Important cultural property
重 要 文 化 財 一 覧Explore Japan’s Important Cultural Properties in one searchable list. Filter by prefecture, period, and category, read concise stories, and plan visits with maps and travel tips.
The Worship Hall of Toshodai-ji is a long nineteen-bay Important Cultural Property joining a chapel and a monks' dormitory, and still hosts the October Shaka rite.
A collection of 2,435 Shingon ritual manuscripts handed down at Kajuji in Yamashina, Kyoto, spanning the 11th to 19th centuries and designated in 2020.
A late-Heian tale of the Fujiwara regents and Michinaga's glory. The six-volume Tosho-bon in Aichi is an early copy, an Important Cultural Property since 1953.
A Momoyama-period Oribe ware square bowl held privately in Aichi Prefecture, designated an Important Cultural Property in 1967 and fired at the Mino kilns.
An unsigned Kamakura katana of the Yoshioka Ichimonji school of Bizen, an Important Cultural Property since 1957, with a splendid irregular reflection.
A grandly proportioned katana attributed to the Kamakura-to-Nanbokucho master Sadamune, this Important Cultural Property descended through the Owari Tokugawa family and is now displayed at the Nagoya Sword Museum (Touken World) in Aichi.
Shortened long ago and unsigned, this Kamakura blade in Nagoya is attributed to the Kyoto smith Kunitoshi by its temper and point, and is unusually well preserved.
An unsigned Kamakura katana attributed to Moritoshi of Bitchu's Old Aoe school, an Important Cultural Property since 1950, and where to see Aoe blades in Nagoya.
Discover the Sword (Unsigned, Rai Kunimitsu), an Important Cultural Property held privately in Aichi and once part of the Tokugawa shogunal collection. Forged in late Kamakura-period Kyoto by the master Rai Kunimitsu, this 69.6 cm blade exemplifies the refined Yamashiro tradition. Explore its history, artistry, 1960 designation, and where to see Kunimitsu's other works in Nagoya.
An Edo-period katana by the Kyoto smith Kunimichi, a leading pupil of Horikawa Kunihiro, held privately in Aichi, designated an Important Cultural Property in 1959.
An early thirteenth-century Tamba jar incised with chrysanthemums at the Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, an Important Cultural Property since 2005.
The Momoyama armour of Honda Tadakatsu with large antler crests and a great rosary, an Important Cultural Property since 1977.
A Yayoi bronze bell excavated at Imukai in Fukui in 1868 and designated an Important Cultural Property in 1953. Now privately held in Aichi and not on view.
A 13th-century Kamakura hanging scroll at Rinsenji in Hekinan, Aichi, designated in August 2024. Just 82.8 cm tall, dense with cut-gold-leaf kirikane work.
A Kamakura-period silk mandala of Butsugen Butsumo, the Buddha-Eye Mother whose eye embodies wisdom. It served an esoteric rite and survives privately in Aichi.
Pale green ash glaze runs down the shoulder while the foot scorches black. The Momoyama Iga flower vase Fuyo holds warped, deliberate beauty in 28 centimeters.
A surviving album of the Kokin Wakashu, Japan's first imperial poetry anthology, written on decorated paper and known as Sujikiri for its silver ruling lines.
Discover the Sekido-bon Kokin Wakashū, a National Treasure of Japan featuring exquisite 11th-century kana calligraphy on richly dyed paper. Learn about its history, artistry, and where to view fragments at museums in Nagoya, Tokyo, and New York.
A Heian fragment of the Kokin Wakashu carrying travel poems 416 and 417 on two sheets of waxed Chinese paper. Designated in 1959; privately held in Aichi.
Held in a private collection in Aichi Prefecture, this Important Cultural Property is a hexagonal plate made by the potter Ogata Kenzan with painting by his elder brother, the Rinpa master Ogata Korin. Dated 1710 on its base, it is the only known collaborative ceramic by the two brothers bearing a specific year, and its rare hexagonal form, Korin's crane and pine painting, and Kenzan's own poetic inscription make it a cornerstone reference work in the study of Rinpa ceramics.