Iwate Bank Red Brick Building

Tatsuno Kingo designed Tokyo Station, and this is the only building of his left standing in the Tohoku region. It was completed in 1911 as the head office of Morioka Bank, with his student Katsurai Manji, a Morioka man, working alongside him — red brick banded in white granite, domed corner turret, the whole Tatsuno vocabulary at provincial-bank scale.

It served as a bank until 2012 and is now a nationally designated Important Cultural Property open to the public. The building is split into two: the Morioka Bank zone, with the original banking hall, counters and vault, is charged; the Iwate Bank zone, covering the later use of the building, is free. It stands on the Nakanohashi bridge corner in the old commercial quarter, opens at ten, and closes on Tuesdays.