Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Shiga

Above the main hall of Kawaraya-ji in Shiga, this small 1700 founder's hall honours the monk who revived the temple and shows the Zen style at close range.

Built in 1725, this sutra hall at Kawaraya-ji holds an octagonal revolving scripture case and bold shrimp-beam framing. It is the one building listed for design merit.

The largest building at Kawaraya-ji, this 1871 priests' quarters greets guests with a cusped karahafu entrance and bold beam framing over its earthen-floored kitchen.

Linked to the main hall by a covered corridor, this mid-1640s hall at Kawaraya-ji is thought to be its former main hall, marked by the raigō pillars still at its altar.

Before the main hall, this mid-1640s bell tower at Kawaraya-ji rises on sixteen-faceted posts splayed outward for strength. Hanging its bell marked the temple's revival.

The smallest of Kawaraya-ji's seven listed buildings, this 1818 hall of barely three square metres packs full Zen detail around Binzuru, the arhat rubbed for healing.

The Former Imazu Post Office, located on Vories Street in Imazu, Takashima City, Shiga Prefecture, is a two-story wooden post office building designed by American architect William Merrell Vories and completed in 1936. Featuring a semicircular arched entrance and charming blend of Western and Japanese design elements, it was registered as a nationally designated tangible cultural property in 2015.

The Former Shiga Bank Konan Branch, located along the historic Soma Kaido road in Koka City, Shiga Prefecture, is a reinforced concrete bank building completed in 1925 to a design by William Merrell Vories. Featuring Ionic columns and a semicircular arched window in classical Western style, it was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2015.

Built around 1919 by the Ōmi merchant Tanaka family, this great hall frames its garden through verandas and Taishō glass, and now serves the Ōmi Shōnintei restaurant.

This 1919 plaster storehouse stands at the northwest corner, with a boarded skirt, a separate roof over its core, and a notched eaves band, shaping the post-town street.

Built around 1919 by the Ōmi merchant Tanaka family, this eight-mat tea room works round bamboo and fine woods into its alcove, and now forms part of the Ōmi Shōnintei.

Built in 1919 for the Ōmi merchant Tanaka family, this two-storey timber house lays out grid-plan rooms open to the garden, and now houses the Ōmi Shōnintei restaurant.

The oldest of the five buildings, this 1892 plaster storehouse carries scrolling motifs and a family crest at its west door and a wave-formed eave on the east gable.

Explore the Former Toyosato Elementary School in Shiga Prefecture, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property designed by architect William Merrell Vories in 1937. Discover its Omi merchant heritage, iconic Tortoise and Hare staircase, and anime pilgrimage culture.

The Kurokabe Glass Hall in Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture, is a nationally registered tangible cultural property originally built in 1900 as the Nagahama Branch of Japan's 130th National Bank. Known locally as the 'Black Wall Bank' for its distinctive black-lacquered plaster exterior, this Japanese-Western eclectic wooden building was reborn as a glass art gallery in 1989 and now serves as the symbol of Kurokabe Square, a cultural district attracting approximately two million visitors annually.

Only 1.2 meters long, the stone bridge before the former Fujii estate flares toward the road and carries high railings with rounded posts over a Koto village canal.

A roofed timber wall about 30 meters long encloses the main house of the former Fujii estate, built differently on each face to divide private rooms from service areas.

A compact two-story storehouse at the former Fujii estate, its white plaster skirt faced with horizontal planks reused from old wooden river boats.

Rebuilt here in 1932, the plain main house of the former Fujii estate anchors the Gokasho folk museum and shows how thrifty Omi merchants once lived and worked.

Running nearly 114 meters, the concrete outer wall of the former Fujii estate carries a stone gate with iron doors, modern for a village of board and earthen walls.