Meiji

The Iwate Bank (Former Morioka Bank) Old Head Office Main Building is a magnificent Meiji-era banking hall completed in 1911 in central Morioka. Designed by Tatsuno Kingo, the architect of Tokyo Station, together with Kasai Manji, it is the only surviving Tatsuno work in Japan's Tohoku region. In 1994 it became the first active bank building in Japan to be designated a National Important Cultural Property. Now open to the public as the Bank of Iwate Red Brick Building, it showcases a stunning interior crafted with around 910,000 Iwate-made bricks and Aomori hiba wood, and features the iconic red brick and white granite Tatsuno style facade.

Standing in the heart of Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, the Former Ninetieth Bank Head Office Main Building is a two-story brick bank building completed in 1910 (Meiji 43), designed by young Morioka-born architect Tsutomu Yokohama. With its dignified Romanesque Revival exterior and a strikingly modern interior influenced by the Vienna Secession movement, the building is recognized as an early forerunner of Taisho-era Expressionist architecture and was designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan in 2004. Today it is open free of charge as the Morioka Takuboku & Kenji Museum of Youth, where visitors can explore the youthful years of two of Japan's most beloved writers, Takuboku Ishikawa and Kenji Miyazawa.

Located in Sumita Town, Iwate Prefecture, the Kuriki Iron Works Ruins preserve the remains of a private ironworks that operated from 1881 to 1920. Designated a National Historic Site in 2021, it is the only surviving example in Japan of a complete small-to-medium scale blast furnace ironworks compound from the Meiji and Taisho periods, holding exceptional industrial archaeological value. Two blast furnace bases, office ruins, water channels, and casting factory remains lie quietly in the Tane-ga-hara highlands beloved by author Miyazawa Kenji.

Discover the Former Nambu Clan Villa Garden in Morioka, Iwate—a tranquil pond stroll garden tracing its roots to a 17th-century medicinal herb garden, beautifully preserved within a Meiji-era estate.

Nanshōsō Garden in Shimizu-chō, Morioka, is a pond-stroll garden built in 1885 as the private estate of the industrialist Segawa Yasugorō. Ingeniously incorporating the natural slope of the Kitakami River terrace, the garden is designed for two parallel modes of appreciation — seated viewing from the elevated Nanshō-no-Ma room of the main house, and a winding stroll around the two interconnected ponds. Registered as a National Monument in 2015, this lovingly preserved Meiji-era retreat continues to enchant visitors with its seasonal beauty, including the famous reflection of crimson maples on its polished wooden floors in autumn.

Discover the Oikawa Family Residence (Furuken) in Tono City, Iwate — a Meiji-era machiya townhouse registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property. Stay overnight in this living heritage building and explore the folklore capital of Japan.

At Tono Furusato Village, the Former Kikuchi Residence (Oono-don) is an L-shaped Nanbu magariya where a family lived with its horses, a model early-Meiji farmhouse.

On the Takano family grounds in Mizusawa, Iwate, this late-Meiji plank storehouse shows dropped-in board walls and a lobed openwork panel, registered in 2024.

The Former Nanbu Family Villa Main House in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1908 as a retreat for the former feudal lords of the Morioka Domain. Designed by Kasai Manji, who also worked on Tokyo Station, this elegant villa masterfully blends Japanese and Western architectural styles. Together with its nationally registered stroll garden, it offers a window into the refined lifestyle of Meiji-era Japanese aristocracy.

Discover the Former Army Horse Supplement Division Rokuhara Branch Officers' Quarters Building No. 1, a nationally registered tangible cultural property in Kanegasaki, Iwate. Built around 1911, this rare Meiji-era Western-style wooden residence served senior military officers overseeing Japan's wartime horse breeding operations.

Built around 1911 in Kanegasaki Town, Iwate Prefecture, this single-story wooden building is one of three surviving officers' quarters from the Imperial Japanese Army Horse Supplement Department Rokuhara Branch. Featuring English-bond brick foundations, weatherboard cladding, and sash windows, it was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2017.

Discover the Former Imperial Japanese Army Horse Supplement Department Rokuhara Branch Official Residence Building No. 2 in Kanegasaki, Iwate. This 1911 wooden residence is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property showcasing Meiji-era Western-Japanese hybrid architecture.

Discover the Former Temporary Latitude Observatory Main Building in Oshu, Iwate, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1900 where astronomer Kimura Hisashi discovered the Z-term. Now the Kimura Hisashi Memorial Hall, it showcases historic instruments and Japan's role in international geodetic science.

The Former Temporary Latitude Observatory Visual Zenith Telescope Room, preserved on the NAOJ Mizusawa Campus in Oshu City, Iwate Prefecture, was built in 1899 as a dedicated facility for the International Latitude Observation Service. Closely linked to the discovery of the Z-term by first director Kimura Hisashi, this Registered Tangible Cultural Property tells the story of Japan's pioneering role in modern international science.

Built in 1900 on the Mizusawa Campus of the National Astronomical Observatory in Oshu City, Iwate, this rare calibration facility for a visual zenith telescope is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property that witnessed Japan's pioneering role in the international latitude observation project and the discovery of the Z-term.

The front gate and wall of the Imao Family Residence in Kakamigahara City, Gifu Prefecture, is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property that preserves the legacy of the Imao family, who served as personal physicians to the Tsubouchi hatamoto clan since the late Edo period. Discover this stately architectural ensemble along the old Nakasendo highway.

Standing on Ichinomachi Street in Hida-Furukawa, Gifu Prefecture, the Kaba Sake Brewery Main Building was rebuilt in 1906 after a great fire by relocating an older Wada family townhouse from a nearby village. Its eleven-ken-long lattice facade anchors one of central Japan's most beautiful historic streetscapes, and it was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2007. The building still serves as the working shop and residence of the Kaba Sake Brewery, founded in 1704.

Standing along Ichinomachi-dōri in Hida-Furukawa, Gifu Prefecture, the Kaba Shuzōjō Sodegura is a two-story Meiji-era sake warehouse built in 1906. Part of the Kaba family's brewery (founded in 1704), this white-plastered dozō with its vertical wood lap-siding is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property since 2007 and a defining element of one of Japan's most beloved traditional townscapes.

The Uedaya main house faces the old Nakasendo in Ochiai-juku. Its early-Meiji upper floor, thrust out on beams above latticed windows, marks a post-town official's home.

This 1904 dozo storehouse stands beside the Uedaya main house on the old Nakasendo, its street wall finished in sea-cucumber tiling below and black lime plaster above.