Meiji

Discover Yuden Miso Higashigura, a registered tangible cultural property in Tochigi City. Experience authentic Meiji-era warehouse architecture, traditional miso cuisine, and craft beer in Japan's charming 'Little Edo' district.

The Former Aoki Family Nasu Villa in Nasushiobara, Tochigi Prefecture, is a German-style Western residence built by Meiji-era Foreign Minister Aoki Shūzō and designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan. Designed by Matsugasaki Tsumunaga — whose twelve years of architectural study in Germany produced this sole surviving work in Japan — the villa features distinctive fish-scale slate walls and authentic German timber-frame construction. It stands as a rare testament to the pioneering development of the Nasunogahara plain and the lives of the Meiji statesmen who shaped modern Japan.

Furukawa Bridge, spanning the Matsuki River in Ashio, Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture, is a steel truss bridge completed in 1890 using components manufactured by Germany's Harkort Company. Designated as a nationally Important Cultural Property, it is the oldest surviving Harkort-made bridge in Japan remaining in its original location, embodying the rapid modernization of the Ashio Copper Mine and Japan's bridge engineering history.

An Important Cultural Property in Nasu, Tochigi: home of the Mimori family of village headmen, with a thatched 1733 main house and a long front gatehouse.

Created in late Meiji-era Ashikaga, the Shindo Family Garden uses a dramatic five-meter elevation difference to produce a vertical garden composition virtually without parallel in Japan. A three-meter waterfall, an S-shaped pond, and a two-story detached residence form a single integrated landscape designated a National Registered Monument (Place of Scenic Beauty). Normally a private residence, it occasionally opens during Ashikaga's autumn cultural heritage events.

Built in 1908 with a donation from the British Miners' Mission, Ashio Christian Church is the only surviving early church in what was once Japan's leading copper-mining town. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2014, this small wooden chapel preserves the spiritual life of the miners who powered Japan's industrial rise.

Built around 1907, the back gate of the Iizuka new residence is timber with a pantile gabled roof. Though at the rear, it is large and finely built.

Built of granite around 1907, the Iizuka new residence front gate has tile-roofed board fences on stone bases. Its tall single-stone posts signal the family's rank.

The Shintaku main house of the Iizuka residence in Bato, built around 1907, shows an early modern feel in its orderly plan and refined reception rooms.

The courtyard gate of the Iizuka new residence, built around 1908, links storehouse and main house, enclosing an inner garden behind openwork lattice fences.

A two-story dozo built in 1908 behind the Iizuka main house, this storehouse was plastered even over its timber for fire safety. It is now a loft-style guest room.

Discover Otani Kobikan, a beautifully preserved Meiji-period (1897) wooden photo studio in Kanuma, Tochigi. Built by a young entrepreneur inspired by Kobe's foreign settlement architecture, this Nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property features a distinctive slant studio with a glass skylight and decorative gable bearing the character for 'beauty.'

The worship gate of Karasawayama Shrine in Sano, Tochigi, was built in 1883 at its founding, the oldest building on the mountain, with plain knotty pillars.

Around the main hall of Karasawayama Shrine in Sano, Tochigi, run the 1909 inner gate and 52-meter openwork fence, their diamond lattice framing the sanctuary.

At the summit of Karasawayama Castle ruins in Sano, Tochigi, the 1909 worship hall of Karasawayama Shrine opens on four sides beneath a graceful copper roof.

On the honmaru of Karasawayama Castle in Sano, Tochigi, stands the 1908 main hall of Karasawayama Shrine, a single-bay nagare-zukuri sanctuary of Meiji design.

The Daiichi Shuzo Former Grain Storehouse in Sano City, Tochigi Prefecture, is a single-story wooden granary built during the Taishō to early Shōwa era (1919–1926) and registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2016. Forming part of the nagayamon gate complex at Tochigi's oldest sake brewery — founded in 1673 — its weatherboard-clad exterior preserves the dignified streetside facade of a historic brewing estate.

The Daiichi Shuzo Sake Brewery Office in Sano City, Tochigi Prefecture, is a nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property within the compound of Tochigi's oldest brewery, founded in 1673. One of six registered heritage buildings at the site, this office managed the business operations of the renowned Kaika brand sake. The brewery continues its centuries-old tradition of crafting premium sake using pristine local spring water and rice from its own paddies.

Discover Daini Shoten Shop, a nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Tochigi City. This early Meiji-era dozo-style merchant storehouse stands along the historic Nikko Reiheishi Kaido in the charming Kura no Machi district.

The board fence of the Tsukada Residence runs 113 metres along the Uzuma in Tochigi. Its dark planking, tiled cap and five wicket gates form a signature riverside view.