Meiji
Tottori · 明治Browse Tottori’s cultural heritage from the Meiji period (1868 – 1912). Filter by type and keyword, with concise stories, maps, and travel tips.
Built in 1907 on the ruins of Tottori Castle to welcome Crown Prince Yoshihito (later Emperor Taishō), Jinpukaku is a gleaming white wooden villa designed in the French Renaissance style by Katayama Tōkuma, Meiji Japan's leading court architect. Designated a National Important Cultural Property, it is celebrated as one of the finest Western-style buildings in the Chūgoku region, featuring a famous column-free spiral staircase and sweeping views over the Hōryū-in Garden.
Discover the Iida Family Main House, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property nestled in Shikano, Tottori. Explore this traditional Japanese residence that preserves the architectural heritage of a charming castle town.
The Ikuta Family Residence Main House in Nanbu Town, Tottori Prefecture, is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property built in 1902. Discover the architectural beauty of this Meiji-era masterpiece, featuring impressive exposed beam work, delicate kumiko transom lattice, and an elegant main reception room with fine timbers.
The Ogawa Shuzo Bottling House in Kurayoshi, Tottori, is a Meiji-era earthen-walled brewery building of 218 square metres, registered nationally in 1998.
The Ogawa Shuzo Pressing House in Kurayoshi, Tottori, held the press that squeezed sake from the mash. A pulley and brick walling from its lost waterwheel survive.
Sugar was worth a fireproof building of its own. This late Meiji storehouse in Sakaiminato holds an earthen floor and, unexpectedly, a Western-style room.
Eighteen metres of frontage on the Sakai Channel road. This early Meiji townhouse keeps its plastered half-storey and insect-cage windows, a rare brewer's house.
A two-storey earthen-walled storehouse turns its gable to the road, closing the street front beside the Omotani house in Sakaiminato. Iron doors, notched battens.
Kiya Ryokan is a nationally registered tangible cultural property in Misasa, Tottori Prefecture. Founded in 1868, this wooden inn preserves Meiji, Taisho, and Showa-era architecture alongside rare foot-emerging radium hot springs and a traditional ondoru bath.
The Gallery Building of the Shiotani Teiko Memorial Photo Gallery in Kotoura Town, Tottori Prefecture, is a registered Tangible Cultural Property originally built in 1874 as a merchant storehouse and later converted into a photography studio by Teiko Shiotani, a pioneer of Japanese art photography. This unique cultural heritage site offers visitors an opportunity to experience both Meiji-era storehouse architecture and the legacy of a world-renowned photographer.
A north-facing timber townhouse at Akasaki in Kotoura, Tottori, built in 1906 as a shipping firm's head office, latticed on both floors and registered in 2015.
A compact two-storey storehouse of 1902 on the south edge of the Shiotani plot at Akasaki, Kotoura, Tottori. Namako tiling below, plaster above, facing the garden.
A late Meiji public bathhouse in Kurayoshi, Tottori, registered in 2010. Trading ended in 2022, yet its house-like frontage and divided bath plan survive intact.
Two linked Meiji storehouses behind a cotton merchant's shop in Tottori City, registered 2007. Front walls carry rare shippo-pattern namako tilework. Free entry.
Built in 1873 at Itaibara hamlet in Chizu, Tottori, this three-square-metre sanctuary carries bracket sets, frog-leg struts and lion-nose carving. Registered 2006.