Meiji

The Former Onoda Cement Manufacturing Company Vertical Kiln (Tokkuri-gama) in Sanyo-Onoda City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, is Japan's only surviving cement-firing vertical kiln, built in 1883. Designated as a National Important Cultural Property and registered as a Mirai Technology Heritage, this brick industrial monument tells the story of Japan's first private cement company and the nation's path to modernization. Free admission year-round.

Built in 1906, the Former British Consulate at Shimonoseki is Japan's oldest surviving consulate building, a Queen Anne design by British architect William Cowan.

Shikairō in Kaminoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property — a rare four-story wooden pseudo-Western building constructed in 1879 by Meiji Restoration veteran Ogata Kenkurō. Featuring white plastered walls, French stained glass, and exquisite plaster relief sculptures of dragons and phoenixes, this free-admission gem offers a unique fusion of Japanese and Western artistry with panoramic Seto Inland Sea views from the top floor.

An 1871 stone lighthouse on the cliffs of Mutsurejima off Shimonoseki, built under R. H. Brunton and made an Important Cultural Property in 2020. It still works.

The Kase Tunnel in Hagi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, is a stone road tunnel cut through the Kasega-saka Pass during the Meiji era. Construction began in 1883 and was completed in 1886. With a length of about 182 metres, a width of about 4.2 metres, and a height of about 3.9 metres, its andesite ashlar interior still preserves the atmosphere of early modern Japan. Recorded as the first Western-style stone road tunnel in Yamaguchi Prefecture and built as a symbol of Hagi's hopes for revival after the prefectural seat moved to Yamaguchi, it was registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 1999.

Discover the Former Nomura Family Residence, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Yamaguchi City. Built in 1886 as a sake brewery, this beautifully preserved machiya now serves as the Manabi-kan museum, showcasing Ouchi lacquerware, Hagi pottery, and the traditional crafts of Japan's "Western Kyoto."

Discover the Former Nomura Family Residence Storehouse, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Yamaguchi City. This Meiji-era "nisan-no-kura" storehouse stands within the Yamaguchi Furusato Densho Center, offering a glimpse into the traditional sake-brewing heritage of western Honshu.

Kinunkaku is a tower-style ema hall (votive tablet hall) built in 1885 within Kikko Park in Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Designed to resemble a feudal-era turret, this Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan stands gracefully at the edge of the old castle moat. Together with the iconic Kintai Bridge and Iwakuni Castle, it forms one of the most picturesque historical landscapes in western Japan.

A two-storey timber pavilion of 1873 at Hofu Tenmangu, its floor carried on brackets cut for a five-storey pagoda that was never raised. Registered in 2012.

Raised in 1888 to guard silk from fire and damp, this two-storey plaster storehouse in Hofu has an unusual frame of octagonal beams and now hosts a concert series.

One plastered shell split by a cross wall: food kept to the south, tools to the north under a second floor. Built around 1888, it fronts a Hofu merchant compound.

Built in 1886 as a stopgap home for Iwakuni's former daimyo, this two-storey house sets a thirty-mat upper hall to borrow the Kintaikyo bridge and castle hill.

At Sumiyoshi Shrine in Shimonoseki, a cypress-bark karamon gate of about 1901 and a 79-metre openwork fence of 1909 enclose the 1370 National Treasure hall.

The Former Mutsumi Village Office in Hagi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, is a two-story wooden government building constructed in 1895 during the Meiji era. Registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property, it is the oldest surviving municipal office building in Yamaguchi Prefecture, having served as the seat of local government for over 90 years while retaining its original architectural form.

The Mutsumi Village Office Storehouse in Hagi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, is a two-story earthen storehouse built in 1896 during the Meiji era. Featuring distinctive Sekishū tile roofing and white plaster walls, this remarkably well-preserved structure is registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property. Together with the adjacent former village office, it represents the oldest surviving municipal government architecture in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

The oldest of the three registered Takadai buildings in Hagi, this early Meiji earthen storehouse held the trays and tableware for a hundred-mat banquet hall.