Meiji

The Former Tomioka Silk Mill in Gunma opened in 1872 as a state reeling mill. Its 140-metre reeling hall and two 104-metre cocoon warehouses are National Treasures.

A Southern Song Jian bowl at the Museum of Oriental Ceramics in Osaka, silver spots packed tightly across both surfaces. Once owned by the regent Hidetsugu.

A Southern Song tenmoku bowl at the Fujita Museum in Osaka, its black glaze scattered with haloed spots. Alone among yohen bowls, it is mottled inside and out.

A single-storey timber station of 1900 in Okayama, 84 square metres. Of its seven bays, two and a half at the south end serve as the waiting room today.

The Sho family's material at the Naha City Museum of History, 1,292 items. Other archives burned or were destroyed; what had been kept in Tokyo survived.

A residence in the former castle town of Mizusawa, Iwate, seven buildings in all. The main house of 1888 is finished with painted panels and shell-flecked plaster.

An earth-walled storehouse of 1892 in Gero, Gifu, just 21 square metres. A single line of black plaster crosses its white wall high up, sharpening it.

An earth-walled storehouse of the Meiji period in Miyazu, Kyoto, just 17 square metres. Its rafters are set in a fan, as at three other stores on the plot.

A Meiji townhouse on Shinmachi-dori in Kyoto, 180 square metres. Its ground-floor front divides in three: a doorway, a display board and a lattice bay.

A shop of 1883 on Oike-dori in Kyoto, 80 square metres. Its plan wraps in an L around a storehouse that is itself registered quite separately from it.

A Buddhist painting in sixteen scrolls owned by Seiryoji in Kyoto. The record gives its country as Song and its period as Northern Song, not as Japan.

A Southern Song painting on one scroll at Tofukuji, Kyoto, showing the full figure. It came down in a single box with a second scroll of the same title.

A Southern Song tea bowl held at Shokokuji in Kyoto Prefecture. On the inside, the pattern is formed exactly where the upper glaze was simply left off.

A tea bowl held at Ryukoin in Kyoto Prefecture. Yet another bowl of the very same name is recorded there under a different system of listing altogether.

Discover Shigeta House in Tamamura, Gunma - a 300-year-old physician's estate with 7 nationally registered cultural properties. Experience Meiji-era architecture, traditional medicine history, and free doctor costume activities. Open Wed-Fri, free admission.

Discover the Ogiwara Family Residence, a nationally registered cultural property in Kiryu City, Gunma. This Meiji-era merchant home with its traditional storehouse, gate, and walls offers a rare glimpse into Japan's thriving silk textile industry history.

Discover the Shigeta Family Residence in Manno Town, Kagawa—a collection of six nationally registered cultural properties showcasing upper-class Meiji-era farming architecture. Explore the historic nagaya gate, main house, and connecting corridor along the ancient Hashikura pilgrimage road.

Discover the Former Kadowaki Family Residence, a nationally registered cultural property in Shimanto Town. This beautifully preserved 1875 thatched-roof farmhouse showcases traditional mountain village architecture along the pristine Shimanto River. Free admission.

Discover Yoshida Family Residence (Yoshida-ke Jutaku Shuoku), a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Kashima City, Saga Prefecture. This beautifully preserved Meiji-era machiya features distinctive igura-zukuri architecture with white plastered walls, brick accents, and rare ebony interiors. Located along the historic Tara Kaido road, it offers an authentic glimpse into Japan's merchant heritage near the famous sake breweries of Hizen-Hamashuku.

A Meiji-period hydroelectric installation in Yamanashi Prefecture. Its own structures there are recorded under two quite different owner names even now.