Edo

Set on the wooded slopes of Mount Sengyo in Toyohashi, the Main Hall of Fumon-ji Temple is a single-story wooden hall with a copper-sheet roof, built in 1693 and recommended for registration as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2025. Its outer-sanctuary beams curve gracefully upward in a regional architectural style unique to eastern Mikawa, and it enshrines a Heian-period statue of Sho-Kannon Bosatsu designated as a national Important Cultural Property. The temple is also celebrated as Toyohashi's finest spot for autumn maple foliage.

Hōkōji Temple Main Hall in Kōnan City, Aichi Prefecture, is a grand Jōdo Shinshū sanctuary built in 1855 and registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2011. With a 22-by-26-meter footprint covered by a sweeping hip-and-gable tile roof, all-round pillars, and triple-bracket eaves, it stands as a textbook example of authentic late-Edo period Shin Buddhist architecture. The temple traces its origins to a teaching visit by Shinran Shōnin in the early Kamakura period; today, its monumental two-story gate—itself a city-designated cultural property—and spacious precincts welcome travelers seeking living heritage just 25 minutes from Nagoya.

Built in 1675, the main hall of Hōshuin in Kira, Nishio is a mid-Edo Pure Land hall whose plain outer frame gives way to an ornate inner sanctuary, registered in 2017.

Discover the Sanmon gate of Honko-ji Temple in Okazaki, Aichi — a two-story rōmon gate rebuilt in 1827, registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property. Explore its Edo-period craftsmanship and over 1,000 years of temple history.

Discover Bon'onji Main Hall, a Nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1798 within Renkyoji Temple in Nagoya. Admire exquisite dragon carvings and Edo-period architecture in this serene sub-temple.

Discover Matabei, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property at Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya. This early Edo-period gassho-zukuri farmhouse from the Hida highlands is among the oldest surviving examples of the iconic steep-roofed architectural style, now serving as a traditional teahouse.

Explore the Sanmon gate of Manpuku-ji Temple in Chiryu, Aichi — a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1844, featuring exquisite Edo-period bracket work within a 1,200-year-old temple complex.

Discover the bell tower (shōrō) of Manpuku-ji Temple in Chiryu, Aichi Prefecture—a Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1862. Featuring dense Zen-style ornamentation and fan-shaped rafters, this elegant structure stands within a temple founded in 815 by the great monk Saichō.

The lower storey of a tahōtō pagoda at Myōgen-in near Nagoya, whose upper level was lost to the 1891 Nōbi earthquake. It now serves as a hall for Dainichi Nyorai.

Built in 1763 beside the main hall of Renkyo-ji in Nagoya, this priests' quarters keeps the plain look of a working Edo-period temple. Registered in 2017.

This 1812 four-legged gate before the main hall of Renkyo-ji in Nagoya is worked with carving, and a 23-metre plastered wall lines the approach. Registered in 2017.

Linked to Renkyo-ji's main hall in Nagoya, this 1812 shoin holds a raised guest room with a built-in desk and coffered ceiling. Registered in 2017 as a model of its type.

Renkyō-ji Main Hall, set on a quiet wooded hill in eastern Nagoya's Meitō Ward, is the principal worship hall of a Shinshū Takada-ha temple founded by tradition over a thousand years ago. Built in 1758 with a hipped tile roof and a generous 5-by-5-bay plan, it features a distinctive drum-towered entrance and a textbook Pure Land Buddhist interior of outer sanctuary, inner sanctuary, side rooms, and rear hall. Registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2017 along with five other temple buildings, it preserves an unusually complete Edo-period Shin Buddhist precinct within modern Nagoya.

Renkei-ji Hondo, located in Aguicho on Aichi Prefecture's Chita Peninsula, is a remarkably large Jodo Shinshu main hall completed in 1811 by the renowned Yokomatsu carpenters of Edo-period Aichi. Designated a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2013, the hall preserves rare architectural features including a four-pillar three-bay front porch, round outer-sanctuary pillars, and a stunning double-folded coffered ceiling above its inner sanctuary — a hidden treasure of regional Japanese craftsmanship.

Held in the Hosa Library in Nagoya, the Song Edition of the Taiping Shenghui Fang (Kanazawa Bunko Version) is a Southern Song printed copy of the imperial medical encyclopedia originally compiled in 100 volumes by Wang Huaiyin under the command of Emperor Taizong. Designated an Important Cultural Property, it traveled from Hōjō Sanetoki's Kanazawa Bunko through Toyotomi Hidetsugu and Tokugawa Ieyasu to the first Owari lord Tokugawa Yoshinao. The 24 surviving printed booklets, supplemented by 27 Keichō-era manuscript volumes, bear the distinctive 'Kanazawa Bunko' and 'Gohon' seals on every volume, making it a primary witness to East Asian medical history.

The Sannomaru South Corner Turret of Ozu Castle in Ozu City, Ehime Prefecture, is the oldest surviving structure in the castle complex, rebuilt in 1766. Designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan, it preserves ingenious defensive features including hidden loopholes and bullet-resistant drum walls, offering an authentic glimpse into Edo-period military architecture.

Standing on the wooded slopes of Mount Tomisu in Ozu City, Ehime, the Buddha Hall of Nyohoji Temple was completed in 1670 when the second lord of Ozu Domain, Kato Yasuoki, invited the renowned Zen master Bankei Yotaku to refound the temple. Uniquely combining the functions of a Buddha hall and a Zen meditation hall within a single structure, it preserves its original form almost unchanged and was designated a National Important Cultural Property in 1992 as a defining example of early modern Zen Buddha hall architecture.

Matsuyama Castle, perched atop 132-meter Mount Katsuyama in the heart of Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture, is one of only twelve castles in Japan retaining original tower keeps from the Edo period or earlier. Founded by the warrior Katō Yoshiaki in 1602, its current tower keep was rebuilt in 1854 as the last fully realized castle architecture of the Edo era. With 21 structures designated as Important Cultural Properties, including Japan's only surviving watchtower-style two-story turret and the nation's largest climbing stone walls, Matsuyama Castle offers an unparalleled experience of Japanese feudal fortress architecture.

Discover the Manabe Family Residence, a National Important Cultural Property in Shikokuchuo City, Ehime. This 17th-century thatched farmhouse is the oldest surviving dwelling in the prefecture, nestled in Kiriyama—a mountain village steeped in Heike clan legends.

Discover Hoshigamori, the sacred worship point for Mt. Ishizuchi at Yokomineji Temple in Saijo, Ehime. This National Scenic Beauty features an Edo-era iron torii and panoramic views of Shikoku's highest peak.