Meiji

A two-storey plastered godown of about 1902 at the rear of a Makabe plot in Sakuragawa City, its doorway and one gable window shuttered against fire. Listed in 2005.

The Yaguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse in Makabe is a large early Meiji clay store, unusual for its six windows. Registered in 2005 at 83 square metres.

The Yaguchi Family Residence Grain Storehouse in Makabe is a tall early Meiji clay store whose only windows sit high in the gable walls. Registered in 2005.

The Yaguchi Family Residence Main House in Makabe is an early Meiji dwelling with a hipped pantile roof, a low half storey and four 8-mat rooms in a square plan.

The Yaguchi Family Residence Store in Makabe is a gable-fronted merchant shop of 1900. Its ridge tablet names the carpenter, and it was registered in 2000.

The Yaguchi Family Residence South Sleeve Storehouse in Makabe repeats its older twin half a century on: clay walls above, lapped boarding below. Registered 2000.

The Yaguchi Family Residence Gate in Makabe is a late Meiji yakuimon 2.7 metres wide, its ridge tiles stacked with unusual care. Registered as a structure in 2000.

A Meiji gate range at Sakurai in Makabe, moved from the village of Amabiki around 1892, turned into a shopfront under a pent roof, with a living wing added behind.

Yanaka Family Residence Main House is a thatched farmhouse of 1897 in Yachiyo, Ibaraki, registered in 2022. Its eaves edge is laid in checkerboard hemp stalks.

A mid-Meiji dozo-zukuri storehouse in Makabe, Sakuragawa: 78 square metres, a high stacked ridge, plaster drip mouldings and rendered eaves. Registered in 2003.

A 13.5-metre early Meiji gatehouse in Makabe, Sakuragawa. Zelkova gateway, plaster and sasarako boarding, widely spaced rafters. Registered in 2003; how to see it.

Yuki Sake Brewery Co., Ltd. Brick Chimney rises about 10 meters in Yuki, Ibaraki. Built around 1903 and registered in 2000, it survived the fire of 2022.

A late Meiji timber dwelling behind a shop in Yuki, Ibaraki: four mat rooms in two rows, a glazed veranda, fire doors at the junction. Registered in 2005.

A late Meiji shop of storehouse construction in Yuki, Ibaraki, with black plaster walls and a lattice upper window, registered in 2005. Its dating and access.

Completed in 1900 in Tsuyama, this timber schoolhouse with a clock tower still holds classes. A rare surviving Meiji middle school, designated in 1995.

A symmetrical timber schoolhouse in Maniwa, completed in 1907 and designated in 1999. Coffered assembly hall, film sets, uniform rental, free entry, hours, access.

Begun around 1833 by salt magnate Nozaki Buzaemon, this Kurashiki estate keeps 12 Important Cultural Property buildings. Hours, fees, access and repair-work notes.

Discover the Former Yakage Wakihonjin Takakusa Family Residence in Okayama, an Important Cultural Property of nine Edo-era buildings featuring elegant white walls, namako-kabe tilework, and refined sukiya-style reception rooms in Japan's only post town with surviving honjin and wakihonjin.

Completed in 1908 and designed by Egawa Saburohachi, the chief architect of Okayama Prefecture, this charming wooden schoolhouse was the first kindergarten building in Japan ever designated an Important Cultural Property. Its innovative "plum-blossom plan" features an octagonal central playroom flanked by four classrooms — a milestone of modern early-childhood education architecture.

Akebono Ryokan, in the heart of Tsuyama's former castle town in Okayama Prefecture, is the city's oldest surviving inn building and was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2000. Built in the early Meiji era, its inner two-story rooms preserve refined sukiya-style shoin joinery, and its guest register includes General Nogi Maresuke and other notable figures of modern Japan. Famed for its seasonal duck and pheasant hot pots, the inn lies within walking distance of Tsuyama Castle and the Jōtō historic district — a rare chance to actually sleep inside a piece of cultural heritage.