Shōwa

The Catholic Toyonaka Church Rectory in Toyonaka City, Osaka, is a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property designed in 1939 by Czech architect Jan Josef Švagr. This two-story wooden building masterfully blends Japanese traditional design with Western ecclesiastical function, featuring exposed log rafter eaves and a gabled tile roof that exemplify the unique Japanese-Western fusion style of prewar church architecture.

Discover Catholic Toyonaka Church in Osaka, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property designed by Czech architect Jan Josef Švagr in 1939. This remarkable wooden church blends Western Catholic architecture with traditional Japanese design elements.

The Worship Hall (Haiden) of Karasunomiya Shrine in Dempo, Konohana Ward, Osaka, is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1931. It features stunning cloud-and-dragon carvings in its triple rainbow beam gable, ornate bracket complexes, and a deliberate aesthetic contrast with the austere Shinmei-style Main Hall. The shrine traces its history over 800 years and was named by Toyotomi Hideyoshi after a legendary three-legged crow appeared as a divine omen.

Discover the Former Korede Chikari Residence, a unique Western-style castle designed by a physician in 1931. This Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Sakai features Corinthian columns, a central tower, and a remarkable story near the Mozu Kofun UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Discover the Kobayashi Newspaper Shop and Residence, a 1929 reinforced-concrete and wooden building registered as a national tangible cultural property. Located in Osaka's historic Hirano district, it also houses the Newspaper Museum.

A 1935 wooden hall in Osaka's Edobori, pairing temple carpentry with the Konkokyo faith—a Sect Shinto founded 1859. Designed by Ikedaya Hisakichi; spared from wartime fires.

Completed in 1927, the Shibakawa Building is a striking Art Deco structure in Osaka adorned with decorative motifs inspired by ancient Maya and Inca civilizations. Registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan, this architectural gem in Fushimimachi served as a finishing school and played a key role in the founding of Nikka Whisky.

The main hall of Shinko-ji Temple in Osaka Tennoji Ward is an extraordinary Indian-inspired reinforced concrete temple, designed by its own abbot after a devastating 1923 fire, drawing inspiration from the Taj Mahal. Completed in 1929 and registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property, the hall features a distinctive dome roof, multi-lobed arches, and ornamental details that create a uniquely exotic presence in one of Japan most remarkable temple districts.

Discover the Tower of the Sun, a 70-meter monument designed by avant-garde artist Taro Okamoto for the 1970 World Exposition in Osaka. Now designated as an Important Cultural Property, explore its three iconic faces, the Tree of Life interior exhibit, and visitor information.

Tanioka Memorial Hall, on the campus of Osaka University of Commerce in Higashi-Osaka, is a four-story reinforced concrete school building completed in 1935 as part of disaster reconstruction following the devastating Muroto Typhoon of 1934. With its symmetrical clock-tower façade, smooth modernist walls accented by arched and round porthole windows, and a soaring third- and fourth-floor atrium auditorium inside, it is one of the finest surviving early Shōwa school buildings in the Kansai region. In 2000 it became the first Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Higashi-Osaka City, and today it houses the Museum of Commercial History, dedicated to early modern Osaka's mercantile heritage.

Discover Tamade Bridge (Tamatebashi), a 1928 five-span suspension bridge over the Ishikawa River in Kashiwara, Osaka. This Registered Tangible Cultural Property features medieval European-style towers and is Japan's only five-span pedestrian suspension bridge.

At 127 square metres, this 1932 building is the largest registered structure at Chihaya Shrine, Osaka. Three gabled blocks push forward toward the approach.

This 1.6 square metre pavilion of 1928 shelters a natural stone basin at Chihaya Shrine, Osaka. Posts run to the ridge; two tiers of brackets carry the eaves.

Chihaya Shrine's 1928 worship hall, by Oe Shintaro, is open on all sides but for one set of rear doors, so the eye passes straight through to the forest.

Oe Shintaro designed this 1928 hall on the Chihaya Castle site in Osaka. Slender timbers and finely worked door fittings distinguish it. Registered in 2024.

Just 2.5 square metres, this 1932 subsidiary shrine at Chihaya Shrine in Osaka repeats the Main Hall's round columns, tie-rails and tall gable pendant.

The Tokajuku Classroom Building in Tondabayashi City, Osaka Prefecture, is a single-story wooden structure built in 1933 and registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property. Part of Tokajuku, one of Japan's pioneering private institutions for people with intellectual disabilities founded in 1916, the building is valued as a representative example of early Showa-period wooden educational architecture. Its simple yet warm design embodies the founding philosophy of Reverence for Life.

Discover Touka-juku Main Building, a 1933 wooden welfare facility in Tondabayashi, Osaka, registered as a national tangible cultural property. Learn about its pioneering history in disability welfare and its elegant early Showa architecture.

In Fukae, Osaka, the former Koda residence's inui storehouse is an earthen dan-gura raised against floods, its west wall set with twin round windows above a tiled fence.

In Fukae, Osaka, the former Koda residence's front gate stands between two storehouses, its deep eaves, thick doors and stone steps marking a former headman's standing.