Important cultural property

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.

Discover the Three-Eared Jar with Chrysanthemum Design (Tamba ware), an Important Cultural Property of Japan housed at the Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum. Crafted in the early 13th century at one of Japan's Six Ancient Kilns, this exquisite jar features bold chrysanthemum incisions and a pristine form. Learn about its history, artistic significance, and visitor information.

The Kuroito Odoshi Domaru Gusoku (Black-Laced Domaru Armor) is an Important Cultural Property of Japan, worn by Honda Tadakatsu (1548–1610), one of the Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings. Featuring towering deer antler helmet crests, a fierce lion-biting front piece, and gold-leafed Buddhist rosary beads, this iconic armor embodies the spirit of a legendary warrior who fought in 57 battles without receiving a single wound. Currently deposited at the Mikawa Bushi no Yakata Ieyasukan in Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture.

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.

An Important Cultural Property in Aichi, this Sunshōan Shikishi sets a Heian winter poem from the Kokin Wakashū in flowing kana on imported mica-printed paper.

An Important Cultural Property in Aichi, this 14th-century tachi is a rare signed work by the Sōden-Bizen smith Yoshikage, whose verified blades barely survive.

A late-Kamakura tachi by Kyoto's Rai Kunimitsu, slender for the master and shortened yet still signed. An Important Cultural Property now held in Nagoya, Aichi.

An Important Cultural Property preserved in Kyoto, this silk-mounted hanging scroll portrays Bai Juyi (Hakurakuten), the Tang dynasty Chinese poet whose verse most profoundly shaped Heian-period Japanese literature. Famous for the Song of Everlasting Sorrow and the Song of the Pipa, Bai Juyi inspired masterpieces such as The Tale of Genji and The Pillow Book. The painting embodies refined silk-painting craftsmanship and the deep cultural dialogue between East Asian civilizations, complemented by the Kyoto National Museum and the Gion Festival's Hakurakuten-yama float.

Discover the Hōrōkaku Mandala (Color on Silk), a rare esoteric Buddhist painting linked to Kyoto's Shingon tradition. Explore its symbolism, the Pavilion of Treasures, and how to experience this spiritual heritage.

The Koogimi-shu copies a Heian poet's verse in a Kamakura hand. Named an Important Cultural Property in 1939, it is now missing. Where her calligraphy survives.

Discover Kano Sansetsu's Snowy Shore with Waterfowl, an Important Cultural Property of Japan held on deposit at the Kyoto National Museum. This pair of six-panel folding screens by the second-generation head of the Kyo Kano school depicts a moonlit winter coast where silver-leaf waves and countless waterfowl create one of the most haunting visions of early Edo painting.

Held in a private Kyoto collection, this Important Cultural Property is a fragment from the early thirteenth-century Satake Version of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets handscrolls. The hanging scroll depicts the Heian-period priest-poet Sosei Hōshi in the realistic nise-e style, with painting traditionally attributed to Fujiwara no Nobuzane and calligraphy to Gokyōgoku Yoshitsune. Famous for the 1919 division of the original scrolls, this fragment stands as a landmark of Kamakura court portraiture.