Edo
江戸Browse Japan’s cultural heritage from the Edo period (1603 – 1868). Filter by prefecture, type, and keyword, with concise stories, maps, and travel tips.
A 31-cm Nabeshima porcelain dish at Kyushu National Museum. Red and white peonies rise from a Taihu rock in a ribbed bowl, made at Saga's secret kiln c. 1680-1700.
Held at the Kyushu National Museum, this Important Cultural Property is a Yuan-dynasty Chinese tea bowl from the 13th–14th century. A rare kiln effect at the boundary of its black and brown glazes produces a silvery 'rainbow' band that gave the bowl its name. Its provenance traces back to the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa.
Late Edo thatched farmhouse in Taragi, Kumamoto, with a roof that bends twice, a well-developed example of its type and part of the Hitoyoshi-Kuma Japan Heritage.
An 1832 stone girder bridge in Amakusa, Kumamoto, carried on forty-five pillars over a tidal river. A rare form in arch-building Kyushu, on a 1637 battlefield.
The Shozenin Kannon Hall of 1625 in Mizukami, Kumamoto, built by the Sagara lords, is a thatched hall lacquered inside and out with painted and gilded carvings.
Japan's only surviving cabin from a daimyo's seagoing ceremonial barge, once used by the lords of Kumamoto, with lacquered ceilings of 171 painted panels.
Rebuilt in 1815 after a fire, the main house of the Ueda Family Residence in Amakusa is the commanding home of the Takahama headmen who founded the local porcelain kiln.
Late Edo farmhouse of a rural samurai family at Onoue in Ozu, Kumamoto, with two wings joined by a linking room; not the Eto residence designated at Jinnai.
Built about 1840 at Mori in Ozu, Kumamoto, this 34-square-metre timber stable turns its boarded flank to the south lane, part of a street wall registered in 1999.
The Okamoto Family Residence Rear Gate in Ozu, Kumamoto, is a small late Edo yakuimon whose fence matches the boarding of the storehouse and stable beside it.
The Okamoto Family Residence Front Gate in Ozu, Kumamoto, is a late Edo yakuimon with roofed wing walls, set back from the road to give it a samurai bearing.
The Okamoto Family Residence Main House in Ozu, Kumamoto, dated to 1840 by its ridge tag, is a country samurai home with a double roof, namako-kabe and a U-plan.
The Okamoto Family Residence Fence in Ozu, Kumamoto, is a late Edo roofed plank fence on a rounded-stone footing, braced inside by stone buttress posts.
Built in the late Edo period at Ozu Town, Kumamoto, this rural samurai family's farmhouse sets a papered reception room beside a wide earth-floored work space.
This modest 2.6-metre yakuimon gate in Ozu Town, Kumamoto, fronted a rural samurai household and keeps two rare touches: a boarded front ceiling and a sliding leaf.
The Bishamondo of Takaderain in Yamae, Kumamoto, a hilltop hall of 1655 with thick upswept rafters, is a dated benchmark among the old temples of the Kuma region.
The stone torii of Bairin Tenmangu in Tamana, Kumamoto, dated 1659, has stout pillars about 73 centimetres thick and regional proportions, and anchors the scene.
The worship hall of Bairin Tenmangu in Tamana, Kumamoto, is a late Edo hall with a cusped porch, a strut carved with the plum crest and a railed veranda.
The main hall of Bairin Tenmangu in Tamana, Kumamoto, is a late Edo hip-and-gable hall with a three-bay porch and carving gathered high in its eaves and brackets.
The two-storey gate of Bairin Tenmangu in Tamana, Kumamoto, built in the late Edo period, stands on a high base, its lower ridge held up by carved strongmen.