Important cultural property

Held in the Hosa Library in Nagoya, the Song Edition of the Taiping Shenghui Fang (Kanazawa Bunko Version) is a Southern Song printed copy of the imperial medical encyclopedia originally compiled in 100 volumes by Wang Huaiyin under the command of Emperor Taizong. Designated an Important Cultural Property, it traveled from Hōjō Sanetoki's Kanazawa Bunko through Toyotomi Hidetsugu and Tokugawa Ieyasu to the first Owari lord Tokugawa Yoshinao. The 24 surviving printed booklets, supplemented by 27 Keichō-era manuscript volumes, bear the distinctive 'Kanazawa Bunko' and 'Gohon' seals on every volume, making it a primary witness to East Asian medical history.

Discover the Sanage Shrine Chinese Classics, an Important Cultural Property collection of medieval manuscripts of Chinese classics housed at Sanage Shrine in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture. Including the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Analects, and Bai Juyi's literary works copied between the late 13th and 14th centuries, these texts illuminate the depth of Chinese learning at a regional Japanese shrine-temple.

Held at Atsuta Jingu in Nagoya, this Important Cultural Property tachi was forged by the Chikuzen master Jitsua on a date in 1333 — the year the Kamakura shogunate fell — and was later dedicated to the shrine in 1595 by the samurai Matsushita Koichiro Morikatsu, who prayed for the fulfillment of all his wishes. Authentic dated works by Jitsua are extraordinarily rare, and the blade preserves both the original signature on the tang and a long votive inscription engraved on the ridge over two and a half centuries later, making it one of the most historically resonant swords in the shrine's collection of more than 450 blades.

Preserved at Atsuta Jingu in Nagoya, this Important Cultural Property is a tachi forged by the Hōki-Province smith Saneyuki in the late Heian to Kamakura period. On the eighth day of the eighth month of Genki 2 (1571), the Sengoku-era samurai Ōkubo Yokurō dedicated the sword to the deities of Atsuta Daimyōjin, and the dedication inscription was cut directly into the blade. Combining the elegance of the ancient Hōki tradition with a precisely dated record of warrior devotion, it is a rare masterpiece bridging two distinct eras of Japanese history.

Discover the Wooden Seated Statue of Akasagarbha Bodhisattva, a 14th-century Important Cultural Property at Kioji Temple in Inazawa, Aichi. This serene hidden Buddha, carved in 1361 with sutras sealed inside, is unveiled only once every 25 years.

Tucked into the maple-clad hills of Toyohashi, Aichi, the Wooden Seated Shakyamuni Buddha of Fumonji Temple is a serene late-Heian masterpiece. Designated an Important Cultural Property, this half-life-size figure on its rare octagonal pedestal exemplifies the elegant Jōchō style as it spread to the Tōkai region.

Discover the Wooden Standing Eleven-Headed Kannon at Funabashi Anrakuji Temple in Inazawa, Aichi — a 97.8 cm late Heian Important Cultural Property carved from a single block of kaya wood, with a gentle child-like face and a 33-year unveiling cycle.

The Ioji Temple Main Hall Zushi in Toon City, Ehime, is a miniature shrine of 1534, 289 cm tall in Zen style, designated an Important Cultural Property in 1966.

Isaniwa Shrine in Matsuyama keeps four buildings of 1667 in the rare hachiman-zukuri form, plus 22 sangaku tablets, five minutes uphill from Dogo Onsen station.

The Kariteimoten Hall of Ishiteji in Matsuyama, Ehime, built in the late Kamakura period, is a small misedana-type shrine with a roof of cypress bark.

The goma hall of Ishiteji in Matsuyama, Ehime, built in the early Muromachi period, is a three-bay hall for fire rituals under a pyramidal copper roof.

The gorinto of Ishiteji in Matsuyama, Ehime, is a stone five-ring stupa of the late Kamakura period at the 51st pilgrimage temple, beside its National Treasure gate.

The three-storied pagoda of Ishiteji in Matsuyama, Ehime, built in the late Kamakura period, is a three-bay pagoda with tiled roofs at a pilgrimage temple.

The bell tower of Ishiteji in Matsuyama, Ehime, built in 1333, has a skirted lower storey and a cypress-bark roof, at the 51st temple of the Shikoku pilgrimage.

The main hall of Ishiteji in Matsuyama, Ehime, built in the late Kamakura period, is a five-bay hall with a tiled hip-and-gable roof at the 51st pilgrimage temple.

The Daishi Hall of Iwayaji, the 45th pilgrimage temple, in Kumakogen, Ehime, built in 1920, blends a traditional hall with Western entasis and carved roses.

Uchikoza, a timber playhouse of 1916 in Uchiko, Ehime, built by townspeople to mark the Taisho enthronement, has a revolving stage; it is closed for repairs.

A mid-Edo keep on a hill in Uwajima, three storeys of white plaster with stacked gables, no loopholes and no stone chutes. One of Japan's twelve surviving keeps.

Ozu Castle in Ehime keeps three turrets of 1843 to 1861 on a hill by the Hiji River, two of them joined to a rebuilt keep and one with a rare railed gallery.

The San-no-maru South Corner Turret of Ozu Castle in Ehime, rebuilt in 1766, is the oldest surviving turret of the castle, with hidden loopholes in its walls.