Shōwa

The Ube City Watanabe-O Memorial Hall (1937), an Important Cultural Property by Murano Togo, was built by seven local firms to honor industrialist Watanabe Yusaku.

JR Nishi-Iwakuni Station, opened in 1929 as Iwakuni Station on the Gantoku Line, is a Western-style wooden station building featuring a striking five-arch entrance portico inspired by the nearby Kintaikyo Bridge and an Expressionist-style gable. Registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property in 2006, it now serves as both an active railway station and a community exchange facility.

The gate of Zuishoan, a Soto Zen temple in Ube: thatched, single-bay, built in 1937, with a Zen balustrade above and the Shimazu crest carved twice. Registered 2021.

The Toishi Hachiman Shrine Ritual Vessel Storehouse of 1940 in Shunan, Yamaguchi hides a closed store behind boarding shaped to imitate the enclosure wall.

The Toishi Hachiman Shrine Sacred Food Preparation Hall of 1940 in Shunan, Yamaguchi matches the storehouse opposite, balancing the precinct around the halls.

The Toishi Hachiman Shrine Gate and Side Wall of 1940 in Shunan, Yamaguchi form a four-legged gate 4.2 meters wide with flanking walls running 12 meters in total.

The Toishi Hachiman Shrine Lattice Wall runs 58 meters around the sanctuary in Shunan, Yamaguchi, its hexagonal bars shifting in width as a visitor walks past.

The Toishi Hachiman Shrine Purification Pavilion of 1941 covers 3.1 square meters beside the approach in Shunan, Yamaguchi, and shelters a granite basin.

The Toishi Hachiman Shrine Worship Hall in Shunan, Yamaguchi is a 1940 rohaiden, a gatehouse floored over for worship, with wings to each side and a copper roof.

The Toishi Hachiman Shrine Offering Hall of 1940 joins sanctuary to worship hall in Shunan, Yamaguchi, with a split floor, stepped roof and ground glass shutters.

The Toishi Hachiman Shrine Main Hall in Shunan, Yamaguchi is a three-bay nagare-zukuri sanctuary of 1940, rebuilt after a fire and covering 39 square meters.

Discover the Miyuki Bridge at Nagao Hachimangu Shrine on Suo-Oshima Island, a nationally registered tangible cultural property. This graceful arched bridge spans the shrine's central pond, preserving the island's rich heritage of Choshu master carpenters.

Discover the Nagayama Honke Sake Brewery Office, a 1928 Western-style former village hall registered as a national tangible cultural property in Ube, Yamaguchi. Explore its unique Showa-era architecture and award-winning junmai sake "Taka."

Discover the Nisshin Kowa Kinenkan, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture. This 1937 memorial hall preserves the site and furnishings of the historic 1895 Sino-Japanese peace conference. Free admission.

Discover the Lambuth Memorial Chapel in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi — a 1938 Spanish-style wooden church registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan. Its white stucco walls and red-tiled roof sit on a hilltop with views of the Kanmon Straits.

Discover the Fujiwara Yoshie Memorial Museum, a registered tangible cultural property in Shimonoseki. This 1936 modernist residence honors Japan's legendary opera tenor and offers panoramic views of the Kanmon Strait.

Hofu Tenmangu, founded in 904 CE in Hofu City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, is Japan's oldest shrine dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane, the deified god of learning. The main hall, offertory hall, and worship hall, rebuilt in 1958 under the supervision of architectural historian Murata Jiro, feature a refined design with minimal ornamentation and were registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2009. As one of Japan's Three Great Tenjin Shrines alongside Kitano Tenmangu and Dazaifu Tenmangu, this elegant complex embodies over a millennium of devotion.

The Meirin Elementary School Main Building in Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, is a magnificent two-story wooden school constructed in 1935 on the historic grounds of the former Hagi Domain School Meirinkan. Distinguished by its shibi roof finials, French tiles, and a striking combination of white plaster and weatherboard cladding, it was the first building in Yamaguchi Prefecture to be registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property. Now open to the public as the Hagi Meirin Gakusha, it tells the story of 300 years of education in Hagi.