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.

4,593 total Shōwa Period 1926 – 1989
Showing 681 – 700 of 4,593
Kenkun Shrine Grand Torii
Kyoto 昭和前
Kenkun Shrine Grand Torii

Kenkun Shrine Grand Torii, a 7.2 m myojin gateway of unpainted Taiwan cypress built in 1934, marks the east entrance to Nobunaga's shrine on Kyoto's Mount Funaoka.

Kenkun Shrine Office
Kyoto 昭和前
Kenkun Shrine Office

Kenkun Shrine Office, built in 1929 on Kyoto's Mount Funaoka, pairs a tiled roof with a shingled entrance canopy and tall openings. It is still the shrine office.

Tofukuji Temple Main Hall
Kyoto 昭和前
Tofukuji Temple Main Hall

Tofukuji Temple Main Hall in Kyoto, completed in 1934, is an 809-square-metre Zen hall with a mokoshi roof, three-stepped brackets and Domoto Insho's ceiling dragon.

Tondaya Annex
Kyoto 昭和前
Tondaya Annex

Tondaya Annex is a 1935 guest wing at a Nishijin merchant house, with a reception room for Noh and the Rakuju tea room named by a tea master, used for booked tea.

Tondaya Treasure Storehouse
Kyoto 昭和前
Tondaya Treasure Storehouse

Tondaya Treasure Storehouse is a two-storey earthen storehouse built in 1935 at a Nishijin merchant house, its door bearing the shop name inside and hozo above.

Nakano Family Residence Tea House
Kyoto 昭和中
Nakano Family Residence Tea House

The Tea House of the Nakano Family Residence in Nagaokakyo, Kyoto, built in 1951, is a four-and-a-half-mat room named Koan with a lit four-panel woven ceiling.

Nakamura Family Residence Front Gate
Kyoto 昭和前
Nakamura Family Residence Front Gate

The early Showa gate of a Yawata villa is just 2.1 metres wide, yet packs a bowed roof, adze-finished posts and a slatted transom into it. Registered in 2012.

Nippon Sei Ko Kai Kyoto Holy Trinity Church
Kyoto 昭和前
Nippon Sei Ko Kai Kyoto Holy Trinity Church

Anglican church of 1930 by Bergamini in Nakagyo, Kyoto: a half-timbered Japanese-style building with a kindergarten below and a chapel under curved trusses above.

Ninnaji Temple Treasure Museum
Kyoto 昭和前
Ninnaji Temple Treasure Museum

Ninnaji Temple Treasure Museum, a 1927 concrete building whose walls copy an azekura storehouse, opens three times a year. Its design, door guardians and visits.

Fujita Family Residence Tea Room Yoshin
Kyoto 昭和前
Fujita Family Residence Tea Room Yoshin

A freestanding tea room of about 1935 behind a Nishijin townhouse in Kyoto, its four-and-a-half-mat plan and woven and sloping ceilings echo Urasenke's Yuin room.

Fujita Family Residence Gate and Fence
Kyoto 昭和前
Fujita Family Residence Gate and Fence

A light sukiya-style gate and fence of about 1935 on a Nishijin townhouse in Kyoto: knobbed log posts, battened boards, cedar bark and a single line of tiles.

Funaoka Onsen Baths
Kyoto 昭和前
Funaoka Onsen Baths

A 1932 concrete bathhouse in northern Kyoto reuses stone railings from the demolished Kikusui Bridge, with majolica tile walls and circular clerestory windows.

Heian Jogakuin Showakan
Kyoto 昭和前
Heian Jogakuin Showakan

The Heian Jogakuin Showakan is a 1929 steel-reinforced concrete school in Kyoto by J. V. W. Bergamini and Naito Tachu, with pointed arches and brick-tiled walls.

Heian Shrine Inner Corridor
Kyoto 昭和前
Heian Shrine Inner Corridor

Behind Kyoto's Heian Jingu sanctuary runs the inner corridor, a 1940 vermilion cloister on a stone platform with latticed windows and round pillars.

Heian Shrine's Great Torii Gate
Kyoto 昭和前
Heian Shrine's Great Torii Gate

The great torii of Kyoto's Heian Jingu, raised in 1928 in reinforced concrete, stands about 24 meters tall. Once Japan's largest, it anchors the Okazaki district.

Heian Shrine Gakuden
Kyoto 昭和前
Heian Shrine Gakuden

On the west of Heian Jingu's south court stands the 1940 Gakuden, a rest-and-assembly hall modeled on an ancient palace hall, with board doors and lattice shutters.

Heian Shrine Kagura Hall
Kyoto 昭和前
Heian Shrine Kagura Hall

On the east of Heian Jingu's south court, the 1940 Kaguraden sits on a stone platform, open on three sides, hosting sacred dance and Shinto weddings.

Heian Shrine Saikan
Kyoto 昭和前
Heian Shrine Saikan

Outside Heian Jingu's east corridor, the 1940 Saikan is a refined modern Japanese hall with a karahafu gabled entrance and finely coffered ceilings.

Heian Shrine Gate Corridor
Kyoto 昭和前
Heian Shrine Gate Corridor

Extending east and west from Heian Jingu's main gate, the 1940 Shinmon Yokuro adds tatami rooms and vermilion woodwork under tiled roofs, shaping the shrine's front.

Heian Shrine Lattice Wall and Rear Gate
Kyoto 昭和前
Heian Shrine Lattice Wall and Rear Gate

Behind Heian Jingu's sanctuary, a see-through fence and small rear gate close off the rear precinct. Built in 1940 by Sunami Takashi and Tani Shigeo, it runs 90 meters.