Edo

Seven Takashima Domain lords lie beneath 3-meter stone markers above Lake Suwa, the founder in a vermilion mausoleum nearby. National Historic Site, 2017.

Visit the Iwadare Family Residence Main Building in Shiojiri, Nagano — a registered cultural property built in 1836, with a special upper-level reception room added in 1861 for attendants of Princess Kazunomiya's historic Nakasendō procession to Edo.

The Emyoji Temple Sanmon Gate in Matsushiro, Nagano, is a wooden gateway built in 1677 by Sanada Yukimichi, the third lord of the Matsushiro domain. As the sole structure to survive a devastating fire in 1825, this Edo-period gate features distinctive architectural elements and period-appropriate ornamentation, earning its registration as a National Tangible Cultural Property.

The Emyoji Bell Tower in Matsushiro, Nagano City, is a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property rebuilt in 1833 by Sanada Yukitsura, the eighth lord of Matsushiro Domain. Standing within the precincts of an Ōbaku Zen temple founded in 1677 by the third lord Sanada Yukimichi, this Edo-period structure reflects Chinese-influenced architecture and the deep ties between the Sanada clan and Zen Buddhism. The temple is also renowned as the resting place of Toyohime, the legendary Apricot Princess.

Discover Emyoji Temple Main Hall, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Matsushiro, Nagano. Founded in 1677 by the Sanada clan, this Obaku Zen temple features a striking dragon ceiling painting, Chinese-influenced architecture, and the grave of Princess Toyo.

The oldest of the four Ozawa buildings, this late-Edo storehouse in Matsumoto's Hofukuji town turns its gable to the old road, its base clad in namako-kabe tiling.

Built around 1849 in the mountain village of Yasaka in Omachi, Nagano Prefecture, the Former Kitazawa Family Residence Main House is a grand two-story thatched folk house that once served as the home of a hereditary village headman. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2019, it stands today as the visual and historical anchor of the surrounding Northern Japan Alps mountain landscape.

Discover Gyozenji Main Hall, a nationally registered tangible cultural property in Shinano Town, Nagano Prefecture. Built in 1830 along the historic Hokkoku Kaido post road, this Jodo Shinshu Buddhist temple preserves Edo-period architecture and centuries of devotion to Shinran Shonin's teachings.

Kojindo is a historic Buddhist hall in Matsushiro, Nagano City, believed to predate the construction of Kaizu Castle during the Sengoku period. This late Edo-period structure features an irimoya-style roof, intricate carvings of lions, elephants, dragons, and chrysanthemums, and a polychrome miniature shrine in its innermost sanctuary. It was registered as a national Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2006.

Built about 1800 as a rice store for Nagano's Sakai Meijō brewery, this earthen storehouse later gave up poet Kaya Shirao's papers and now holds his memorial hall.

This late-Edo earthen storehouse at the Sakai Meijō brewery in Nagano held the malt room and steaming hearth for sake brewing. Registered in 2003, it is open to visitors.

In the old post town of Shimo-Togura, Nagano, the thatched Sakai Meijo house was rebuilt after the 1760 fire. It now holds a soba restaurant and a free sake museum.

A late-Edo document storehouse at the Sakai Meijo sake brewery near Togura, its eaves and rafters carefully plastered. The brewery is open as a museum.

The Sakai Meijo Horeki-gura in Chikuma, Nagano, is the oldest brewing storehouse of an old sake house on the Hokkoku Kaido, a late-Edo building registered in 2003.

In Kamishiojiri, once Japan's top silkworm-egg village, an Edo-period farmhouse that grew with the trade—its twin monitor roofs mark the craft within.

On a stone wall in Saku, Nagano, this late Edo storehouse gave up a ground-floor corner to a well house and carries its pantile roof clear above the earthen shell.

Discover Sango-so, a nationally registered cultural property in Karuizawa — a majestic Edo-period thatched farmhouse relocated from Yamanashi in 1935. Explore its rare architecture, imperial history, and adjacent art museum on a cool highland retreat.

Discover the Sanmon Gate of Shōrenji Temple in Matsushiro, Nagano — a Registered Tangible Cultural Property featuring castle-origin shachihoko ornaments, set within a historic temple district tied to Shinran Shōnin and the Sanada clan.

The largest building at the Takeshige brewery in Motai, a long dozo storehouse with a monitor roof and three gabled dormers, tied to the founding of the house in 1868.

The late-Edo reception room of the earlier Takeshige house in Motai, kept at the rebuilding and joined to the present Main House. Listed as a model of its form.