Taishō

Discover Art Space Taniwo in Nogata City, Fukuoka—a nationally registered Taisho-period bank building blending brick-tile façades, Secession-style details, and a distinctive corner turret that tells the story of Chikuho's coal-fueled prosperity.

The Ishihara Shōten Store in Nogata City, Fukuoka, is a two-story wooden merchant house built in 1926 and registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property. Together with the adjacent Maedaen Honten Store, it forms one of the most evocative historic streetscapes along the former Nagasaki Kaidō highway, featuring a distinctive three-tiered façade, a partial double-height shop interior, and a traditional second-floor zashiki.

The Former Osaka Shosen Building in Mojiko, Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka, was completed in 1917 as the Moji branch of the Osaka Shosen shipping company and is registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan. Designed by Kawai Ikuji, a pioneer of Osaka architecture, it features striking orange tiles, white granite bands, and a distinctive octagonal tower. The building is celebrated for blending Tatsuno-style Free Classic with Vienna Secession influences, and today serves as a cultural hub of the Mojiko Retro district.

Standing in the heart of Kurume City in Fukuoka Prefecture, the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Kurume Church Chapel was designed by the American-born architect William Merrell Vories and completed in 1918. The oldest surviving Vories-designed building in Kyushu, it was registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in 2019. Its column-free worship hall, supported by an exposed wooden scissors truss, beautifully embodies Vories's early architectural style.

Yoriguchi Bridge, spanning the Hoshino River in Joyo, Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture, is a double-arched stone bridge built in 1920 during the Taisho era. Known as one of the celebrated Hifumiyo Bridges — a unique group of four stone bridges with one to four arches — it was registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2023. Visitors can enjoy cherry blossoms in spring, river play in summer, and firefly viewing in early summer, all set against a bridge that has served its community for over a century.

The front gate of Ryotei Kinnabe in Wakamatsu, Kitakyushu is a nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property built around 1917. Featuring a modern sukiya-style design with square pillars, natural log timbers, glass transoms, and a copper-clad canopy, this elegant gate preserves the prosperity and refined dining culture of Wakamatsu's coal-boom era.

The main building of Ryotei Kinnabe in Wakamatsu, Kitakyushu is a nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property and one of Kyushu's most historically significant dining establishments. Founded in 1895 as Kyushu's first beef hot pot restaurant, the current three-story wooden building dates from around 1917 and features refined sukiya-style architecture with a striking black lacquer plaster exterior. A component of the Japan Heritage site Kanmon Nostalgic Strait, this still-operating ryotei preserves the culinary traditions and architectural grandeur of Wakamatsu's coal-boom era.

The mash-preparation storehouse at the Sasa Masamune brewery in Kitakata, Fukushima. Built around 1917 and registered in 2021, it was destroyed in the June 2026 fire.

The storage building at the Sasa Masamune brewery in Kitakata, Fukushima. Built in 1925, this two-story storehouse ran eighteen bays long. Lost in the June 2026 fire.

The pressing house at the Sasa Masamune brewery in Kitakata, Fukushima. Built in 1917, this storehouse separated sake from lees. Lost in the June 2026 fire.

The document storehouse at the Sasa Masamune brewery in Kitakata, Fukushima. A small 1917 storehouse, its gable bore the family trade name. Lost in June 2026.

The yeast-starter storehouse at the Sasa Masamune brewery in Kitakata, Fukushima. Built around 1925, this building raised the seed mash. Lost in the June 2026 fire.

Discover Totsuna Bridge, one of Japan's oldest steel arch bridges, standing gracefully over the Surikami River in the heart of Iizaka Onsen since 1915. A Registered Tangible Cultural Property with a crossing history spanning over 1,000 years.

The main house of Fukunishi Honten in Aizuwakamatsu, built about 1915, centers on a glass-screened accounts room, with thirty-five mats of guest rooms upstairs.

The shop-storehouse of Fukunishi Honten in Aizuwakamatsu, built about 1914, sets glossy black-plaster walls against a lacquered interior with Ionic columns.

The brick wall of Fukunishi Honten in Aizuwakamatsu, built about 1915 and twelve meters long, is laid in English bond on a cut-stone base and tile-capped.

Standing gracefully in Maiko Park against the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, Ijokaku is a three-story octagonal pavilion built in 1915 by the overseas Chinese merchant Wu Jintang. Designated a National Important Cultural Property as Japan's oldest surviving timber-framed concrete block building, it now houses the country's only museum dedicated to Sun Yat-sen, the father of modern China. Visitors can admire its lavish gold-embossed wallpaper, phoenix ceiling reliefs, and sweeping views of the Akashi Strait.

The 1925 storehouse and barn of the Arai estate in Suma, Kobe: a plastered store on a stone base and an earthen-floored barn under a stepped gabled roof.

The 1925 main house of the Arai estate above the Suma shore in Kobe. A refined two-storey wooden home with a central corridor and a formal sea-facing interior.

Discover the Shōtokuden Rear Hall (Kōden) of Ikaruga-dera Temple in Taishi, Hyogo. This striking three-tiered octagonal hall, designed by master architect Itō Heizaemon and completed in 1916, is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property blending traditional Japanese craftsmanship with modern architectural innovation to honor Prince Shōtoku.