Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Yamagata

The Chikaoka Family Residence Main House, a nationally registered Tangible Cultural Property since 2022, is a grand late Edo-period chumon-zukuri farmhouse in Kaneyama Town, Yamagata Prefecture. With 311 square meters of floor space, seven rooms, a horse-stable wing, formal entrance platform, and rare triple-groove lintels, it stands as an invaluable example of traditional Tohoku farmhouse architecture.

Discover the Rear Gate (Ushiro-Shinmon) and Sacred Fence (Tamagaki) of Fukura Kuchinomiya at Chokaisan Omonoimi Shrine in Yamagata Prefecture. This registered tangible cultural property of Japan, rebuilt in 1939, encloses the twin sanctuary halls of a 1,400-year-old mountain shrine — the Ichinomiya of Dewa Province at the foot of Mount Chokai.

The Former Nagai Elementary School First Building in Nagai City, Yamagata Prefecture, is a magnificent 93-meter-long wooden two-story schoolhouse built in 1933 by local civic leaders. Featuring Stick Style architecture, distinctive red exterior walls, a grand central staircase, and boat-bottom ceilings, it was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2009. Now open to the public as a community facility with a café, exhibition space, and workshops.

The Nakazawagawa Higashiyama Dam in Obanazawa City, Yamagata Prefecture, is a Taisho-era gravity-type stone masonry sabo dam built around 1920 after a devastating 1913 flood. As part of Yamagata's first prefectural sabo project, this 12m-long, 2.4m-high dam was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in 2010. Located near the famous Ginzan Onsen, it offers a unique glimpse into Japan's pioneering disaster prevention engineering heritage.

Discover the New Murao Roman-kan Annex, a 1937 Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Kaminoyama Onsen, Yamagata. Five exquisite wooden buildings connected by covered walkways showcase lavish Showa-era craftsmanship amidst a Japanese garden.

Built in 1898, this three-story wooden inn near JR Yonezawa Station blends Japanese irimoya roofing with Western arched windows and Zen-inspired katōmado openings, earning the nickname 'Dragon Palace of Yonezawa.' Designated a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, it still operates as a hotel where guests can sleep amid raden inlay, Yakusugi cedar ceilings, and over a century of hospitality tradition.

Maizuru Bridge is a stone single-arch bridge built in 1886 spanning the moat of Yonezawa Castle in Yamagata Prefecture. Registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property, it serves as the main approach to Uesugi Shrine and is affectionately known as 'Megane-bashi' (Spectacles Bridge). Its unusually wide deck, tuff stone balustrades, and natural boulder-topped pillars make it a distinctive example of Meiji-era bridge architecture.

The Main Hall of Myozenji Temple in Yamagata City is a wooden temple building designed in 1934 by Ito Chuta, the legendary architect behind Tsukiji Hongwanji. Featuring symmetrical bell and drum towers and a grand 60-tatami hall, it is a nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property.

Built in 1922 and registered in 2015, Uzen-Narita Station in Nagai City is a 99-square-metre wooden station house with geometric cutwork around its ticket window.

Nishi-Otsuka is the only Flower Nagai Line station left from its light railway days, pairing a 78-square-metre wooden building with a 104-metre stone platform.

Yamashiroya Kyukan in Kaminoyama, Yamagata, is a 1918 timber inn building registered in 2011. Glazed corridors wrap guest rooms that face the Zao mountains.

Yamashiroya Nigura in Kaminoyama, Yamagata, is a late-Meiji earthen-walled storehouse registered in 2011, built to hold the working stock of a hot spring inn.

Yoshitei Kita-dozō in Yonezawa, Yamagata, is a plastered storehouse of about 1919, registered in 2003. It packs three floors and a basement into 46 square metres.

Yoshitei Honya in Yonezawa, Yamagata, is a two-storey silk merchant's house of about 1919. Registered in 2003, its Akita cedar rooms now serve a beef restaurant.

Yoshitei Minami-dozō in Yonezawa, Yamagata, is a late Edo storehouse of 1830 to 1867. It survived the great fire of 1919, held raw silk, and was registered in 2003.

Yoshitei Mon in Yonezawa, Yamagata, is a zelkova gate of 1940 on the old Aizu road. Registered in 2003, this single-bay yakuimon spans about 2.6 metres in width.

The 1925 heart of the former Uesugi counts' residence in Yonezawa, rebuilt in pure Japanese style by Nakajo Seiichiro, its cypress hall open beside Uesugi Shrine.

On the north side of the Yonezawa City Uesugi Memorial Hall stands a plaster-walled dozo storehouse built to resist fire, completed in 1924 and registered in 1997.

The only two-storey building of the former Uesugi residence in Yonezawa, a 1925 guest wing by Nakajo Seiichiro whose banded corridor transoms shape its refined exterior.

Beside the main gate of the former Uesugi count's residence stands the guardhouse, built in the 1920s and registered in 1997. In 2019 it became the Nagomitei cafe.