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.
Behind the Kiwata main house in Wakayama City, a c.1940 annex with a stepped tile roof, fanned rafters and a six-mat tea room of bark-on logs and bamboo battens.
The c.1940 street front of the Kiwata house in Wakayama City: a one-bay yakuimon gate with side gates, and a granite-based brick wall that curves in on both sides.
Kokokuji Temple Great Gate in Yura, Wakayama, is a tall 1938 four-legged gate of zelkova with a gabled tiled roof and peony carving, moved in 1997; registered 2025.
The sutra repository of Kodaiin on Koyasan, Wakayama, built in 1927 in the log-built azekura style, stands on a cut-stone base under a pyramidal copper roof.
Koyasan University Library on Mount Koya, Wakayama, a concrete library of 1929 by Takeda Goichi built for 300,000 Buddhist books, has a five-level stack.
The Kongobuji Temple Ajikando is a 1967 Shingon meditation hall on Mount Koya modeled on ancient monks' quarters, entered by joining the Ajikan meditation session.
The Kongobuji Temple Reception Room began as the 1933 guest house bathhouse, was moved whole around 1957 and refitted as a reception room facing the garden.
The Kongobuji Temple Inner Hall is a 1933 state guest hall on Mount Koya with a great carved strut and Ishizaki Koyo murals, seen across the Banryutei rock garden.
The Kongobuji Temple Inner Hall Wall is an 81-meter roofed wall of 1933 flanking the Imperial Envoy Gate on Mount Koya, with plaster panels and carved bracket arms.
The Kongobuji Temple Inner Hall Corridor is a T-shaped covered walkway of 1933 linking the Okuden, Annex and Reception Room, open-sided with a light timber frame.
The Kongobuji Temple Purification Fountain is a white 1958 concrete temizuya on the Jabara-michi path to the Danjo Garan, with a central basin and exposed rafters.
The Kongobuji Temple Bell Tower is a 1958 concrete belfry on the Danjo Garan that hangs Koya Shiro, a 2.12-meter bell of 1547 still rung five times each day.
The Kongobuji Temple Shinshoan is a 1964 guest tea house on Mount Koya given by Matsushita Konosuke, with a checkerboard-grain coffered ceiling and bark-edged posts.
The Kongobuji Temple Imperial Envoy Gate is a 1933 cypress-bark karamon before the Okuden on Mount Koya, with curved gables, lattice doors and a temple crest.
The Kongobuji Temple Annex is a 1933 guest hall on Mount Koya built for monks and believers, with Moriya Tadashi's paintings on the regular visitor route.
The Kongobuji Temple Hexagonal Sutra Repository is a 1932 two-tier hexagonal sutra hall on the Danjo Garan, concrete clad in timber, which visitors can push to turn.
An early-Showa annex linked to the main house in Fuchu, Wakayama City: two tatami rooms with a crosswise kirime-en on one side and a lengthwise kure-en on the other.
The Sasano Family Residence Front Gate and Wall in Gobo, Wakayama, pairs a set-back munamon gate with lattice and plank doors and a 14 m wall with a diamond post.
The Sasano Family Residence Main House in Gobo, Wakayama, is an early Shōwa home with a Western-style parlor and an L-shaped alcove upstairs, registered in 2018.
The Sasano Family Residence Storehouse in Gobo, Wakayama, is an early Shōwa storehouse on the street, with namako tiles below, white plaster above and iron doors.