Meiji
明治Browse Japan’s cultural heritage from the Meiji period (1868 – 1912). Filter by prefecture, type, and keyword, with concise stories, maps, and travel tips.
Dry-stone erosion control dam of 1910 to 1918 in Fuefuki, Yamanashi, built after the floods of 1907, 66 metres long and still protecting the village below.
Granite wine fermentation tanks of 1901 at the Lumiere winery in Fuefuki, Yamanashi, ten in a row and said to be Japan's first European-style; still used today.
Completed around 1895, this 11.65-metre bronze spire stands on a hill in Mount Hiei's Saito precinct: a pagoda finial set on its own post, braced by four struts.
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 Echigawa Bridge of the Omi Railway in Shiga, built in 1898 and still in service, is a 239-metre steel bridge whose girders and truss show British engineering.
The former Gamo District Industrial Promotion Hall in Omihachiman, Shiga, a Japanese-style public building of 1909, has a cusped-gable entrance and grand staircase.
Oka Shrine Tamagaki Fence in Higashiomi, Shiga, is a 52-metre roofed timber fence of 1892 on a stone base, with lozenge lattice in each bay, around the Main Hall.
Oka Shrine Purification Pavilion in Higashiomi, Shiga, is a late Meiji shelter of 7.7 square metres by the entrance, with inward-leaning posts and carved beam ends.
Oka Shrine Norito Hall in Higashiomi, Shiga, is a 9.6-square-metre gabled hall of 1892 joining the Offering Hall and the Main Hall, with lozenge-lattice transoms.
Oka Shrine Worship Hall in Higashiomi, Shiga, is a late Meiji hall of 3 by 3 bays with a bare earth floor, a raised coffered ceiling and double-raftered eaves.
Oka Shrine Offering Hall, built in 1892 in Higashiomi, Shiga, is a seven-bay hall whose raised central gable and cusped porch answer the tall Main Hall behind it.
Oka Shrine Main Hall in Higashiomi, Shiga, is a shinmei sanctuary said to come from Ise Jingu's 1889 rebuilding, moved here in 1892, with free-standing ridge posts.
Okkin Mukugawa Community Hall in Takashima, Shiga: an 1881 thatched farmhouse with a hearth room, used as a community hall until general use ended in 2024.
Kagiro in Taga, Shiga: an 1877 restaurant-inn by Taga Taisha, with a sukiya-style three-storey guest wing and railed third floor. Meals and stays by reservation.
Gariban Denshōkan in Higashiōmi is the 1909 annex of the home of Horii Shinjirō, inventor of the Japanese mimeograph. Registered in 1998; open weekends, free.
A 1903 house set back from the old Tokaido in Tehara, Ritto: plastered loft storey, gently swelling tiled roof with smoke vent, stepped east end. Registered 1998.
A 1903 townhouse on the old Tokaido in Ritto, Shiga, registered for keeping the local Edo-era form: bengara-red lattices, a plastered loft and a smoke-vented ridge.
A small mid-Meiji earthen storehouse beside a townhouse on the old Tokaido in Ritto, Shiga, its gable to the road, with eaves moulding and a separate okiyane roof.
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.