Taishō

The Main Hall of Shichisho Shrine in Nagoya's Minami Ward was registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in 2018. Originally founded in the Heian period with seven deities from Atsuta Shrine, the Taisho-era hall features rare nagare-zukuri architecture with a hinoki-bark roof — a combination that survived WWII bombings and is now extremely rare in Nagoya. Visitors can also enjoy a 1,000-year-old sacred camphor tree and beautiful seasonal goshuin stamps.

Narumi Tegashi Shrine in Inuyama City, Aichi Prefecture, is an ancient Shikinaisha listed in the Heian-era Engishiki shrine register. Its Saimon-den, a ceremonial prayer hall built around 1917, features a distinctive intersecting roofline that defines the shrine's sacred frontage. Registered as a national tangible cultural property in 2024, this Taisho-era hall is part of a remarkable ensemble of six registered buildings including an exquisitely carved main hall and a charming Benten hall beside a spring-fed pond.

Discover the Iwase Bunko Storehouse in Nishio, Aichi — a nationally registered tangible cultural property built around 1919. This striking brick archive once protected over 80,000 rare books and stands as a symbol of one philanthropist's devotion to public learning.

A registered cultural property in Nishio, Aichi, this small wooden hall opened around 1925 as the Iwase Bunko children's library, its windows set low for children.

Nomasaki, Aichi's oldest lighthouse, has stood on the Chita Peninsula since 1921. Its rare unreinforced concrete form earned cultural-property listing in 2022.

Discover Honko-ji Main Hall, a nationally registered tangible cultural property in Okazaki, Aichi. Built in 1913, this Jodo Shinshu temple features stunning black-lacquer and gold-leaf ornamentation from the Taisho era.

Built in 1921, this brick storehouse in Gamagōri, Aichi, is a rare survivor, often called Japan's only brick float storehouse, holding the Sangaigasa parade float.

On the Sakai River in Obu, Aichi, this 1916 stone sluice gate stops floodwater backing up the Myojin River. Built in artificial stone, it was registered in 2021.

Built in 1915 by Kitasato Shibasaburo, this German-Baroque timber laboratory was moved to Museum Meiji-mura in 1980 and is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property.

Originally guarding the Marunouchi south plaza of Tokyo Station, this 1914 octagonal police box mirrors Tatsuno Kingo's iconic station design. Now preserved at Meiji-mura in Inuyama, Aichi.

Discover the Meiji-mura Brazilian Immigrant House, a registered tangible cultural property originally built in 1919 in São Paulo, Brazil, by Japanese immigrants. Now preserved at the Museum Meiji-mura in Inuyama, Aichi, this unique wooden house blends Japanese carpentry with Brazilian materials, offering visitors a rare glimpse into the pioneering spirit of Japanese emigrants.

Momengura Chita, a nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property in the Okada district of Chita City, Aichi Prefecture, is a Meiji-to-Taisho-era earthen cotton storehouse built by the Takeuchi Torao cotton enterprise. Now a hands-on weaving facility, visitors can create original coasters and mats on antique looms while exploring the 400-year heritage of Chita cotton and the beautifully preserved historic streetscape of Okada.

Hidden deep in the mountains of Kumakogen, Ehime, the Daishido of Iwayaji Temple — the 45th sacred site of the Shikoku Pilgrimage — was completed in 1920 under the supervision of architect Kawaguchi Shoichi. This nationally designated Important Cultural Property masterfully fuses traditional Japanese temple architecture with Western details such as entasis columns, rose-and-cord capitals, and column fluting. Set against towering conglomerate cliffs, the hall is celebrated as a landmark of modern Japanese religious architecture. This guide explores its design highlights, visitor information, and nearby attractions.

Uchiko-za is a traditional wooden playhouse built in 1916 in the town of Uchiko, Ehime Prefecture. Equipped with a revolving stage, hanamichi walkway, and traditional box seating, this living theater still hosts kabuki and bunraku performances and was designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan in 2015.

The Dōgo Onsen Honkan, in Matsuyama on the island of Shikoku, is the timber-framed centerpiece of what many consider Japan's oldest hot spring. Its four interconnected buildings — the Kami-no-Yu Main Hall (1894), the Yūshinden / Tama-no-Yu Wing (1899), and the South Wing and Genkan entrance hall (1924) — were designated a National Important Cultural Property in 1994, the first public bathhouse in Japan to be so honored. Designed by master carpenter Sakamoto Matahachirō, the complex features Japan's only imperial bathing chamber, the Botchan Room linked to novelist Natsume Sōseki, and a small drum tower whose Toki-daiko still marks the hours. Fully reopened in July 2024 after extensive seismic and conservation work, it remains a working bathhouse where visitors can soak in pure, source-flow hot spring water inside a living cultural treasure.

Discover Asahi-kan, a beautifully preserved 1926 movie theater in Uchiko, Ehime Prefecture. This Registered Tangible Cultural Property features a distinctive Japanese-Western hybrid design with a hexagonal drum tower, and continues to host cultural events in the heart of one of Shikoku's most charming historic towns.

Discover Asahi Soy Sauce Brewery in Uwajima, Ehime — a Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1884, where Taisho-era warehouse architecture meets a living soy sauce tradition now in its fourth generation.

The former Ishizaki Steamship Company Headquarters in Matsuyama's Mitsuhama port district is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property completed in 1924. Designed by acclaimed architect Kigo Shichiro, this reinforced concrete building features an elegant symmetrical facade with orange and white tiles, embodying the prosperity of Seto Inland Sea maritime commerce. Combine your visit with a stroll through the retro charm of the Mitsuhama district.

Discover the Imabari Radium Onsen Main Hall, a nationally registered tangible cultural property in Ehime Prefecture. Built in 1919, this reinforced concrete bathhouse features unique octagonal domes and a polygonal tower, standing as a rare Taisho-era survivor of the Imabari air raids.

Located in Kanou-cho, Shikokuchuo City, Ehime Prefecture, the Onishi Internal Medicine Clinic Examination Building is a single-story wooden medical building constructed in the early Taisho period (1912-1925). Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2001, it exemplifies the giyofu (pseudo-Western) architectural style with its traditional irimoya tiled roof above Western-style clapboard walls. Decorative blind fanlights and a covered carriage entrance reflect the unique character of provincial modern medical architecture in Japan.