Taishō

Discover the Handayama Water Distribution Reservoir No. 3, a registered tangible cultural property in Okayama. Built in 1919, this rare circular brick-and-concrete reservoir remains in active service within the beautiful Handayama Botanical Garden.

The Himei Family Residence Main House in Kamogata, Asakuchi City, Okayama Prefecture, is the home of a distinguished medical family that served as official physicians to the lords of the Kamogata Domain since the Edo period. Registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in 2015, this rare hybrid building combines a traditional irimoya-style Japanese residence with a Western-style medical clinic wing, offering valuable insight into the history of provincial medical architecture in Japan.

Muku Bridge is a stone bridge built in 1920 within the grounds of Tanjoji Temple in Kumenan Town, Okayama Prefecture. Spanning the legendary Katame River, this 7.3-meter-long, 2.6-meter-wide structure is a nationally registered tangible cultural property and an integral part of the historic landscape of the temple, which marks the birthplace of Honen, founder of the Jodo (Pure Land) sect of Buddhism.

The only one of six buildings at Yamanari Sake Brewery in Ibara, Okayama registered as a model of design, this 1915 parlor has a tokonoma alcove and garden veranda.

The Bell Tower Gate of Ryūjōin Temple in Tamano, Okayama Prefecture, is a rare hybrid structure built in 1922 combining a reinforced concrete lower story with granite and white tile finishes and a traditional wooden upper story with an irimoya roof. Registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property, it represents a unique fusion of Western and Japanese architectural traditions virtually unparalleled in the region.

Completed in 1925, the Old Ogimi Village Office is the oldest surviving reinforced concrete building in Okinawa. Featuring a distinctive octagonal and cruciform design engineered to withstand typhoons, this national Important Cultural Property offers a fascinating glimpse into Okinawa's architectural modernization.

Nakandakari Hijaa in Nanjo City, Okinawa, is a traditional stone-built communal spring representing the finest example of Ryukyuan water heritage. Reconstructed in Ryukyu limestone by Tsuken Island stonemasons in 1912, the facility features separate bathing areas for men and women and Okinawa's only Goemon bath at a communal spring. Designated as a nationally Important Cultural Property in 1995, this site offers visitors a rare glimpse into the island's centuries-old water culture.

Built in 1912 on Kuroshima, the Kamiyama Residence main house is a low, red-tiled timber farmhouse with an eight-mat principal room, a Tangible Cultural Property.

On a coral atoll 360 km east of Okinawa, this coursed-limestone office once ran the Tōyō Sugar Company's phosphate mine. Registered in 2005, it is now a museum.

In the port area of Kitadaitō Island stand the remains of a communal bath used by phosphate miners and residents. Two concrete tubs survive. Registered in 2007.

On riverless Kitadaitō Island, a sloping mortar floor of 500 square metres caught rainwater into two sunken tanks to supply the Shimosaka bath. Registered in 2007.

A round stone cistern supplying the Tōyō Sugar employee bath on Kitadaitō Island, about 2.5 m deep and 8.9 m across inside, with limestone walls. Registered in 2007.

A reinforced-concrete staff bath in the old company village of Kitadaitō Island, roofed with a segmental-arch slab and split into three rooms. Registered in 2007.

Standing on a coral-limestone bluff overlooking the West Port of Minami-Daito Island, this roofless stone shell built around 1924 once housed the steam engine that powered the winches used to haul boats ashore during typhoons. Constructed in irregular dry-stacked masonry from the island's own coral limestone, it overlooks the very cove where the 1900 pioneer expedition first set foot on this remote Pacific island. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2000, it is one of the most evocative surviving relics of Minami-Daito's unique frontier history.

Located in Sumita Town, Iwate Prefecture, the Kuriki Iron Works Ruins preserve the remains of a private ironworks that operated from 1881 to 1920. Designated a National Historic Site in 2021, it is the only surviving example in Japan of a complete small-to-medium scale blast furnace ironworks compound from the Meiji and Taisho periods, holding exceptional industrial archaeological value. Two blast furnace bases, office ruins, water channels, and casting factory remains lie quietly in the Tane-ga-hara highlands beloved by author Miyazawa Kenji.

The Former Kikuchi Western-Style Building (1926) in Hanamaki pairs a Western exterior with Japanese rooms. Saved from demolition, it stands in Miyazawa Kenji's home town.

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.