Taishō
大正Browse Japan’s cultural heritage from the Taishō period (1912 – 1926). Filter by prefecture, type, and keyword, with concise stories, maps, and travel tips.
Kariya High School's 1923 gate in Aichi, its reinforced-concrete posts scored to mimic stone in the Secession style, registered as a cultural property in 2017.
Built in 1924 at Nagoya's Zuiryo High School, Kankido is the city's oldest reinforced-concrete auditorium. Note the four roof gables and Secession-style trim.
In Nagoya stand Zuiryo High School's old gate pillars, built around 1924 in reinforced concrete for a former commercial school in a straight-lined Secession style.
The 1923 reinforced-concrete front gate of Tsushima High School in Aichi became a Registered Cultural Property in 2017, listed with twelve other school gates.
Built in 1921 for a girls' school in Handa, Aichi, these brick-tiled gateposts closed in 1961, were repaired in 1995, moved in 2008, and registered in 2017.
A 1926 guardian shrine at Eijuji in Shinshiro, Aichi, enshrining Dakiniten, merged with Inari worship, in a small hall with an inner shrine. Registered property.
The Okura Park Thatched Gate in Obu, Aichi, fronted Okura Kazuchika's Taisho villa. Moved in 1979 and still rethatched by Tono craftsmen, it was registered in 2015.
The Okura Park Rest House in Obu, Aichi, was the guest annexe of Okura Kazuchika's Taisho villa. Four tatami rooms step around a central pantry; registered in 2015.
Standing at the western foot of sacred Mt. Hongu in Toyokawa City, Aichi Prefecture, the Otani Family Residence Main Building is a stately wooden home completed in 1916 (Taisho 5). It features remarkably thick structural timbers cut from the family's own mountain holdings, a formal shikidai entrance organizing reception rooms and a Buddhist altar room to the north and living quarters to the south through a central corridor, and an early reinforced concrete basement. Together with its earthen storehouse, rice storehouse, and connecting corridor, the residence was registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in October 2017.
Tucked into the foothills of Mount Hongū in Toyokawa City, Aichi Prefecture, the Otani Family Residence Earthen Storehouse is a small two-story dozō-zukuri building completed in 1916 to commemorate the enthronement of Emperor Taishō. Owned by the Otani family — once headmen of Ashiyamada village in the Edo period — it was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in 2017 alongside the main hall, rice storehouse, and connecting passageway. Its clapboard skirting, lattice-patterned namako-kabe façade, and butterfly-motif door stops embody the refined craftsmanship of early-Taishō rural architecture in Mikawa.
The Otani Family Residence Corridor in Toyokawa, Aichi, covers 2.5 square meters. Built around 1916 and registered in 2017, it links a house and a storehouse.
The 1917 former Okazaki Bank head office on the old Tokaido in Okazaki, Aichi, designed by Suzuki Teiji in brick and granite; now a free museum. Registered property.
A Taisho sukiya-style room built hard against a storehouse wall in Inuyama, with an eight-mat room and a slatted moon-viewing deck projecting on its north side.
A brick downdraft kiln of 1921 and the black timber shed built around it in Tokoname, Aichi. Registered in 1997, and visitors walk into the firing chamber itself.
A brick chimney of 1921 rising 21 meters over Tokoname, Aichi, tapering from a 2.2-meter square base. Built to vent a drainpipe kiln, it was registered in 1997.
The Kamiya Family Residence Waiting Arbor in Nagoya is a 1923 tea garden bench of 1.3 square metres, with a half-moon window cut only on the principal guest's side.
The Kamiya Family Residence Carpenter's Room and Inner Japanese Room in Anjo, Aichi, is a Taisho workshop with a tall interior and an unusual beam assembly.
The Kamiya Family Treasure House in Anjo, Aichi, is a Taisho two-storey kura raised on three courses of granite, with three drip courses across its walls.
The Kamiya Family Residence Miso Storehouse and Library in Anjo, Aichi, is a Taisho building whose ground floor holds a miso store, a store and a library.
Built in 1923 within the grounds of Kankyo Shuzo, a historic mirin brewery in Kanie, Aichi, this two-story wooden residence blends a refined shoin-style interior with a second-floor Western-style room. Registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in 2005, it embodies the architectural transition of the Taisho era.