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 821 – 840 of 4,593
Jomo Electric Railway Nishi-Kiryu Station Building
Gunma 昭和前
Jomo Electric Railway Nishi-Kiryu Station Building

Timber station building of 1928 at Nishi-Kiryu on the Jomo Electric Railway, Gunma, with a mansard-roofed ticket hall and a carriage porch; still in daily use.

Jomo Electric Railway Nishi-Kiryu Station Platform Shelter
Gunma 昭和前
Jomo Electric Railway Nishi-Kiryu Station Platform Shelter

Timber platform shelter of 1928 at Nishi-Kiryu on the Jomo Electric Railway, Gunma, its gabled slate roof on ten posts and trusses; a rare survivor of its kind.

Jomo Electric Railway Watarase River Bridge
Gunma 昭和前
Jomo Electric Railway Watarase River Bridge

Eight-span steel railway bridge of 1928 over the Watarase River in Kiryu, Gunma, 157 metres long on seven concrete piers; the longest bridge on the Jomo line.

Suikintei
Gunma 昭和前
Suikintei

Sukiya house by Ogi Rodo, built in Tokyo in 1935 and moved to Yoshii, Takasaki, in 1990, with a tea room named by Matsunaga Yasuzaemon and a famed suikinkutsu.

Waterworks Museum (former Motojuku Water Purification Plant Office)
Gunma 昭和前
Waterworks Museum (former Motojuku Water Purification Plant Office)

Former office of 1932 at the Motojuku plant in Kiryu, Gunma, with scratch-tile walls, tall windows and pilasters, now used as the city Waterworks Museum.

Suidoyama Memorial Hall (former Water Distribution Office)
Gunma 昭和前
Suidoyama Memorial Hall (former Water Distribution Office)

Former water distribution office of 1932 on Suidoyama hill, Kiryu, Gunma, in a Wright-influenced lodge style with scratch tiles and Spanish roof tiles; open free.

Tomioka City Social Education Center Entrance and Office Building
Gunma 昭和前
Tomioka City Social Education Center Entrance and Office Building

The 1936 entrance and office wing of Tomioka City Social Education Center in Gunma, a hipped-roof building with a gently pitched, straight-lined porch. Free entry.

Tomioka City Social Education Center Auditorium Building
Gunma 昭和前
Tomioka City Social Education Center Auditorium Building

The 1936 auditorium of Tomioka City Social Education Center in Gunma: a 60-mat hall backed by a platform and former shrine room, with a layered hip-and-gable front.

Tomioka City Social Education Center Main Gate
Gunma 昭和前
Tomioka City Social Education Center Main Gate

The 1936 main gate of Tomioka City Social Education Center in Gunma, a 3.6-metre yakuimon with side walls and a wicket door, prized for its plain, heavy frame.

Toyotaya Ryokan Main Building
Gunma 昭和前
Toyotaya Ryokan Main Building

Just a two-minute walk from JR Takasaki Station, surrounded by modern office towers, stands a two-story wooden inn from 1932 that is still in active use today. Founded in 1879 and famed during the war years as a station-front ryokan in the military city of Takasaki—and later as a favored retreat of novelist Shiba Ryotaro—Toyodaya Ryokan Main Building is registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property of Japan, prized for its irimoya roof, gable-entry plan, and graceful karahafu entrance.

Nakamura Family Residence Gate
Gunma 昭和前
Nakamura Family Residence Gate

A wooden street gate of about 1937 beside the store on Kiryu's Honcho-dori, with gray plaster side walls, sliding doors that slide into them, and a passage behind.

Nakamura Family Residence Bathhouse
Gunma 昭和前
Nakamura Family Residence Bathhouse

A tiny 1937 bathhouse in Kiryu, 6.2 square meters, with bath, changing room and stoking area, plumbed with running water after the town waterworks opened in 1932.

Nakamura Yaichi Shoten Stone Storehouse
Gunma 昭和前
Nakamura Yaichi Shoten Stone Storehouse

A long, narrow 1937 storehouse in Kiryu of cut andesite, plastered white above a stone base, which the family called the rayon storehouse after its contents.

Nakamura Yaichi Shoten New Reception Wing
Gunma 昭和前
Nakamura Yaichi Shoten New Reception Wing

A 1937 reception wing in Kiryu: a concrete room with a rooftop balcony and glass-block skylight, and a wooden 2-story part once used as a Go parlor. Registered 2005.

Nakamura Yaichi Shoten Document Storehouse
Gunma 昭和前
Nakamura Yaichi Shoten Document Storehouse

A 2-story 1937 storehouse in Kiryu, built of reinforced concrete but painted to look like a white-plastered kura under a tiled gable roof. Registered in 2005.

Niijima Gakuen Junior College Research Building (former circular school block of Takasaki Municipal Girls' High School)
Gunma 昭和中
Niijima Gakuen Junior College Research Building (former circular school block of Takasaki Municipal Girls' High School)

Standing in Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture, the Niijima Gakuen Junior College Research Building is the only surviving circular schoolhouse in Gunma. Built in 1956 as the schoolhouse of Takasaki Municipal Girls' High School, this three-story reinforced concrete cylinder was designed by Kanao Sakamoto, the Japanese architect celebrated for his circular school designs. With a spiral staircase at its core and five fan-shaped classrooms arranged around the perimeter, the building was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in 2018. Discover this remarkable survivor of Japan's 1950s architectural experimentation.

United Church of Christ in Japan, Annaka Church, Gien Tei
Gunma 昭和前
United Church of Christ in Japan, Annaka Church, Gien Tei

At Annaka Church in Gunma sits Gientei, a 1935 wooden study built for pastor Kashiwagi Gien, whose 459-issue monthly opposed Japan's wars and empire until 1936.

United Church of Christ in Japan Annaka Church Missionary House (Former Beken Residence)
Gunma 昭和中
United Church of Christ in Japan Annaka Church Missionary House (Former Beken Residence)

A 1954 timber missionary house at Annaka Church in Gunma, with clapboard below, mortar above, a bay window and 3 chimneys in the Meiji-era manner. Registered 2004.

Kiryu Church, United Church of Christ in Japan
Gunma 昭和前
Kiryu Church, United Church of Christ in Japan

Built in 1930 on land given by a weaving-mill owner, this wooden church in Kiryu, Gunma, is the oldest church building in the city. Registered in 2024.

United Church of Christ in Japan Shimamura Church Shimamura Megumi Nursery School Main Building
Gunma 昭和中
United Church of Christ in Japan Shimamura Church Shimamura Megumi Nursery School Main Building

A timber nursery school built in 1950 by Shimamura Church in Isesaki, Gunma, renovated in 1953 and extended in 1954. Registered with the church chapel in 2008.