Taishō

The Former Tohoku Crushed Stone Factory in Higashiyama, Ichinoseki City, Iwate Prefecture, is a lime fertilizer production facility built in 1924 and the first limestone-industry site in Japan to be registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property. It is also known as the place where the beloved poet and scientist Kenji Miyazawa worked as an engineer in his final years, striving to improve farmland through affordable lime. Together with the adjacent Stone and Kenji Museum, it offers a unique encounter with industrial heritage and literary legacy.

Built in 1925, the Former Tono Homotsukan was the first reinforced concrete building in the Tono region of Iwate Prefecture. Featuring geometric exterior ornamentation, column-free interior spaces, and earthquake-resistant design, it was registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in 2017. Today it serves as a storage facility for the Tono Municipal Museum in the heartland of Japanese folklore.

Built in 1912, the Former Morioka Cathedral is a refined wooden church inspired by Romanesque architecture. Tracing the history of Catholic evangelization in Morioka by the Paris Foreign Missions Society, this remarkable structure features a three-aisled basilica plan with vaulted ceilings — European stone church elements realized entirely in wood. It was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2024.

The Sato Family Residence Western Building is a wooden two-story Western-style annex completed in 1924 in Senmaya, Ichinoseki City, Iwate Prefecture. Designated as a national Registered Tangible Cultural Property, it was commissioned by sake brewer Sato Shuhei of the Yokoya Brewery and grafted onto the family's earlier Meiji-era residence. Distinctive slate "namako-kabe" walls, copper drip awnings, and a central pediment make it a refined example of Taisho-era hybrid architecture. Today it is part of the Senmaya Sake Storehouse Cultural Exchange Facility and houses a cafe on its ground floor, with free admission.

The Koiwai Station Main Building on the JR Tazawako Line in Takizawa City, Iwate Prefecture, is a wooden station building constructed in 1921 (Taisho 10) at the opening of the Hashiba Light Railway. Registered as a Nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property in August 2025, it is also known as a place once visited by the poet Miyazawa Kenji. After a careful restoration in 2023, it serves both as a working station and as a beloved community gathering hub.

Standing on the banks of the Iwai River in Ichinoseki, Iwate, the Sekinoichi Sake Brewery Former Sales Warehouse is a single-story earthen storehouse built in 1919 during the Taishō era. Its white-plastered gable is elegantly framed in dark, over-fired clay bricks. Designed by Kohara Yūsuke, an architect in the school of Tatsuno Kingo of Tokyo Station fame, it was registered together with six other brewery buildings as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 1999, and remains in active use as part of a working sake and craft beer brewery.

Completed in 1916 across the Nagara River in Mino, Gifu, this 113-metre bridge is Japan's oldest surviving modern suspension bridge. Open to walkers and cyclists.

The Imao Family Residence Rice Storehouse in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, is a traditional kura storehouse registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in 2007. Part of a six-building estate along the historic Nakasendō highway rest stop of Shin-Kanō, it preserves the architectural heritage and prosperity of a prominent family in this Edo-period post town.

Discover the Imao Family Residence Middle Gate and Wall (Imao-ke Jutaku Chumon oyobi Hei), a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture. This traditional wooden gate and wall stand within a historic compound along the former Nakasendo post town of Shinkano.

Discover the Imao Family Residence Annex, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Kakamigahara City, Gifu Prefecture. Part of a six-building compound along the historic Nakasendo highway's Shinkano post town, this elegant annex showcases traditional Japanese domestic architecture and the legacy of a prominent local family.

The Imao Family Residence Yakushido in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, is a Buddhist hall dedicated to the Medicine Buddha, located within the compound of a family that served as official physicians to the Tsubouchi feudal lords. Registered as a national tangible cultural property in 2007, it uniquely embodies the harmony between medical practice and spiritual devotion in traditional Japanese culture.

Single-story main house of the Kamiyama Residence in Tajimi, built late Taisho by tile maker and first mayor Sato Teiji, with veranda and moon-viewing platform.

Two-story clay-walled storehouse of the Kamiyama Residence in Tajimi, on a three-course granite base, namako plaster below, black plaster above, hinged gable doors.

Small west outbuilding of the Kamiyama Residence in Tajimi, a late-Taisho wooden building said to have been a live-in study, its entrance finished to echo the annex.

East wing of the Kamiyama Residence in Tajimi, a Japanese-style annex by the main house, its tiled bay-windowed room answering the estate's landmark Western annex.

The Former Suda Dental Clinic, located along the Enako River in Takayama's Sakura-machi district, is a two-story wooden building from the late Taisho period (1919–1926). Featuring Western-style design on the ground floor and Japanese-style rooms above, with distinctive clapboard siding and tall windows, it stands as a rare example of Taisho-era Western architecture amid Takayama's traditional townhouses. It was registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in 2021.

Discover the Former Hayashi Clinic X-ray Building (Kyu Hayashi Ryoin Rentgen-to), a nationally registered tangible cultural property in Gujo Hachiman, Gifu Prefecture. Built in the early Taisho era, this historic Western-style medical building houses one of Gifu's earliest X-ray facilities and is now open to the public as part of the Gujo Hachiman Rakugeikan museum.

Discover the Former Horitani Clinic, a registered tangible cultural property built in 1920 in the castle town of Gujo Hachiman, Gifu Prefecture. This charming Taisho-era wooden clinic features distinctive arched windows, concrete wash-out walls, and elaborate plaster ornamentation.

Tucked beside Mino's historic washi-papermaking district in Gifu Prefecture, the Former Meitetsu Mino-machi Line Mino Station Platform and Tracks preserve a U-shaped 1923 terminal almost untouched since the line closed in 1999. Cobblestone platform walls, L-section steel canopies, and original 1919 Carnegie rails survive intact, joined by three vintage streetcars and the wooden station building. A National Registered Tangible Cultural Property with free admission, the site is a charming starting point for exploring the Udatsu townscape and Mino's UNESCO-recognized handmade paper heritage.

Standing almost untouched since 1923, the Former Meitetsu Mino-machi Line Mino Station in Gifu Prefecture is one of Japan's most evocative railway time capsules. The pale pink wooden station, U-shaped platforms, original Carnegie-made tracks, and three preserved streetcars all remain exactly as they were when the line closed in 1999. Lovingly maintained by a volunteer society and designated a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2005, the site is freely open to visitors and lies just three minutes on foot from Mino-shi Station, making it the perfect first stop on a walk through the city's famous Udatsu historic townscape.