Meiji

The Mutsumi Village Office Storehouse in Hagi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, is a two-story earthen storehouse built in 1896 during the Meiji era. Featuring distinctive Sekishū tile roofing and white plaster walls, this remarkably well-preserved structure is registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property. Together with the adjacent former village office, it represents the oldest surviving municipal government architecture in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Built in 1875 in Mutsuzawa Village, Yamanashi Prefecture, this pseudo-Western schoolhouse is the finest surviving example of Fujimura-style architecture from early Meiji Japan. Designated a national Important Cultural Property in 1967, it now stands at JR Kofu Station as the free-admission Fujimura Memorial Hall.

Discover Ichikawa Church, an 1897 wooden chapel blending Japanese kura warehouse design with Western architecture. A Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Ichikawamisato, Yamanashi Prefecture.

Discover the Iwashita Onsen Ryokan Former Building, a nationally registered tangible cultural property in Yamanashi City. Built around 1875, this traditional wooden inn features a rare semi-underground bathhouse fed by one of the oldest natural springs in the Koshu region.

Discover Yashikiiri-sawa No. 7 Stone Check Dam, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Fuefuki City, Yamanashi. Built between 1910 and 1918 using masterful dry stone masonry, this sabo dam still protects local communities from landslides over a century later.

Discover the Lumière Old Underground Fermentation Tanks, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1901. Located in Fuefuki, Yamanashi, these granite stone tanks are the oldest European-style wine fermentation vaults in Japan and are still used for winemaking today.

A bronze spire on a hilltop behind Enryaku-ji's West Pagoda hall, traced to Saichō in 820 and recast in bronze around 1895. Inside are copied sutras, not relics.

Tucked away in Shiga Prefecture's historic Omi merchant town of Gokasho-Kondo, Shojukan Garden is a Nationally Registered Monument designed by the celebrated late-Edo to Meiji garden master Katsumoto Donketsu. This stroll-style dry landscape garden, opened to the public in 2023 alongside a 200-year-old merchant residence, features a famous heart-shaped Inome window and a rare chance to experience authentic Omi merchant heritage.

The 1890 carriage porch of the Otsu courthouse, moved to Omi Jingu in 1971 to shelter car purification rites. Its gable pendant still bears a chrysanthemum crest.

The Ohmi Railway Echigawa Bridge, spanning the Echi River in Shiga Prefecture, is a 239-meter steel railway bridge built in 1898. Featuring a British-made pony Warren truss by Andrew Handyside & Company, this Registered Tangible Cultural Property has served as an active railroad crossing for over 125 years.

The Omihachiman Youth Hostel in Shiga Prefecture is a nationally registered tangible cultural property originally built in 1909 as the Gamo-gun Industrial Promotion Hall. Featuring a distinctive cusped-gable entrance and grand interior staircase, this Meiji-era wooden public building offers guests the rare opportunity to stay overnight inside a cultural landmark.

Discover Okkin Mukugawa Exchange Hall, a Meiji-era thatched-roof farmhouse registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in Takashima City, Shiga Prefecture. Explore its traditional irori hearth, tatami rooms, and the charming mountain village of Mukugawa near Lake Biwa.

Discover Kagi-rou, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Taga, Shiga Prefecture. This Edo-period ryokan founded in 1689 features exquisite sukiya-style architecture and stands as an iconic landmark of the Taga Taisha shrine town.

The largest building at Kawaraya-ji, this 1871 priests' quarters greets guests with a cusped karahafu entrance and bold beam framing over its earthen-floored kitchen.

The oldest of the five buildings, this 1892 plaster storehouse carries scrolling motifs and a family crest at its west door and a wave-formed eave on the east gable.

The Kurokabe Glass Hall in Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture, is a nationally registered tangible cultural property originally built in 1900 as the Nagahama Branch of Japan's 130th National Bank. Known locally as the 'Black Wall Bank' for its distinctive black-lacquered plaster exterior, this Japanese-Western eclectic wooden building was reborn as a glass art gallery in 1989 and now serves as the symbol of Kurokabe Square, a cultural district attracting approximately two million visitors annually.

A compact two-story storehouse at the former Fujii estate, its white plaster skirt faced with horizontal planks reused from old wooden river boats.

Rebuilt here in 1932, the plain main house of the former Fujii estate anchors the Gokasho folk museum and shows how thrifty Omi merchants once lived and worked.

The Kanran-tei at Saikyō-ji is a late-Meiji sukiya room behind the guest hall, its vermilion walls framing a carved wave transom that echoes its name.

The Sōso Daishi-den at Saikyō-ji in Ōtsu honors Shinsei, founder of the Tendai-Shinsei school. Built in 1894 in a formal residential style, it faces the temple approach.