Shōwa

The Shinzashiki at Saikyō-ji is an early-Shōwa sukiya room behind the guest hall, its white plaster set against red-ocher posts, paired with the Kanran-tei.

Located on the Shiga University campus in Hikone City, the Ryosui Kaikan is a Spanish-style wooden building designed by architect William Merrell Vories in 1938. Featuring cream-colored German plaster walls, Spanish clay tiles, and decorative Taizan tiles, it was registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in 1997.

Built about 1935 in Shimoisshiki-cho, Higashiomi, Shiga, this munamon gate has a tiled roof with copper edges and a gentle mukuri curve. Carpenter: Kimura Tahee.

A late Edo townhouse in Kawara, Hikone, Shiga, refaced in 1934 as a post office with tiled walls, a mortar cornice and a pediment. Registered in 2011; exterior only.

Built in 1938, the Saikiko of Tarobogu Aga Shrine is a two-story dozo whose thick earthen walls guard ritual implements from fire. Listed as a Cultural Property in 2019.

Built in 1934, the stone Inner Gate of Tarobogu Aga Shrine marks a threshold toward the upper precinct of Mount Akagami. Listed as a Cultural Property in 2019.

Completed in 1930, the Choraku-den is Tarobogu Aga Shrine's largest hall, blending timber and reinforced concrete on a steep slope. Listed as a Cultural Property in 2019.

Erected in 1957 with copper over a timber core, the Copper Torii of Tarobogu Aga Shrine marks a threshold on Mount Akagami. Listed as a Cultural Property in 2019.

Built in 1930, the stone Fudo Myoo Prayer Site of Tarobogu Aga Shrine recalls its Shugendo past. Hard to recreate, it was listed as a Cultural Property in 2019.

Standing on Vories Street in Imazu, Takashima City, Shiga Prefecture, Imazu Church of the United Church of Christ in Japan is a wooden church designed by architect William Merrell Vories and completed in 1934. Featuring a distinctive tower and bright facade, it was registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2003. Together with a former bank and post office on the same street, it preserves the modern architectural heritage of Lake Biwa's western shore.

The Chapel of the United Church of Christ in Japan Omi Kaneda Church is a two-story wooden worship hall in Omi Hachiman, Shiga Prefecture, designed by the Vories Architectural Office and completed in 1950. Featuring a gabled slate roof, a southwest bell tower, and exposed kingpost trusses in the second-floor nave, it was registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2012. The chapel is one of more than 20 Vories-related buildings still standing in Omi Hachiman.

The UCCJ Katata Church in Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture, is a wooden church designed by William Merrell Vories and completed in 1930. Featuring Tudor-arched quadruple windows and a distinctive pointed-roof corner tower, the church and its red-brick wall are both designated as nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan.

A nationally registered tangible cultural property in Katata, Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture, designed by the Vories Architectural Office. Built in 1930, this red brick wall features a stretcher bond pattern standing 12 courses high, with a distinctive 45-degree rotated coping course that creates an open, welcoming entrance to the church.

The Gate Pillars of the Minakuchi Church in Koka City, Shiga Prefecture, are brick pillars designed by American architect William Merrell Vories in 1930. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property, they embody the history of Christian mission and Western architecture in the Omi region.

The Minakuchi Church Chapel in Koka City, Shiga Prefecture, is a wooden chapel designed by William Merrell Vories in 1930. Registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property, this American Colonial-style building with a distinctive Latin cross floor plan stands as a masterpiece of early Showa-era architecture nestled in a historic castle town.

A 1929 registered property in Higashiomi, Shiga: a plain merchant-town front hiding a refined sukiya hall upstairs, with a curved coffered ceiling and bat-shaped windows.

A 1929 registered property on the Fukada estate in Higashiomi, Shiga: a small wing for the bath and lavatory, yet with a corridor ceiling refined enough for a hanare.

A 1933 timber row house at the end of a bent lane in Otsu, Shiga. Built for two households, now one, it keeps both doorways. Registered 2020; a private home, closed.

An early Showa timber annex behind the registered ryotei in Kusatsu, Shiga. Its ground-floor hall carries a coved coffered ceiling, and verandas wrap both floors.

The street wall of a registered ryotei in Kusatsu, Shiga, built around 1936 and running eleven metres. Knotted log posts stand on cut stone below red plaster.