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.

4,591 total Shōwa Period 1926 – 1989
Showing 81 – 100 of 4,591
Former Yamashige Shoten Rear Warehouse
Aichi 昭和中
Former Yamashige Shoten Rear Warehouse

The newest of the nine Yamashige buildings, raised in 1950. Inside, a room for applying overglaze decoration to ceramics survives, north of the Middle Warehouse.

Former Yamashige Shoten Office
Aichi 昭和中
Former Yamashige Shoten Office

Built in 1947, this office supported the firm's postwar export growth. Facing the new road east, it has a plastered reception room and an entry porch.

Former Yamashige Shoten Medium Warehouse
Aichi 昭和中
Former Yamashige Shoten Medium Warehouse

The firm's Middle Warehouse, its king-post truss left exposed inside. Used in the electric-kiln era, its build year differs between sources, as the article notes.

Former Yamashige Shoten Warehouse
Aichi 昭和前
Former Yamashige Shoten Warehouse

Built in the early Showa era to store ceramics, roofed by a large king-post truss that opens a column-free floor. It stands north of the New Shed on the slope.

Kirakutei
Aichi 昭和前
Kirakutei

Kirakutei is a two-story wooden ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) built from the late Taisho to early Showa periods, now located within the Toyota Industrial and Cultural Center in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture. Once a prestigious inn that hosted notable figures including statesman Takahashi Korekiyo and Prince Takamatsu, it was registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in 2013 for its refined traditional architecture and historical significance.

Kinjo Gakuin High School Eikokan
Aichi 昭和前
Kinjo Gakuin High School Eikokan

Discover Eikōkan (Glory Hall), the 1936 Spanish-style auditorium of Kinjo Gakuin High School in Nagoya. A Registered Tangible Cultural Property and the sole survivor of the WWII air raids on campus, it stands as a symbol of faith and resilience.

Kozenji Temple Gate
Aichi 昭和前
Kozenji Temple Gate

Discover the Sanmon Gate of Kozenji Temple in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture — a nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1939. Explore its connection to the legendary samurai Kajiwara Kagetoki, the Haguro Castle ruins, and over 850 years of Japanese history.

Sairenji Shoin
Aichi 昭和前
Sairenji Shoin

In Inuyama's old castle town, Sairenji's two-story shoin is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, valued for the historic temple streetscape it preserves.

Shitara Town Tammine Elementary School Special Classroom
Aichi 昭和前
Shitara Town Tammine Elementary School Special Classroom

A 1927 wooden wing of the former Damine Elementary School in Aichi's Okumikawa hills, listed as a national cultural property in 2014 and closed as a school in 2024.

Shitara Town Tammine Elementary School Regular Classroom
Aichi 昭和前
Shitara Town Tammine Elementary School Regular Classroom

A 1927 timber schoolhouse in the Aichi mountain hamlet of Damine, this Registered Cultural Property was preserved by a seismic retrofit and used until 2024.

Shunkoin Temple Priests' Quarters
Aichi 昭和前
Shunkoin Temple Priests' Quarters

The largest of Shunkoin's seven registered buildings, this 1933 kuri held the kitchen and priest's quarters, with a modern corridor plan and bold beamwork.

Shunkoin Furokaku
Aichi 昭和前
Shunkoin Furokaku

Built in 1936 and the only copper-roofed building of the seven, Furokaku hides a refined sukiya interior behind a plain shell, with polished-log posts.

Shounji Temple Main Hall
Aichi 昭和前
Shounji Temple Main Hall

Completed in 1934 at a Zen temple in Inuyama, this east-facing main hall follows the six-room hojo plan with archaic boat-shaped brackets. Registered in 2012.

Joshoji Temple Shoin
Aichi 昭和前
Joshoji Temple Shoin

This small 1934 study at Joshoji Temple in Toyota City hides vetted timber and delicate openwork transoms behind a plain clapboard exterior. Registered in 2005.

Sumi Hall
Aichi 昭和中
Sumi Hall

Sumi Kaikan in Ichinomiya City, Aichi Prefecture, is the only building designed by world-renowned architect Kenzo Tange in the entire prefecture. Completed in 1957, it features signature elements of Tange's early work including double-beam girders and exposed concrete. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2008, it now serves as a community center open for free architectural tours.

Sozanso
Aichi 昭和前
Sozanso

Hidden within the lush grounds of Tokugawa Garden in Nagoya stands Sosanso, a graceful single-story wooden villa built in 1937 as a guesthouse for the Pan-Pacific Peace Exposition and relocated to the garden the same year. Lavishly constructed with the finest Kiso cypress timber, it miraculously survived World War II, served as a wedding hall, and now welcomes visitors as a tea room. It was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2014.

Taki Gakuen Auditorium
Aichi 昭和前
Taki Gakuen Auditorium

The Taki Gakuen Auditorium, completed in 1933 and registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in 2001, stands on the active campus of Taki Junior and Senior High School in Konan City, Aichi Prefecture. Designed by Murase Kuninosuke for the school's founder Taki Shinshiro and built by the Ando-gumi firm of Nagoya, this reinforced-concrete hall combines an austere, near-modernist exterior with the symbolic dignity of a triple-arched entrance and a pediment-shaped gable. Carefully renovated in 2023, it remains in daily ceremonial use and can be visited by advance reservation.

Taki Gakuen Library
Aichi 昭和前
Taki Gakuen Library

Nestled on the campus of Taki Junior and Senior High School in Konan City, Aichi Prefecture, the Taki Gakuen Library is a rare Registered Tangible Cultural Property where two eras of Japanese architecture stand stacked: a 1933 ground floor in the spirit of pre-war reinforced concrete schoolhouses, and a 1965 upper floor capturing the bright optimism of post-war modernism. Still in active use as the school library it was always meant to be, the building was carefully renovated in 2023 to restore its original plaster walls, lending counter, and reading room details. Together with the adjoining Main Building and Auditorium, it forms one of Aichi Prefecture's finest groupings of registered modern educational architecture.

Taki Gakuen Main Building
Aichi 昭和前
Taki Gakuen Main Building

The Main Building of Taki Gakuen in Konan City, Aichi Prefecture, is a two-story reinforced concrete schoolhouse completed in 1926 as the main hall of Taki Practical Business School. Designed by Murase Kuninosuke and built by Nagoya's Ando-gumi, its central clock tower has long been a beloved landmark of the surrounding town. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2001, it stands as a rare example of a still-active school classroom building recognized at the national level. Interior visits are available by advance reservation through the school's Cultural Property Office.

Tamesaburo Memorial Museum Tameshun-Tei
Aichi 昭和前
Tamesaburo Memorial Museum Tameshun-Tei

Ishuntei is the 1934 sukiya main house of Nagoya businessman Furukawa Tamesaburo, projecting over its garden on posts. Registered in 2018, it is open to visitors.