Meiji

In Mikuni's old geisha quarter, Uoshiro joins four buildings: a Meiji townhouse, two earthen storehouses and a Taisho parlor, now a registered-heritage restaurant.

In Mikuni's old geisha quarter, Uoshiro joins four buildings: a Meiji townhouse, two earthen storehouses and a Taisho parlor, now a registered-heritage restaurant.

In Mikuni's old geisha quarter, Uoshiro joins four buildings: a Meiji townhouse, two earthen storehouses and a Taisho parlor, now a registered-heritage restaurant.

The Former Owada Bank Head Office Building in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, is a wooden two-story Japanese–Western hybrid structure built in 1901. Standing on the founding site of the Owada Bank, this nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property and Japan Heritage constituent property now serves as the annex of the Minato Tsuruga Float Museum, showcasing the history of Kitamae-bune trade and the port town of Tsuruga.

Built in 1894 near Tsuruga, the First Kannonji Tunnel opens the former Hokuriku Line, its symmetrical andesite portal showing Meiji stonecraft at its most deliberate.

The 310-metre Second Kannonji Tunnel near Tsuruga still holds metal fittings from its railway days at the arch springing, making the vanished line feel suddenly present.

Nearly a kilometre long, the 1896 Habara Tunnel carries one of the grandest portals on the line, with wide parapets and finely built stone-and-brick drainage.

The compact 64-metre Funagaya Tunnel near Tsuruga rewards a close eye: its north portal crown slopes to follow the hillside, over a brick arch laid in stretcher bond.

The 260-metre Magaridani Tunnel near Tsuruga is one link in the chain of bores below the Kinome Pass, built to carry a steep railway over a barrier between two provinces.

At 1,170 metres the brick Yamanaka Tunnel is the longest on the former Hokuriku Line and marked the summit of its crossing, once crowned with a minister's calligraphy.

Nearest to the old Imajo post town, the 368-metre brick Yunoo Tunnel is the northern gateway of the former Hokuriku Line, with a grand four-pilaster andesite portal.

Hidden some 20 metres below the old trackbed, the Wanayamadani Culvert is the longest on the former Hokuriku Line, its steep brick-and-stone barrel taming a stream.

Up four stone steps from the street stands the front gate of the Yamakawa residence in Obama, a three-bay ridged gate with plaster wing walls, about 5.1 metres long.

Rebuilt in 1907 on an older samurai plan, the main house of the Yamakawa residence in Obama joins a formal shikidai entrance to a banker's dignity, poet Tomiko's home.

Beside the path to the main house, the middle gate of the Yamakawa residence opens to the north garden, just 1.5 metres wide, the smallest of five registered structures.

At the northwest corner of the Yamakawa compound stands a two-story earthen storehouse, its plaster walls faced with tall boarding and its windows shut by iron doors.

The detached room is the only one of the Yamakawa residence's five registered structures listed as a model of design; poet Tomiko died in its eight-mat room in 1909.

Discover the Former Kagetsu-ro Restaurant in Katsuyama, Fukui, a Nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1897. Admire its famed umbrella-shaped ceiling over a 32-tatami great hall, and enjoy local cuisine in this beautifully preserved Meiji-era ryotei.

Built around 1902 and expanded in 1919, the Takakura Sabo Nishi-Takakura Dam has stood guard over the mountain village of Seto in Minami-Echizen, Fukui for more than a century. This 19-metre-long dry-stone sabo dam, featuring a distinctive nawadarumi (rope-sag) crest and massive dry-stone masonry, is the only one among twelve dams in the Takakuratanigawa group to be designated a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property.

Discover Tateishi Cape Lighthouse in Tsuruga, Fukui — a Registered Tangible Cultural Property and the first Western-style lighthouse designed and constructed solely by Japanese engineers in 1881. Perched on the Tsuruga Peninsula overlooking the Sea of Japan, this historic granite tower remains active today.