Shōwa
昭和Browse Japan’s cultural heritage from the Shōwa period (1926 – 1989). Filter by prefecture, type, and keyword, with concise stories, maps, and travel tips.
The Arakawa First Dam in Fukushima City, built in 1937 and registered in 2008, was the first dam of the national sabo program on the Arakawa, 57 m long, 10 m high.
The Arakawa Fifth Dam in Fukushima City, built in 1954 and registered in 2008, is 150 m long, the longest in its group, with crest corner stones angled to the flow.
Built in 1940 in a narrow gorge of the upper Arakawa in Fukushima City, the Arakawa Third Dam is 15 m high, the tallest prewar dam on the river. Registered 2008.
Built in 1951 in Fukushima City and registered in 2008, the Arakawa Seventh Dam carries a plaque on its right wing recording its name, builder and year of building.
Built in 1938 just above the Tsuchiyu Onsen spa town in Fukushima City, the Arakawa Second Dam has the widest crest of the modern Arakawa sabo dams. Registered 2008.
The Arakawa Eighth Dam, built in 1952 in Fukushima City and registered in 2008, tops three dams set within 600 m to ease the river gradient and let greenery return.
The Arakawa Fourth Groundsill in Fukushima City, built in 1954 and registered in 2008, is a 184 m stone-faced sill that fixes the riverbed, not storing sediment.
Built in 1950 in Fukushima City and registered in 2008, the Arakawa Sixth Dam pairs a cobble upstream face with a coursed downstream face, plus a matching sub-dam.
A tiny plank granary in Okuma, Fukushima, registered in December 2019. Grooved posts, board walls and a raised floor kept unhulled rice dry through the year.
Rebuilt after the May 1934 Tajima fire by an Echigo master carpenter, this two-storey inn in Minamiaizu, Fukushima keeps a curved karahafu porch. Registered 1999.
Okyu Kaikan of 1938 in Iwaki, Fukushima, the library and alumnae hall of a former girls' high school, shows early Showa trends in its round and arched windows.
The middle storehouse of the Ogai family in Minamisoma, Fukushima, an early Showa store for sake and soy sauce, matches the east store beside it on the salt road.
The gate of the Ogai family in Minamisoma, Fukushima, an early Showa koraimon between two storehouses, has glazed tiles and ridge-end tiles bearing the character 大.
Okunomatsu Sake Brewery First-Grade Storehouse in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima, stacks a 2-storey earthen sake store on a beamless concrete floor. Registered in 2004.
Okunomatsu Sake Brewery Koji Storehouse in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima, is an early Showa concrete building with a timber king post truss and a diamond-laid metal roof.
Okunomatsu Sake Brewery Second-Grade Storehouse North Building in Nihonmatsu is an early Showa timber brewing hall with doors on three sides and a storehouse eave.
Okunomatsu Sake Brewery Second-Grade Storehouse South Building in Nihonmatsu is a flat-roofed early Showa concrete brewing house with its brand name in relief.
Okunomatsu Sake Brewery Pressing Storehouse in Nihonmatsu is an early Showa earthen store that turns its tiled gable to the street, its lower walls scored as stone.
Finished in 1946 near Tsuchiyu, the only Arakawa sabo dam built right through the war years: 70 m long, with rounded spillway corners. Registered in 2008.
Built in the early Showa years in reinforced concrete, this provincial house keeps its Western detail to the porch and veranda, with a viewing room on top.