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.
Built for the science classrooms and the largest of the seven at 1,453 sq m. Its south half came first, and triple steel sash windows face Building No. 7.
The 1925 Reppinkan on the University of Tokyo Hongo campus, registered in 1998, the first building in the Uchida Gothic style that shaped the campus after the earthquake.
The 1925 Great Hall of the University of Tokyo, designed by Uchida Yoshikazu in a vertical Gothic and Expressionist style, and the first registered cultural property in 1996.
The Osakaya Sunaba store in Toranomon, Tokyo, a two-storey timber corner shop of 1923 with a cut corner and a small gable, is loved as a local landmark.
The Nakae Shop in Taito Ward, Tokyo, is a timber shop of 1924 on Dote-dori with a tall gabled front and upstairs transoms worked with pine, bamboo, plum and cherry.
Nezu Church's chapel in Tokyo, a clapboard building said to date from 1919, with an off-center entrance, a spired tower and pointed windows. Registered in 2001.
The Taisho-era brick gate and wall of Nezu Church in Tokyo, kept low on the chapel side so the gable stays in view, with 3 gateposts for 2 gates. Registered 2001.
A 4-storey church of 1926 in Hongo, Tokyo, built with the concrete block system devised by its architect Nakamura Mamoru. Registered as a cultural property in 2021.
The Hirano Family Residence Storehouse in Tokyo, built around 1922, is a brick store with a basement, overfired bricks, rounded joints and glass window hoods.
The 1921 main house of the Hirano Family Residence in Tokyo, by Yasuoka Katsuya, keeps its clapboard guest wing, original fittings and tall glass doors. Private.
The Hirano Family Residence Tea Room in Tokyo, built around 1922, is a four-and-a-half-mat room with a board alcove and moon-viewing shoji by Yasuoka Katsuya.
The Hirano Family Residence Tea Room Gate in Tokyo, built around 1922, is a timber garden gate with a gently swelling board roof held down by round bamboo.
The Hirano Family Residence Gate in Tokyo, built around 1922, pairs rendered brick posts with a curved tiled roof, a wicket door and brick walls. Seen from the road.
The Western-style annex of the Hirano Family Residence in Tokyo, built in 1922, has white tiles, half-timbering and its own entrance and stair. Interior private.
The Maeda Family outdoor privy on Niijima, Tokyo, is a mid-Taisho stone building registered in 2004. Walls and barrel vault are built wholly of island koga-ishi.
A late Taisho inner gate in Higashikurume, 1.5 m wide, built of zelkova on brackets with a lattice transom, dividing a farm estate's front garden from its inner one.
An Important Cultural Property film recording Onoe Matsunosuke—Japan's first movie star—performing the iconic "Farewell at Sakurai" before the future Emperor Shōwa at Japan's first motion picture exhibition in 1921. Only the second film ever designated nationally; a digitally restored version is freely available online, with related exhibits at the National Film Archive of Japan in Kyobashi, Tokyo.
Yokoyama Taikan's 1923 ink handscroll, over 40 metres long, following water from mountain mist to the sea, an Important Cultural Property held by MOMAT in Tokyo.
Built in 1914 at the Railway Agency's Shinbashi Works, the wooden Nade 6141 is the oldest surviving bogie electric railcar in Japan and the prototype of today's commuter trains, introducing the three-door layout and multiple-unit control system. Designated a National Important Cultural Property in 2017, it is preserved and displayed at The Railway Museum in Saitama City.
Aoki Family Residence Main House in Mima, Tokushima, is a 1915 retirement house with a hipped-and-gabled roof ringed by pent roofs and walls of grey nezumi plaster.