Important cultural property

A remarkable assemblage of late Paleolithic stone tools discovered in the Naruka Sanka district of Eiheiji Town, Fukui Prefecture, during the late Edo period. Comprising one pointed stone tool, twenty-two tanged points, and two stone cores found in a carefully arranged deposit, this unique collection was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1997.

The Dai Hannya Kyō at Wakasa-hiko Shrine in Obama City, Fukui Prefecture, is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property — a remarkably rare complete set of 600 hand-copied sutra scrolls from the early Heian period. Written on brown hemp paper by skilled copyists, this extraordinary collection has been preserved for over a millennium within the syncretic Shinto-Buddhist tradition.

Discover the Gojō Family Documents, an Important Cultural Property in Yame, Fukuoka. This collection of 369 documents across 17 scrolls preserves imperial letters from the Southern Court era, offering a rare window into Japan's dramatic Nanbokuchō period.

Held at the Kyushu National Museum, this Nara-period ledger records paper and other supplies issued to an office copying the Buddhist canon in 772-773.

From an 1888 Yamaguchi tomb, this set holds a bronze mirror with the Wei reign name Zhengshi (240 CE), long central to the debate over Queen Himiko's gift mirrors.

The Iino Family Documents, 1,683 papers from the priests of Iino Hachimangu in Iwaki, Fukushima, begin in 1204; 210 medieval pieces record estate rule.

At Nyoho-ji in Koriyama, Fukushima, this stone slab stupa of 1276 is the best-preserved itabi memorial in Tohoku, an Amida-centered Important Cultural Property.

Discover the Iwashiro Yoneyama-ji Sutra Mound Excavated Items, a nationally designated Important Cultural Property housed at the Sukagawa City Museum in Fukushima Prefecture. This assemblage — including an inscribed ceramic outer container dated 1171, a bronze sutra cylinder, a small knife, a bronze mirror, a sword guard, and iron arrowheads — offers a vivid window onto late Heian-period sutra-mound beliefs rooted in mappō thought and devotion to the future Buddha Maitreya.

A rare transmitted ancient sword of Nara-period Japan, this kiriha-zukuri tachi has a rounded back, a barracuda-shaped point and a clean straight temper line.

A Nara-period straight, single-edged sword in kirihazukuri form, predating the curved Japanese sword. An Important Cultural Property held privately in Fukushima.

A privately held Heian straight sword in Fukushima, an Important Cultural Property since 1989. Its central shinogi ridge points toward the curved Japanese sword.

A Heian tachi in Fukushima, archaic in its rounded back and tang cord-hole yet built in ridge-line shinogi style, marking the shift toward the curved Japanese blade.

Unearthed from the wooded hillside behind Kōshakuzan Tennoji in the famous hot-spring town of Iizaka, this late Heian ceramic sutra container was designated a National Important Cultural Property in 1936. It is a quiet but powerful witness to how the late-Heian piety of sutra burial reached the northeastern provinces of Japan, and a compelling reason to extend any visit to Iizaka Onsen with a stop at this ancient temple.

Discover the rare wooden Kichijoten statue in Fukushima, a privately owned 9th-century Heian-period Important Cultural Property held at the Fukushima Museum in Aizu-Wakamatsu, reflecting the deep Buddhist legacy of "Buddhist Capital Aizu" connected to Nara's Kofukuji.

This unsigned katana is an Important Cultural Property attributed to the Ichimonji school of Kamakura-period Bizen, famed for its bold clove-shaped temper line.

The Important Cultural Property Katana, Unsigned, Attributed to Sa, preserved in Hyogo Prefecture, is judged by sword connoisseurs to be the work of Sa (Samonji), the master smith of Hakata in Chikuzen Province who was counted among Masamune's Ten Disciples. This shortened, unsigned blade transmits the bright, refined Soshu-tradition style with which the Sa school revolutionized Kyushu sword-making between the late Kamakura and early Nanboku-cho periods. This guide introduces its historical significance, where to see related Sa-school works, and surrounding attractions in Hyogo.

A collection of 664 burial artifacts — including armor, bronze mirrors, weapons, jade ornaments, and haniwa — excavated from Chasuriyama Kofun, one of the largest circular tombs in the Kinki region, dating to the early 5th century. Designated as a national Important Cultural Property, the collection features the first collar-attached armor ever found outside the Kinai heartland, revealing the powerful ties between the Yamato court and the chieftains of ancient Tajima. Exhibited free of charge at the Kodai Asago-kan museum in Asago City, Hyogo.

Held by Nachisan Seigantoji Temple in Nachikatsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, this small gilt-bronze thin-relief plaque of Ratnasambhava is part of a three-dimensional Vajra Realm Mandala buried by the monk Gyoyu in 1130 in hope of rebirth in the Pure Land of Nachi. Excavated in 1918 and designated an Important Cultural Property in 1937, it stands as a singular example of a metalwork mandala in Japan and a precious witness to the flourishing of Kumano faith in the late Heian period.

Discover the naginata signed by Rai Kunitoshi, an Important Cultural Property preserved on Mount Koya in Wakayama Prefecture. Forged by one of the late Kamakura period's most celebrated swordsmiths of the Yamashiro Rai school, this rare polearm showcases the refined steel and elegant tempering of the Rai tradition, and offers a window into Japan's medieval warrior craftsmanship and the UNESCO World Heritage of Koyasan.

Aichi's 1938 prefectural office in Nagoya, its Western body crowned with roofs recalling Nagoya Castle; the first working main government office of its rank.