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.
The smallest of the nine Misedoi structures in Owase, this early-Showa servants' toilet and pickle store is screened from the back gate by a yamato-bari board fence.
An early Showa, mortar-rendered office at the Miyazaki Honten brewery in Yokkaichi, with part-tiled upper walls and a gable ornament; registered in 1996.
A small early Showa warehouse behind Storage House Building A at Miyazaki Honten, Yokkaichi, its earthen walls cased in galvanised iron; registered in 1996.
The largest registered building at Miyazaki Honten, Yokkaichi: an L-shaped early Showa warehouse of three linked blocks, said to have been built as a brewhouse.
Two early Showa warehouses joined in an H opposite the Miyazaki Honten office in Yokkaichi, with eaves on every face and a brown brick chimney; registered in 1996.
A large early Showa gabled warehouse at Miyazaki Honten, Yokkaichi, painted with the Kikkomiya mark and clad differently from its neighbours; registered in 1996.
A 1968 shoin in Komono, Mie, built with Shigemori Mirei's garden: a 10-mat room with alcove shelves and a writing desk, verandas on three sides. Registered 2020.
Built in 1929 at Yunoyama Onsen, this inn annexe has a copper roof against frost, ogee windows sized from Ishiyamadera and rare Colburn glass. Registered in 2008.
Two-storey concrete shop of 1927 on Nanokamachi in Yamagata City, built for a gunpowder merchant; the first concrete shop in Yamagata, with stone-like walls.
A plain board-floored shed of about 1943 at a working silk works in Tsuruoka, Yamagata, where finished silk was checked by north light. Registered in 2024.
The 1940 office and preparation wing of the Uzen Kenren silk-scouring works in Tsuruoka, with a 140-mat winding room and stepped gabled roofs. Registered 2024.
A 1929 dye room and a boiler room added about 1933, joined under sheet metal, at a working silk scouring works in Tsuruoka, Yamagata. Each keeps its own ridge vent.
This 1927 Japanese wing at Kaminoyama in Yamagata joins the west flank of a Western clinic building. Its coffered-ceilinged upper floor received guests.
Built in 1927 at Kaminoyama in Yamagata, this two-storey clinic wing carries a pediment outside yet floors its waiting rooms in tatami. Registered in 2022.
The New Storehouse of the former Enman Orimono in Yonezawa dates from the early Showa and was registered in 2020. Corner pilasters and glazed windows mark it out.
Built in 1934 on Ginza-dori in Tsuruoka, Yamagata, this concrete block pairs a stone-effect ground floor with tiled upper walls and an Ebisu medallion.
The 1934 entrance to a national silkworm station in Shinjo City: concrete piers faced in scratch tile, iron leaves between them, and thirty metres of low fence.
A 1934 timber building west of the main office where silkworm eggs were checked for disease, held at controlled warmth until hatching, and moths drawn out on time.
The only reinforced concrete building at this 1934 silkworm station, with ten cold rooms in two rows for chilling eggs and a timber truss under clay tiles.
At 93 square metres this 1934 timber building is the smallest of the ten registered here, once holding a bathroom, a kitchen and rooms for staff on night duty.