National Treasures of Hyogo

A late Kamakura-period hall in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture. Another hall of exactly the same name over in Ehime is also a National Treasure in its own right.

Himeji Castle I, Ro, Ha and Ni Corridor Turrets, National Treasure since 1951: four buildings closing the keep square, the 30 m Ro turret and the last-built Ni gate.

Ten Heian-period scrolls owned by Ichijoji in Hyogo Prefecture, showing the nine Tendai patriarchs with Prince Shotoku himself added on to the series.

This Tang dynasty manuscript (7th–8th century) is the oldest surviving copy of Volume 6 of the Shishuo Xinshu (Shishuo Xinyu), a celebrated Chinese anecdote collection. Designated as a National Treasure, this fragment features elegant Tang calligraphy, Heian-period reading marks, and esoteric Buddhist texts on the verso — a testament to over a millennium of Sino-Japanese cultural exchange.

Discover the Sakuragaoka Dōtaku, a National Treasure collection of 14 bronze bells and 7 bronze halberds from the Yayoi period, unearthed in Kobe. See rare pictorial bronze bells at Kobe City Museum.

Discover the Ryūsui-mon Dōtaku, National Treasure bronze bells adorned with flowing water patterns and pictorial scenes of Yayoi-period life, housed at Kobe City Museum in the heart of Kobe's historic foreign settlement.

Held by the Osaka Aoyama Historical Literature Museum in Kawanishi, Hyogo, the National Treasure Tosa Nikki is the manuscript copy made by Fujiwara no Tameie in 1236, who transcribed Ki no Tsurayuki's lost autograph 'without altering a single character.' The closest surviving witness to Japan's first kana diary, it preserves the tenth-century spelling and calligraphic forms of Tsurayuki's original — a literary treasure set in Kawanishi, the legendary birthplace of the Seiwa Genji clan.

The Ichijoji Temple Three-Storey Pagoda in Kasai, Hyogo, dated 1171 and a National Treasure since 1952, is Hyogo's oldest pagoda and the only dated late Heian one.

The Taishi Hall at Kakurinji in Kakogawa, built in 1112, is a National Treasure with a cypress-bark roof sweeping over its porch and Heian murals found by infrared.

Kakurinji Main Hall in Kakogawa, dated 1397, is a National Treasure that blends Wayo with Zen and Daibutsuyo details. What to look for under its eaves and inside it.

Jodoji's Jodo-do Hall in Ono, built by Chogen in 1192, is the purest Daibutsu-style hall. Western light through its shutters lights Kaikei's 5.3 m Amida triad.

The main hall of Chokoji in Kato, Hyogo, built in the Oei era of the early 1400s, is a National Treasure and a typical Esoteric hall of the early Muromachi period.

Himeji Castle Inui Small Keep, a National Treasure since 1951 and the largest small keep: four floors, west-facing gable and windows, and the Old Woman's Stone.

Himeji Castle Main Keep, a five-roofed keep built 1608-09, a National Treasure since 1951: 31.5 m tall on a 14.85 m base, two 24.6 m pillars, and entry rules.

Himeji Castle West Small Keep, a National Treasure since 1951: the only small keep with two basement levels, with a kara gable and lacquered windows facing south.

Himeji Castle East Small Keep, a National Treasure since 1951: a plain three-roofed keep north of the main keep with no gables or cusped windows, and how to see it.

At Kobe's Hakutsuru Museum, the National Treasure Daishomu is two Nara-period scrolls of the Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish, brushed in unusually large script.

A National Treasure at Kobe's Hakutsuru Museum: seventy-one scrolls of Nirvana Sutra commentary, fifty-four copied in Tang China, the rest later Japanese additions.

A complete English-language guide to the National Treasure tantō known as 'Fushimi Sadamune,' housed at the Kurokawa Institute of Ancient Cultures in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo. This 30.2-cm Kamakura-period dagger, attributed to the master smith Sadamune of the Sōshū tradition and bearing a vermilion-inscribed appraisal by the Hon'ami family, is celebrated for its crisp temper line, Sanskrit invocations to Fudō Myōō and Bishamonten, and its remarkable provenance from Fushimi Castle through the Katō family to the Kurokawa collection. Includes visiting hours, access, and surrounding sights.

A National Treasure tantō by the master Kyoto smith Rai Kunitoshi (active 1278–1321), preserved at the Kurokawa Institute of Ancient Cultures in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo. This 24.5 cm masterpiece, gifted by the fifth Tokugawa shogun Tsunayoshi to the daimyō Yanagisawa family in 1691, displays a luminous straight temper line, a perfectly preserved tang, and lavish hollyhock-crested mountings — viewable only during the institute's spring and autumn exhibitions.

Hyogo’s registered properties across designations, with featured heritage and travel notes.

The complete kokuhō catalogue — browse by prefecture, period, and category.

Nationwide jūyō bunkazai — architecture, sculpture, painting, crafts, and documents.