Shōwa

The shamusho of Kaminoshima Shinmei Shrine sits on a former Kiso River island in Gifu. This early-Showa office shows fine carpentry and joined the register in 2007.

A steeply arched stone drum bridge of 1936 crosses the pond before the worship hall at Kaminoshima Shinmei Shrine. Carved railings render timber forms in stone.

The purification pavilion at Kaminoshima Shinmei Shrine fills seven square metres, packing chamfered posts and carved beam-ends into one bay. An early-Showa work.

The great torii of Kaminoshima Shinmei Shrine rises 8.2 metres, its timber frame sheathed in copper. Raised in 1935, it carries the plain Shinmei form at rare scale.

A banpei screens the worship hall, a feature of old Owari shrines. This rare stone example of 1937, carved with dragons and lions, recalls Kawashima's Owari past.

The Heiden (offering hall) of Kaminoshima Shinmei Shrine in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, was completed in 1929 (Showa 4). This single-story wooden structure with copper-plate roofing measures three bays square in an irimoya-zukuri tsumairi style and was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in 2007. Together with the surrounding shrine buildings from the same period, it stands as a valuable example of early Showa rural shrine architecture marked by restrained yet dignified craftsmanship.

The Main Hall of Kaminoshima Shinmei Shrine in Kakamigahara City, Gifu Prefecture, is a finely crafted wooden sanctuary built in 1928 in the hamaen-tsuki ichigensha nagare-zukuri style. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2007, it showcases superb carvings of auspicious dragons and clouds that exemplify early Showa shrine architecture.

North wing of the Kamiyama Residence in Tajimi, an early-Showa addition to the main house holding the kitchen, topped by a gabled roof vent, part of the estate core.

North storehouse of the Kamiyama Residence in Tajimi, an early-Showa wooden building said by tradition to have housed the household staff, in exposed-pillar work.

Built in 1941 in Mino City, Gifu Prefecture, the Former Mino-cho Industrial Hall is the city's largest surviving modern wooden building and a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property. It features tile-clad lower walls, lap-board upper siding, decorative yoraku ornaments under the front eaves, and continuous horizontal window bands. Today it serves as the Mino Washi Akari Art Museum, displaying handmade washi paper lamp art year-round.

Tucked inside Kumano Shrine in the Kurose district of Yaotsu, Gifu Prefecture, the Mekakushi-mon ('screening gate') is a quietly distinctive structure from the early Showa period, registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in 1998. Built to shield the sacred precinct from view, it stands at the heart of an old Kiso River port town and at the starting point of the 300-year-old Yaotsu Danjiri Festival.

Discover Chitosero Seiho-kaku, a registered tangible cultural property within the historic Senzairou ryokan in Yoro, Gifu. Built in the Taisho era with design elements by renowned Japanese painter Takeuchi Seiho, this sukiya-style building features silk paintings on the ceiling and Mondrian-like kumiko woodwork.

The Main Hall of Teishoji Temple in Kakamigahara, Gifu, was commissioned in 1933 by Kawakami Sadayakko, recognized as Japan's first modern actress. A traditional cypress-built five-bay hall raised on an inventive reinforced-concrete podium, its side and rear walls bear eight relief panels depicting the founder's personal experiences of divine protection. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property.

Located on Honmachi Street in Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, Tengu Sohonten is a wooden two-story butcher shop built in 1936 and designated a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan. Crowned with delicate spires, decorated with a long-nosed tengu motif, and graced by an elegant corner veranda, this Western-influenced storefront stands in striking contrast to the traditional townscape that surrounds it. Built by local Hida master carpenter Nishida Kiyoshi, the building remains an active Hida beef specialty shop and offers visitors a rare glimpse of pre-war Showa architectural experimentation in regional Japan.

Step onto a graceful curving cobblestone platform at Gujo-Hachiman Station, where a 1932 wooden waiting room and a 40-meter canopy built from recycled rails preserve the atmosphere of Japan's early Showa-era rural railways.

Inside Gujō-Hachiman Station in Gifu Prefecture stands a rare wooden footbridge built in 1944 during the final years of World War II, when steel was severely rationed. Its Howe truss design—wooden diagonals paired with slender steel rod verticals—reflects the constraints of the era. Registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2015, the footbridge remains in everyday service and pairs perfectly with a stroll through the historic castle town of Gujō-Hachiman.

Located in Gujō City, Gifu Prefecture, the Nagaragawa Railway Gujō-Hachiman Station is a wooden depot that opened in 1929 as the terminus of the former Etsumi-Nansen Line. With its gable-roofed main building finished in washed-out artificial stone rendering and its 98-meter cobblestone up-bound platform, the station preserves the appearance of an early-Showa provincial terminal and was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in 2015. Restored to its 1929 appearance in 2017, it still serves as the gateway to the castle town of Gujō-Hachiman and houses a tourist information desk, café and souvenir shop.

Built in 1929 within Gujo-Hachiman Station in Gifu Prefecture, this small wooden storage and lever shed preserves four iron signal levers in their original positions—an exceptionally rare survivor of pre-electric railway signaling. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2015, it offers a quiet but evocative glimpse of early Showa railway heritage and serves as the gateway to the beautiful castle town of Gujo-Hachiman.

The kitchen of Nangu Taisha's Saikan in Tarui, Gifu (c. 1961). It cooked the food for wedding banquets, each of its two rooms split between board floor and earthen floor.

The corridor of Nangu Taisha's Saikan in Tarui, Gifu (c. 1961). It wraps the south garden and links the two main wings, its west face set with lattice windows.