National Treasures of Hiroshima

Itsukushima Shrine in Hiroshima rests on a rebuilding of 1241, its main sanctuary alone from 1571. Six of its twelve buildings are National Treasures.

Jodoji Temple Tahoto Pagoda in Onomichi was rebuilt in 1329 after a fire. Praised for its balance and original details, it held hand-copied sutras in its spire.

Jodoji Temple Main Hall in Onomichi, built in 1327 after a fire, is an eclectic-style hall rated among the oldest on the Seto Inland Sea. What to see inside.

A late Muromachi-period hall in Hiroshima Prefecture. It once stood in Yamaguchi as the Buddha hall of a Zen temple, and was later moved over to here.

An early Muromachi-period pagoda in Hiroshima Prefecture. The image standing within it was renamed after an investigation carried out there in the 1990s.

A late Kamakura-period hall in Hiroshima Prefecture. It and the temple's own pagoda took the two steps of the listing here in quite the opposite order.

A Nanbokucho-period suit owned by Itsukushima Shrine in Hiroshima Prefecture. A National Treasure of the very same name also stands at Kasuga Taisha too.

A Kamakura-period set owned by Itsukushima Shrine in Hiroshima Prefecture. Its own three vajras all lie within just nine millimetres of each other here.

Kojoji Temple Three-Storied Pagoda on Ikuchijima dates from 1432: a Zen pagoda with strong karayo details and mostly original timber. National Treasure since 1958.

A late Kamakura great armor with helmet and shoulder guards at Itsukushima Shrine, Hiroshima, a National Treasure since 1951, elegant in form and colour.

A National Treasure at Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima: a late-Heian court costume set with ornamental swords, a quiver and vermilion sword boxes dated to 1183.

A National Treasure on silk dated 1153, the twenty-armed Fugen Enmei at Onomichi's Jiko-ji bears a rare dated inscription, a benchmark for late Heian painting.

A rare Heian-period great armor at Itsukushima Shrine, laced with cherry-stenciled yellow leather over wide plates and tied by tradition to Minamoto no Tametomo.

A late Heian great armor at Itsukushima Shrine, laced in indigo so dark it reads as black. Helmet and sleeves survive, said to be the gift of Taira no Shigemori.

A Heian National Treasure at Itsukushima Shrine, the Kan Fugen-kyo in gold on indigo paper, brushed jointly by Taira no Kiyomori and his half-brother Yorimori.

A National Treasure at Itsukushima Shrine: a seven-scroll Lotus Sutra brushed in gold on indigo paper around 1170 by Taira no Kiyomori and his half-brother Yorimori.

A Heian painted cypress fan at Itsukushima Shrine, Hiroshima, a National Treasure since 1952, showing the poem-picture designs of the period.

A 13th-century tachi by Kunimune, a founder of Kamakura swordsmithing, with a flamboyant temper line of round-headed choji; a National Treasure in Fukuyama.

A Nanbokucho tachi by the first Samonji at the Fukuyama Museum of Art, once treasured by Okabe Kosetsusai, a National Treasure since 1951.

A Heian tachi by the Ko-Bizen smith Tomonari, its tang unshortened and signed, held by Itsukushima Shrine and linked by tradition to the Taira. National Treasure.