Meiji

Northwest of the main house, this 1901 storehouse was once a rice store and now the museum's gallery, with a cut-stone plinth, namako walls and a trussed roof.

The residential core of the former Ito estate, completed in 1887 and now the heart of the Northern Culture Museum, with a 30-metre Aizu cedar beam overhead.

At the quiet western rear of the estate, this sukiya-influenced parlor of 1889 uses fine timber and soft sand-plaster walls, a gentler note than the main house.

At the estate's northern edge, this 1883 workshop, where carpenters built and repaired the buildings, is a rare surviving construction facility with tall posts.

Discover the Omote Genkan of Honjō-ji in Sanjō, Niigata — a registered tangible cultural property. Built around 1895, this ceremonial entrance with its triple-pendant karahafu gable links the temple's main halls and reflects Meiji-era craftsmanship in a centuries-old Hokke-shū sanctuary.

The Kyakuden (Guest Hall) of Honjoji Temple, the head temple of the Hokke-shū Jinmon-ryū sect in Sanjo City, Niigata, is a grand single-story wooden structure built in 1895. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2021, it is celebrated for its expansive open interior and elegant hip-and-gable roof, exemplifying the finest Meiji-era temple architecture.

The Kuri (Kitchen Hall) of Honjo-ji Temple in Sanjo City, Niigata Prefecture, is a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property rebuilt in 1895. This imposing 567-square-meter wooden structure serves as the domestic and administrative heart of the head temple of the Hokke-shu Jinmon-ryu Buddhist sect. Its central hearth room features the remarkable "married couple pillars," salvaged and re-hewn from the former main hall destroyed by fire. The temple is also renowned for its connection to master sculptor Ishikawa Uncho and its spectacular Setsubun Oni Odori demon dance.

The Daishoin at Honjo-ji Temple in Sanjo City, Niigata Prefecture, is a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property built around 1899. This elegant reception hall features refined tatami rooms with snow-country design adaptations, connected to the Guest Hall by a distinctive drum bridge. The temple is also renowned for its association with sculptor Ishikawa Uncho and its spectacular Setsubun demon dance.

The Main Hall of Honjo-ji Temple in Sanjo City, Niigata Prefecture, is the architectural centerpiece of the head temple of the Hokke-shū Jinmon-ryū sect, with a history spanning over 700 years. Built in 1903, this magnificent 881-square-meter wooden hall features exquisite carvings by master craftsmen from Toyama and was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2021. Visitors can also enjoy works by sculptor Ishikawa Uncho and the famous Oni Odori demon dance festival.

Standing at the heart of Yokohama's historic Bashamichi district, the Former Yokohama Specie Bank Head Office Main Building is a magnificent Neo-Baroque masterpiece completed in 1904 by architect Tsumaki Yorinaka. Crowned by the iconic octagonal copper dome known as 'Ace's Dome,' clad in giant Corinthian orders and rusticated stonework, this stately building has survived the Great Kanto Earthquake and wartime fires. Designated a National Important Cultural Property in 1969 and a National Historic Site in 1995, it serves today as the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History.

The Main Hall of Oyamadera, perched on the slopes of Mount Oyama in Isehara, Kanagawa, is a majestic esoteric Buddhist hall rebuilt in 1885 through nationwide donations. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2024, it features impressive dragon carvings, a traditional five-bay layout, and over 1,200 years of pilgrimage history.

Discover the Former Nagahama Quarantine Station Detention House No. 1 in Yokohama's Umi-no-Kōen Park—a Registered Tangible Cultural Property dating from 1895 with ties to Dr. Hideyo Noguchi, now relocated and preserved as a cultural landmark.

The Former Nankoin First Ward in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, is a Meiji-era wooden building constructed in 1899 as the inaugural ward of Nankoin, a tuberculosis sanatorium once hailed as the greatest in East Asia. Now a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property, this historic structure connected to literary figures such as Kunikida Doppo can be viewed within the Nankoin Memorial Taiyo-no-Sato Garden.

Ugajinja, in the far north of the Yugyo-ji precinct, is a shrine of just 3.6 square metres yet dense with carving, the smallest of the temple's ten registered structures.

Reached by a corridor behind the Obankata, Yugyo-ji's Small Shoin served official duties and guest receptions, its two rows of rooms ending in alcove-fitted inner rooms.

Yugyo-ji's Somon is a large black gate about 7.2 metres tall, the local Kuromon, facing the old Tokaido at Fujisawa-juku. Registered with its walls for landscape value.

The pavilion before Yugyo-ji's Main Hall is a single open bay dense with carving, from openwork beam-ends to animals among the brackets. It is early Meiji work.

Tucked behind the Hanagoten wing of the Fujiya Hotel in Hakone-Miyanoshita, the Aerie is the oldest surviving building on the property. Built in 1884 as the first reconstruction after the great Miyanoshita fire of 1883, it already shows the signature Fujiya design of symmetrical corner projections and a central karahafu porch — the prototype for the later Main Building and Western Annexes. Registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 1997, it stands as one of the very few surviving examples of Japan's earliest resort-hotel architecture.

A National Treasure at Yokohama's Kanazawa Bunko: 16,692 Buddhist scriptures and 4,149 medieval documents from the Kanazawa Hojo library and the temple of Shomyoji.

The Former Ōminato Water Source Waterworks Facility in Mutsu City, Aomori Prefecture, is an Important Cultural Property of Japan built between 1902 and 1910 as the first modern waterworks in the Tōhoku region. Discover its stunning gravity-arch stone dam and seasonal cherry blossoms in Suigenchi Park.