Important cultural property

Designated an Important Cultural Property in 1943, this Heian fragment of the annotated Wen Xuan preserves Chinese commentaries that survive nowhere else.

Preserved at the Kyoto National Museum, this manuscript carries the Benmeiron, or 'Discourse on Discriminating Fate,' from volume fifty-four of the Wen Xuan—the oldest surviving anthology of Chinese literature, compiled by Crown Prince Xiao Tong of the Liang dynasty. Reaching Japan by the Nara period and treasured by Heian-era aristocrats, manuscripts of the Wen Xuan reveal the deep cultural ties between Japan and continental East Asia. A meaningful destination for travelers drawn to classical Chinese thought, calligraphic beauty, and the literary world that shaped Japan's classical age.

A Kamakura-period copy of Volume One of the Wen Xuan, the sixth-century Chinese anthology, opening with the rhapsodies and Ban Gu's debate over the two Han capitals.

An album in Teika's hand recording the rehearsals of azuma-asobi dance for the Kamo and Iwashimizu festivals. A Kamakura-period Important Cultural Property.

This Important Cultural Property is an ink calligraphy (bokuseki) by Lingshi Ruzhi, a Yuan-dynasty Chan monk and direct disciple of the celebrated master Xutang Zhiyu. Written in 1330 as a gatha for the monk Zhèngtáng, this work connects the spiritual lineage of Rinzai Zen with Japan's tea ceremony culture and is privately held in Kyoto Prefecture.

A fragment of the Ruijū Utaawase, a twelfth-century compilation of Heian poetry contests, recording gatherings held on the Kōshin-vigil nights of 1067 and 1068.

Held at the Kyoto National Museum, the Important Cultural Property known as Waka Irohashū Zankan is a fragmentary manuscript of the Wakairoha, a comprehensive treatise on Japanese poetics composed in the 1190s by the Shingon monk Jōkaku, uncle and teacher of the celebrated Myōe of Kōzan-ji. Discover how this foundational synthesis of medieval waka theory shaped centuries of Japanese poetry, and pair your visit with the temples and lanes of Higashiyama.

An important cultural property held in Kyoto, the Wakan Rōei Chū Ryakushō is a medieval commentary on the celebrated Heian-era anthology Wakan Rōei Shū. Compiled by an anonymous scholar-monk in classical Chinese-style prose, it preserves the keys to understanding the Chinese and Japanese verses that shaped courtly culture for centuries.

Discover the Tenyō Gannen Nyohōkyōsho Monument at Yamadera Risshaku-ji Temple in Yamagata—an Important Cultural Property of Japan. This 107.5 cm andesite stele, inscribed in 1144, records a sacred Lotus Sutra interment and opens a rare window onto Heian-era devotion, sutra-copying rituals, and the spiritual heritage of Tōhoku.

A Muromachi-era Noh hunting robe in Kurokawa, Yamagata. Ming figured silk, tailored in Japan, bears a gold-leaf heavenly palace, sun, moon, stars and cranes.

A National Important Cultural Property at Wakamatsu-dera, Tendo: a sacred-horse votive panel painted in 1563 by samurai-artist Gonome Sadashige for his late wife.

Discover the Kasho Ship Flag and Noshima Murakami Family Documents, an Important Cultural Property revealing the maritime world of Japan's legendary Seto Inland Sea pirates. Learn about the Murakami Kaizoku's naval pass system and historic correspondence with feudal lords.

An Important Cultural Property at Jōei-ji, Yamaguchi: a rare gold-rich portrait of the Zen abbot Ishō Enyū, painted about 1611 to 1614 by ink master Unkoku Tōgan.

A silk portrait of the ink master Sesshu by Unkoku Toeki, who claimed to be his fourth-generation heir, bearing a verse by a Daitoku-ji abbot. Designated in 2023.

This 16-meter handscroll at Hōfu's Mōri Museum is Unkoku Tōeki's copy of Sesshū's National Treasure landscape, designated an Important Cultural Property in 2023.

A paper scroll of 1200 listing the paddies and fields of Amidaji in Suō, with a roster of resident provincial officials, including forebears of the Ōuchi warlords.

A 1195 scroll fixing the boundaries of Miyano Estate in Suō, sealed by Chōgen, who rebuilt Nara's Great Buddha Hall. It ties a quiet farming valley to Tōdaiji.

The Takasu Family Documents are a collection of 127 historical documents spanning from 1351 to 1643, along with a rare Ming dynasty trade ship flag. Designated as an Important Cultural Property, this archive reveals the activities of the Takasu clan as deputy governors of Akama-ga-seki (Shimonoseki) under the Mōri, managing international trade between Japan and Ming China.

The Tetsuin (Iron Seal) inscribed with 'Tōdai-ji' is a Kamakura-period iron branding stamp used to certify timber for the reconstruction of Tōdai-ji temple in Nara. Preserved at Amida-ji Temple in Hōfu City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, this Important Cultural Property bears witness to the massive medieval reconstruction effort led by the monk Chōgen over 800 years ago.

The Hilted Slender Bronze Sword (Yūhei Hosogata Dōken), excavated from the Ōyashiki Site in Nagato City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, is a rare middle Yayoi-period bronze artifact whose blade, hilt, and antenna-shaped pommel were cast as a single piece. One of only five such swords found in Japan—and the only one ever discovered on Honshu—it is designated an Important Cultural Property. Discover the story of its accidental 1901 unearthing, its mysterious link to the Yoshinogari Site, and the scenic Mukatsuku Peninsula that surrounds it.