bowl at the Museum of Oriental Ceramics in Osaka, silver spots packed tightly across both surfaces. Once owned by the regent Hidetsugu.

A Southern Song tenmoku bowl at the Fujita Museum in Osaka, its black glaze scattered with haloed spots. Alone among yohen bowls, it is mottled inside and out.

Three Meiji-period townhouse buildings in Osaka Prefecture. Its own name says former while its own reading field there leaves that word out completely.

Completed in 1871 as the reception hall for the Imperial Mint Bureau, Senpukan is the oldest surviving Western-style building in Osaka Prefecture. Designed by Irish engineer Thomas J. Waters in the Veranda Colonial style, this elegant brick structure was named by Emperor Meiji himself, meaning 'Hall of Currency.' Designated as a national Important Cultural Property, it stands as a remarkable symbol of Japan's earliest steps toward modernization.

Built in 1871 as part of the Meiji government's Mint Bureau, this neoclassical stone portico features six Tuscan-order columns of Seiryūzan stone and a triangular pediment, designed by Irish-born British engineer Thomas James Waters. Designated as an Important Cultural Property alongside the adjacent Senpukan, it is one of Japan's oldest surviving Western-style buildings. Today it serves as the entrance to the Former Sakuranomiya Public Hall, a French restaurant and wedding venue in Osaka.

On Osaka's Okawa River stand the remains of Japan's first modern mint, founded in 1871. Senpukan, the old main gate, a guard house and early gas lamps survive here.

Built in 1881 in Chihayaakasaka, Osaka's only village, this farmhouse sets six slatted mushiko windows into black lime plaster. Registered 2007. Closed to visitors.

Discover the Former Main Hall of Abe Oji Shrine, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1908 along the historic Kumano Kaido in Osaka's Abeno Ward. Learn about its distinctive nagare-zukuri architecture and the shrine's deep ties to the Kumano pilgrimage and Abe no Seimei.

Built in 1882 as a passage-through worship hall and moved aside around 1940, this small building at Ono Shrine in Sennan now serves as its office. Listed in 2017.

This 18-metre timber fence at Ono Shrine in Sennan divides sanctuary from worship hall. Dating from about 1882, it was listed in 2017 for its role in the precinct.

The kyakuma at Gantokuji in Kadoma, Osaka, is a Meiji-era reserve guest room. Though a secondary space, it was finished with choice timber and registered in 2006.

The taikoro at Gantokuji in Kadoma, Osaka, is a Meiji-era drum tower. A long range on a cut-stone plinth faces the street, and its tower carries cusped katomado windows.

A 1912 brick building of just 56 square metres on Osaka's Tosabori-dori, registered in 1997. Granite-framed openings, a low arch, and the tea salon that saved it.

Built in 1911 for a Tanimachi clothing merchant and moved to its present Osaka site in 1957, this three-story earthen storehouse was registered in December 2024.

Completed in 1903 behind a medicine merchant's house on Osaka's Doshomachi, this earthen storehouse stayed registered when its neighbours were designated in 2001.

Jigan-ji's bell tower in Yao, Osaka, built in 1900, is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property. This open frame on a cut-stone base hangs its bronze bell from the gable.

Jigan-ji's side gate and earthen wall in Yao, Osaka, date to early Meiji. A one-bay gate and a 12-metre tiled wall run north to the main gate, edging a temple town.

Built in 1907 as a court branch office, this earthen-walled storehouse on the old Koya pilgrimage road keeps its register shelving and iron windows. Free entry.

Built in 1938 at a Shingon temple in Kawachinagano, Osaka, Jizoji Kuri is a six-room priests' residence with a lesser cuckoo carved above its formal entrance.

Jizoji Sanmon, a single-bay yakuimon gate of 1902 in Kawachinagano, Osaka, is 2.2 metres wide, stands atop a stone stairway, and is usually found closed to visitors.