Shōwa

Located on the Shiga University campus in Hikone City, the Ryosui Kaikan is a Spanish-style wooden building designed by architect William Merrell Vories in 1938. Featuring cream-colored German plaster walls, Spanish clay tiles, and decorative Taizan tiles, it was registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in 1997.

Built in 1938, the Saikiko of Tarobogu Aga Shrine is a two-story dozo whose thick earthen walls guard ritual implements from fire. Listed as a Cultural Property in 2019.

Built in 1934, the stone Inner Gate of Tarobogu Aga Shrine marks a threshold toward the upper precinct of Mount Akagami. Listed as a Cultural Property in 2019.

Completed in 1930, the Choraku-den is Tarobogu Aga Shrine's largest hall, blending timber and reinforced concrete on a steep slope. Listed as a Cultural Property in 2019.

Erected in 1957 with copper over a timber core, the Copper Torii of Tarobogu Aga Shrine marks a threshold on Mount Akagami. Listed as a Cultural Property in 2019.

Built in 1930, the stone Fudo Myoo Prayer Site of Tarobogu Aga Shrine recalls its Shugendo past. Hard to recreate, it was listed as a Cultural Property in 2019.

Standing on Vories Street in Imazu, Takashima City, Shiga Prefecture, Imazu Church of the United Church of Christ in Japan is a wooden church designed by architect William Merrell Vories and completed in 1934. Featuring a distinctive tower and bright facade, it was registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2003. Together with a former bank and post office on the same street, it preserves the modern architectural heritage of Lake Biwa's western shore.

The Chapel of the United Church of Christ in Japan Omi Kaneda Church is a two-story wooden worship hall in Omi Hachiman, Shiga Prefecture, designed by the Vories Architectural Office and completed in 1950. Featuring a gabled slate roof, a southwest bell tower, and exposed kingpost trusses in the second-floor nave, it was registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2012. The chapel is one of more than 20 Vories-related buildings still standing in Omi Hachiman.

The UCCJ Katata Church in Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture, is a wooden church designed by William Merrell Vories and completed in 1930. Featuring Tudor-arched quadruple windows and a distinctive pointed-roof corner tower, the church and its red-brick wall are both designated as nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan.

A nationally registered tangible cultural property in Katata, Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture, designed by the Vories Architectural Office. Built in 1930, this red brick wall features a stretcher bond pattern standing 12 courses high, with a distinctive 45-degree rotated coping course that creates an open, welcoming entrance to the church.

The Gate Pillars of the Minakuchi Church in Koka City, Shiga Prefecture, are brick pillars designed by American architect William Merrell Vories in 1930. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property, they embody the history of Christian mission and Western architecture in the Omi region.

The Minakuchi Church Chapel in Koka City, Shiga Prefecture, is a wooden chapel designed by William Merrell Vories in 1930. Registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property, this American Colonial-style building with a distinctive Latin cross floor plan stands as a masterpiece of early Showa-era architecture nestled in a historic castle town.

A 1929 registered property in Higashiomi, Shiga: a plain merchant-town front hiding a refined sukiya hall upstairs, with a curved coffered ceiling and bat-shaped windows.

A 1929 registered property on the Fukada estate in Higashiomi, Shiga: a small wing for the bath and lavatory, yet with a corridor ceiling refined enough for a hanare.

The Main Hall (Kannon-dō) of Myōkanji Temple in Konan City, Shiga Prefecture, is a registered tangible cultural property built in 1937 and designed by Fujiwara Yoshikazu, a lecturer at Kyoto Imperial University. This refined wooden hall faithfully recreates the medieval Zen architectural style with its three-bay square plan and hip-and-gable tiled roof. Founded by Madenokōji Fujifusa, a courtier of Emperor Go-Daigo who became the second patriarch of Myōshinji, the temple enshrines a Nanbokuchō-period Eleven-Faced Thousand-Armed Kannon statue.

Kawakami Junior High School Main Building is a rare post-war wooden schoolhouse in Kimotsuki Town, Kagoshima. Built in 1949 and registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property, it offers a nostalgic glimpse into Japan's mid-20th century rural education.

Standing in the historic Kaseda-fumoto samurai quarter of Minamisatsuma City, Kagoshima, the Former Ajisaka Clinic is a rare single-story wooden Western-style medical building from the early Shōwa period, built by Dr. Shigehiko Ajisaka. Its varied roof composition, weatherboard walls, and decorative eave supports reflect the era's blend of Japanese craftsmanship and Western style. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2009, it is a constituent of the Japan Heritage 'Samurai Town' storyline.

Discover the Former Hoanden of Satsukawa Elementary School, a 1935 reinforced concrete structure modeled after Shinto shrine architecture, registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in Setouchi Town, Amami Oshima, Kagoshima Prefecture.

The Yama Elementary School Building in Tokunoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture, is a 1955 reinforced concrete school featuring distinctive open-air corridors based on the USCAR standard design. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2022, it stands as a testament to the Amami Islands' transition from American administration to Japanese sovereignty.

The Former Hoanden of Setsuko Elementary and Junior High School in Setouchi Town, Kagoshima, is a reinforced concrete prewar structure modeled after traditional shrine architecture. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2006, it features a gabled roof, bracket-railed platforms, and finely crafted details preserving the memory of Japan's prewar educational history on Amami Oshima.