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.
Timber school of 1933 in Nagai, Yamagata, 93 metres long in the Stick Style with a symmetrical front; a school until 2015, reopened in 2019 as a community hub.
The annex of the New Murao Romankan inn at Kaminoyama in Yamagata, built in 1937, sets five pavilions around a pond, their rich interiors recalling the spa's heyday.
The main hall of Myozenji in Yamagata, designed by Ito Chuta in 1934, has bell and drum towers flanking its front and a 60-mat great hall inside, showing his style.
Yoshitei Mon in Yonezawa, Yamagata, is a zelkova gate of 1940 on the old Aizu road. Registered in 2003, this single-bay yakuimon spans about 2.6 metres in width.
Rebuilt in 1935 after a fire, this two-story wooden schoolhouse in Yonezawa still holds classes, its half-timber walls facing the approach to Uesugi Shrine.
On Mount Chokai stands Ryuzuji's plain 1933 founder's hall, registered in 2015, its clapboard shell hiding a lacquered interior and trowel-worked plaster reliefs.
In Yamagata's Kaminoyama Onsen, the 1939 Ryokan Yonemoto blends Doric pilasters, round upper windows, and a tiled gabled entrance into an eclectic registered facade.
A 1952 cobblestone dam on Yamagata's Tachiyazawa River, trapping sediment off Mount Gassan. Its stonework and curved spillway became a cultural property in 2017.
The Ube City Watanabe-O Memorial Hall (1937), an Important Cultural Property by Murano Togo, was built by seven local firms to honor industrialist Watanabe Yusaku.
Nishi-Iwakuni Station in Yamaguchi, built in 1929 as Iwakuni Station, has a porch of 5 arches evoking the Kintaikyo Bridge and rows of round-headed windows.
A 1929 granite horseshoe-arch overflow tunnel portal at Utsui No. 2 Reservoir, Shimonoseki, crowned by a stone plaque reading 清波, clear waves, with viewing tips.
The 1929 reinforced-concrete intake tower at Utsui No. 2 Reservoir, Shimonoseki, with its domed roof and railed walkway, in contrast to the 1906 brick tower.
Shimonoseki's Waterworks Archive Room, a 1929 concrete plant office with curved mouldings and geometric eaves, now shows Burton's legacy. Visits by application.
The gate of Zuishoan, a Soto Zen temple in Ube: thatched, single-bay, built in 1937, with a Zen balustrade above and the Shimazu crest carved twice. Registered 2021.
The Toishi Hachiman Shrine Ritual Vessel Storehouse of 1940 in Shunan, Yamaguchi hides a closed store behind boarding shaped to imitate the enclosure wall.
The Toishi Hachiman Shrine Sacred Food Preparation Hall of 1940 in Shunan, Yamaguchi matches the storehouse opposite, balancing the precinct around the halls.
The Toishi Hachiman Shrine Gate and Side Wall of 1940 in Shunan, Yamaguchi form a four-legged gate 4.2 meters wide with flanking walls running 12 meters in total.
The Toishi Hachiman Shrine Lattice Wall runs 58 meters around the sanctuary in Shunan, Yamaguchi, its hexagonal bars shifting in width as a visitor walks past.
The Toishi Hachiman Shrine Purification Pavilion of 1941 covers 3.1 square meters beside the approach in Shunan, Yamaguchi, and shelters a granite basin.
The Toishi Hachiman Shrine Worship Hall in Shunan, Yamaguchi is a 1940 rohaiden, a gatehouse floored over for worship, with wings to each side and a copper roof.