Meiji
明治Browse Japan’s cultural heritage from the Meiji period (1868 – 1912). Filter by prefecture, type, and keyword, with concise stories, maps, and travel tips.
Discover Baiso Bekkan, a nationally registered tangible cultural property in Kurashiki, Okayama. Built in 1907 by the grandson of Japan's legendary Salt Field King, this exquisite villa showcases Kyoto-crafted sukiya architecture, sencha tea culture, and Seto Inland Sea views.
Baiso Honkan is a Nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Kojima, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture. Built in 1907 as a seaside villa by the grandson of legendary salt baron Nozaki Buzaemon, it features exquisite sukiya-style architecture with a sencha tea room and thatched roof. Now operating as a popular udon restaurant, visitors can dine amid Meiji-era elegance while enjoying views of the Seto Inland Sea.
Completed in 1905, the Handayama Distribution Reservoir No. 1 in Okayama City is one of Japan's rare circular distribution reservoirs and a nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property. Discover this beautiful Meiji-era industrial heritage of red brick and granite, nestled within the seasonal splendor of Handayama Botanical Garden.
Discover the Former Office of Handayama Water Distribution Site, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property from 1905 nestled within Okayama's Handayama Botanical Garden. Part of Japan's 8th modern waterworks system.
Discover the Handayama Original Metering Room, an elegant hexagonal brick structure built in 1905 as part of Japan's 8th modern waterworks system. This Registered Tangible Cultural Property features classical Western-inspired design with granite-framed round windows, set within Okayama's beautiful Handayama Botanical Garden.
Discover Handayama No. 2 Reservoir, a rare circular brick-and-concrete waterworks facility built in 1905 in Okayama. Registered as a Tangible Cultural Property, this Meiji-era engineering gem still operates today within the beautiful Handayama Botanical Garden.
Discover Hofukuji Shoin in Soja, Okayama — a registered cultural property at the famous Zen temple where the legendary painter Sesshu trained as a boy. Explore its serene shoin-style architecture amid the wooded grounds.
The smallest of six buildings at Yamanari Sake Brewery in Ibara, Okayama, this household store links to the parlor and is floored in tatami above. Registered 2024.
An early-Meiji dozo at Yamanari Sake Brewery in Ibara, Okayama, plastered to the eaves and pairing an open rice store with a household strongroom. Registered 2024.
On the Oda River's west bank in Ibara, Okayama, the 1882 shop and main house of Yamanari Sake Brewery shows a long plastered Meiji frontage. Registered in 2024.
The largest of six listed buildings at Yamanari Sake Brewery in Ibara, Okayama, this brewing hall is built around a sealed malt room. Registered in 2024.
The larger of two brewing halls at Yamanari Sake Brewery in Ibara, Okayama, this early-Meiji storehouse still fills its tanks each winter. Registered in 2024.
The stone steps and walls of Ryūjōin Temple in Tamano City, Okayama Prefecture, date to the late Edo period. Eight broad stone steps spanning 9 meters wide and a 37-meter stone wall create the distinctive elevated landscape of this hilltop temple, registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property. The walls reveal four distinct phases of masonry construction.
Moved from Izena Island, this late-Meiji house keeps the rare separated-building (bunmunē) form, its kitchen a wing of its own. Now an indigo studio.
One of Okinawa World's largest relocated houses, this late-Meiji home survived the 1945 battle, shell scars on its pillars. Now a bingata workshop.
Built at Shuri from timber of a demolished Naha mansion, this late-Meiji house has an unusual plan with no back rooms. Now a papermaking studio.
A fūru is an old Okinawan privy-and-pigsty. Built of cut Ryukyu limestone, this rare survivor records a rural custom that local hygiene law ended around 1917.
A coral-limestone wall built in 1909 rings the Kamiyama Residence on Kuroshima, running 87.4 meters of dry-laid stone shaped with care at its gate and corners.
A dug well from 1909 at the southwest corner of the Kamiyama Residence on Kuroshima runs about 4.2 meters deep, with a curb cut from local coral limestone.
Discover the Tōgē Family Residence Ichitarai on Yonaguni, Japan's westernmost inhabited island. This Registered Tangible Cultural Property preserves the traditional water-management heritage of Yaeyama domestic architecture.