Mirror Box

Mirrors and Mirror Boxes of Atsuta Jingu: Treasures of Heian–Kamakura Court Elegance

Hidden inside the cypress-shaded grounds of Atsuta Jingu in central Nagoya is a quiet treasure that travellers often overlook in their rush to see the famous swords. The collective designation known as "Kagami oyobi Kyōbako" — Mirrors and Mirror Boxes — gathers together a group of paired bronze mirrors and exquisitely lacquered wooden boxes once used by aristocrats of the late Heian and Kamakura periods. Together they form one of the finest surviving suites of Japanese mirror-and-box pairings, designated by the Japanese government as an Important Cultural Property.

What the Designation Includes

The Important Cultural Property "Mirrors and Mirror Boxes" at Atsuta Jingu is a collective designation that gathers together several outstanding pairings. Each pair consists of a polished bronze mirror and a wooden box specially crafted to hold it, often decorated in maki-e — a Japanese lacquer technique in which fine gold and silver powder is sprinkled onto wet lacquer to form pictures.

Why These Treasures Were Designated

The "Mirrors and Mirror Boxes" of Atsuta Jingu were recognised as nationally important for several intertwined reasons. First, they preserve in a single, unbroken set the rare combination of medieval metal mirror casting and refined maki-e lacquer work. Surviving examples where both mirror and original lacquered box have come down together are unusually scarce in Japan, since fragile wooden boxes were often lost over the centuries while sturdier mirrors survived alone.

Second, the works are of exceptional artistic quality. The mirror designs show the elegant, naturalistic style typical of late Heian and Kamakura Japanese mirrors known as wakyō, distinct from imported Chinese forms. The maki-e boxes are equally accomplished, carrying motifs that bridge native Japanese sensibility and Chinese auspicious symbolism.

Finally, these objects are precious historical evidence of how mirrors functioned in shrine ritual and aristocratic faith. Their preservation at Atsuta — a shrine deeply connected with the Imperial line and with the symbolism of the sacred mirror in Japanese mythology — gives them a layer of religious and cultural meaning that few comparable works can claim.

Highlights for Visitors

Because the works are extremely fragile, they are not always on permanent display. Atsuta Jingu's Treasure Museum (Hōmotsukan) rotates its exhibitions monthly, and these mirror-and-box sets appear during selected themed showings, often in displays focused on craft, lacquer art, or the shrine's history of aristocratic patronage. Even when a particular pair is not displayed, related medieval mirrors, swords, masks and ancient sacred treasures from the shrine's collection of around six thousand items are always on view.

• Look closely at how the mirror's design fits its shape — round mirrors with circular compositions, octagonal mirrors with eight-section motifs.
• Observe the contrast between the soft lustre of polished bronze and the deep, mirror-black lacquer of the boxes.
• Notice the symbolism: pines and cranes for longevity, phoenixes and paulownia for noble dignity, Mount Hōrai for immortality.
• Compare these aristocratic offerings with the swords on the same site, which represent a very different kind of devotional gift to the deity.

Around Atsuta Jingu

A visit to view these treasures is best combined with a leisurely exploration of the broader shrine complex. Atsuta Jingu stretches across roughly twenty hectares of forest in the heart of Nagoya, with massive camphor trees said to be more than a thousand years old, several smaller shrines, sacred wells, and the impressive Nobunaga Wall donated by warlord Oda Nobunaga in 1560.

Adjacent to the Treasure Museum is the Tsurugi-no-Hōko Kusanagi-kan (Sword Treasury), opened in 2021, where blades and sword-related materials are displayed. For lunch, the long-running restaurants outside the shrine serve Nagoya specialities such as kishimen flat noodles and hitsumabushi grilled eel. From Atsuta it is a short trip to other Nagoya highlights including Nagoya Castle, the Tokugawa Art Museum, Osu shopping district, and the Port of Nagoya area.