Edo

The earthen wall and stone base on the north edge of the Higashi Betsuin in Usa. A late-Edo plaster wall on random-coursed andesite, shaping the historic streetscape.

Discover the Tada Family Residence Storehouse, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Bungo Ōno City, Oita Prefecture. This traditional earthen storehouse with namako-kabe walls reflects the prestige of Edo-period Grand Headmen in rural Japan.

Discover the Main Hall of Kiyomizu-dera in Nagasaki, an Important Cultural Property blending Japanese Shingon Buddhist tradition with Chinese Ōbaku architectural styles, built in 1668 by a Chinese merchant family.

Saiwai Bridge (also known as the Dutch Bridge) spans the Kagami River in Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture. Built in 1702 using stone arch techniques derived from the Dutch Trading Post, this Important Cultural Property stands as a testament to the East-West cultural exchange during Hirado's era as Japan's international trading port.

A gabled, tile-roofed late-Edo farmhouse in Tsutsu on southern Tsushima, designated an Important Cultural Property in 1969 for its regional plan and frame.

An Important Cultural Property of 1731 at Nagasaki's Sōfukuji, where Kannon, the deified general Guan Yu, and the guardian Idaten share one Ōbaku-style hall.

Sōfukuji's vermilion outer gate in Nagasaki, rebuilt in 1849 by Japanese carpenters. The Dragon Palace Gate is the temple's most Chinese-looking building.

Built in 1728 at Nagasaki's Sofukuji temple, this two-story tower holds both a bell and a drum. Its frame is Chinese carpentry; its roof follows Japanese design.

Built in 1666, the Maso Gate of Sōfukuji temple in Nagasaki leads to the hall of Maso, the Chinese sea goddess once enshrined there by visiting trading ships.

The Former Honda Family Residence in Nakazato-machi, Nagasaki City, is a mid-Edo period thatched farmhouse designated as a nationally Important Cultural Property — the oldest surviving residential structure in Nagasaki Prefecture. Featuring a traditional three-room floor plan, scissor-truss roof structure, and the distinctive locally-named momozuki thatching style, it offers a rare glimpse into rural Japanese life over 250 years ago. Free admission, open year-round.

Nestled in the farmland of Shiojiri City, Nagano Prefecture, the Komatsu Family Residence is one of eastern Japan's oldest surviving farmhouses, built by the early 18th century. Its earthen-floor dozā and single wooden-plank room embody the archetypal form of early modern farmhouse architecture. Designated a national Important Cultural Property in 1973, this thatched hipped-roof home offers a rare glimpse into the life of an Edo-period village headman.

The Sanayama Family Residence in Mochizuki-juku, Saku City, Nagano Prefecture, is an Edo-period inn and shipping agency rebuilt in 1766. Its main house and traditional storehouse are designated as Important Cultural Properties of Japan, preserving the elegant degeta-zukuri facade, white plaster walls, and lattice windows that evoke life along the historic Nakasendo highway.

Built in the Kyoho era (1716-1735), the Shimazaki Family Residence in Shiojiri, Nagano is the oldest known fully formed honmune-zukuri farmhouse in Japan.

The Kuri (priests' kitchen and quarters) of Joshoji Temple in Okuwa Village, deep in Nagano's Kiso Valley, is a magnificent early Edo-period building completed in 1654 and designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan. With its 21.9-meter frontage and dramatic exposed-beam interior, it stands together with the temple's main hall and gate as one of central Japan's most complete surviving 17th-century Zen temple compositions, on the historic Nakasendo highway.

Joshoji's Sanmon in Okuwa, Nagano is a 1661 cypress-bark four-legged gate and Important Cultural Property, at a Kiso temple with Japan's oldest record of cut soba.

Jōshō-ji's main hall, a Rinzai temple in Suhara on the Nakasendō, became an Important Cultural Property in 1952. A 1574 record names Japan's oldest cut soba.

Shinmeisha, commonly known as Omi Shinmeigu, is a historic Shinto shrine in Omi Village, Nagano Prefecture, founded in the late Heian period to protect the Omi Mikuriya estate of Ise Grand Shrine. Its five buildings—including the grand Shinmei-zukuri main hall built in 1684—are designated as Important Cultural Properties of Japan, representing one of the finest and oldest ensembles of Shinmei-style shrine architecture in the country.

The Sunohara Family Residence in Tōmi City, Nagano Prefecture, is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property farmhouse dating from the late 17th-century Genroku era. Featuring a magnificent thatched hip roof, expansive earthen-floor workspace, and archaic dense-pillar construction, this article explores the history, architectural significance, highlights, and nearby attractions of this exceptional example of southeastern Nagano's rural heritage.

Discover Nishina Shinmeigu in Omachi, Nagano — the only surviving medieval Shinmei-zukuri shrine in Japan. Designated a National Treasure, this sacred site preserves centuries of Shikinen Sengu tradition amid the stunning Japanese Alps.

Discover the Horiuchi Family Residence, an Important Cultural Property in Shiojiri, Nagano. This 18th-century honmune-zukuri farmhouse features striking suzume-odori ridge ornaments and showcases the finest rural architectural traditions of central Japan.