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.
A two-storey shop storehouse of about 1928 in Kitakata, Fukushima, with a shop below and three upper windows behind thick earthen doors under a small winged canopy.
Built about 1935, this three-storey timber wing at a Higashiyama Onsen inn holds rooms in the sukiya manner alongside a Western-style conference room.
A two-storey storehouse of 1928 at the southeast corner of an estate in Narukawa, Fukushima City, with a detached roof, sealed eaves and stepped shutters.
An early Showa reception wing behind the main house in Narukawa, Fukushima City: two eight-mat rooms with an openwork transom, opening fully onto the rear garden.
An early Showa outhouse beside the main house in Narukawa, Fukushima City: three stalls with a round window, a storeroom and plastered walls, thought to serve staff.
An early Showa tool store and woodshed on the east side of an estate in Narukawa, Fukushima City, made to look like one long namako-walled store from the street.
An early Showa garden gate and fence inside an estate in Narukawa, Fukushima City: a log-built udekimon 1.6 m wide and 28 m of board and cedar-bark screens.
An early Showa miso storehouse on the street front of an estate in Narukawa, Fukushima City, joined to single-storey rooms and a small gate by one namako wall.
An early Showa gate and 40 m wall on the south edge of an estate in Narukawa, Fukushima City: a bracketed gate with angled wings and boards below white plaster.
The Wakaki Shoten Store is a 1931 Western-style shop in Kitakata by Honma Kahei, with a flat roof, tiled walls and octagonal windows. Free entry in opening hours.
The principal hall of Engyoji on Mount Shosha near Himeji, rebuilt in 1933 to a design by Takeda Goichi after fire, cantilevered over a slope, designated in 2024.
A 1948 two-storey earthen storehouse joined to the house in Kato, Hyogo: 4.9 m square, namako tiles on the front only, two round windows and black-plastered doors.
A 1948 earthen storehouse in Kato, Hyogo, twin to the Ae tool storehouse: same size, same front and wing wall, registered in 2021 for the row the pair forms.
A 1948 wing of four tatami rooms in Kato, Hyogo, reached by corridor: high eaves, a pent roof on brackets all round, and boarded walls with bands of clay plaster.
A 1948 L-shaped timber house in Kato, Hyogo: four rooms run from a west entrance, then turn north to a tatami room and altar room, under varied coffered ceilings.
A 1948 storehouse north of the Ae house in Kato, Hyogo, with a front lean-to, a large wing wall and plaster up to the eaves: a fire-wary design, registered in 2021.
A c.1955 two-storey dormitory at the Ae Handkerchief mill in Kato, Hyogo, with eight 10-tatami rooms behind mortar walls and a round-columned entrance.
A c.1955 dining hall at the Ae Handkerchief mill in Kato, Hyogo, set square to the dormitory; painted weatherboards and roof tiles survive, the inside remodelled.
A c.1948 two-storey warehouse on a street corner of the Ae Handkerchief mill in Kato, Hyogo, with iron-clad doors, barred upper windows and a king-post truss.
A small c.1955 cloth inspection shed at the Ae Handkerchief mill in Kato, Hyogo, with a monopitch truss roof, weatherboard walls and its daylight windows intact.