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 tiny 2-storey 1968 steel annex by Murano Tōgo at Konan Girls' school in Kobe: an open piloti, a 凸-shaped room above, flared columns and a slim spiral stair.
A 4-storey 1968 classroom block by Murano Tōgo at Konan Girls' school in Kobe: window widths shift floor to floor on the west, with a canopy and brick parapets.
The 1968 west gate guardhouse by Murano Tōgo at Konan Girls' school in Kobe: an 11 m² block hut with a pyramid roof, a column in a recessed corner, a bay window.
The No. 1 Flying Cage of the stork centre in Toyooka, Hyogo, a domed aviary of steel pipe and mesh built in 1965, marks the pioneering start of stork breeding.
The clubhouse of Kobe Golf Club on Mount Rokko, Japan's oldest golf course, is a clapboard building of 1932 with a tiled fireplace and beamed ceilings.
The Kanematsu Memorial Hall of Kobe University, a 1934 research building by the Ministry of Education, hides a chequer-tiled stair hall behind a plain front.
The Auditorium of Kobe University, built in 1935 to match the Main Building, has a front of five great arches with doors decorated with ships' wheels.
The Humanities and Social Sciences Library of Kobe University, built in 1933, has an arched great reading room and a stained-glass skylight over its main staircase.
The martial arts hall of Kobe University, built in 1935 as the dojo of the Kobe University of Commerce, is a formal timber hall with a coffered ceiling.
The Main Building of Kobe University, built in 1932 for the Kobe University of Commerce, has a symmetrical scratch-tiled front with a Lombard band below its eaves.
Kobe Port Tower, a 108-metre tower of 1963 on the central pier, was Japan's first steel-pipe frame structure and its drum shape is a symbol of the port.
Goshobo Shinkan at Arima Onsen in Kobe pairs timber with concrete on a steep slope. Built about 1955 and registered in 2021, its interiors run on a strict grid.
Gosuke Dam on the upper Sumiyoshi River in Kobe stands 30 metres high and 78 metres long. Its hand-laid stone facing earned cultural property status in 2014.
The Kobayashiya Ryokan, a three-storey timber inn of the early Showa era (1926–1945) by the river in Kinosaki Onsen, keeps the traditional Kinosaki inn plan.
The Shinkameya inn at Kinosaki Onsen, Hyogo, a three-storey timber building of 1959 by Hirata Masaya, has small gables and refined rooms with red shelves.
The Shinko Boeki Kaikan in Kobe's Shinko district is a four-storey concrete office building of 1930, faced in scratch tile with geometric and Art Deco ornament.
The Clothing Storehouse at Seishikan in Inagawa, Hyogo, is a 1934 two-story plastered store 2 ken square, the smallest of four, built to match the Middle Storehouse.
The Well Hut at Seishikan in Inagawa, Hyogo, is a 1934 shelter of 2.1 m² on the path to the gate, holding a wellhead and pump room under a corrugated roof.
The Northwest Storehouse at Seishikan in Inagawa, Hyogo, is a 1934 two-story white plastered store on a vented stone base, the largest of four on the estate (40 m²).
The Front Gate of Seishikan in Inagawa, Hyogo, is a 1934 gatehouse eight bays long, red bengara and yellow plaster, with a gate room and tool store. Free entry.