Important cultural property

The three Kondōsō Mikoshi (Gilt Bronze-Decorated Portable Shrines) preserved at the Treasure House of Nikko Futarasan Shrine Chūgūshi in Tochigi Prefecture are 14th-century Nanbokuchō-period masterpieces designated as Important Cultural Properties of Japan. With their bold Bandō-style craftsmanship and exquisite gilt bronze ornaments, they are still carried in procession each spring during the Yayoi Festival.

Discover the Sankozuka-ken at Nikko Futarasan Shrine, an Important Cultural Property pairing a Heian-period blade with a late-Kamakura bronze hilt shaped like an esoteric Buddhist three-pronged vajra. One of very few such ritual swords surviving with both blade and hilt intact, it embodies the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism in medieval Nikko, displayed at the Treasure Hall by Lake Chuzenji.

The Wooden Seated Statue of Dainichi Nyorai with Zushi Cabinet at Kōtokuji Temple in Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture, is a small but exquisite Kamakura-period image believed to have been carried in pilgrimage by Ashikaga Yoshikane, founder of the Ashikaga clan. Standing about 32 centimeters tall and now widely attributed to the celebrated sculptor Unkei or his Kei school workshop based on inclusions revealed by X-ray analysis, it was designated a National Important Cultural Property in 1988. The cylindrical lacquered cabinet that houses the figure preserves a complete miniature of the Diamond World mandala. The image is currently held in trust at Tokyo National Museum and appears periodically in special exhibitions.

Hidden in a natural stone cavern in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi, the Ōya Magaibutsu is a remarkable group of ten Buddhist images carved directly into the cliff face of Ōya-ji Temple. Featuring a 4-meter Thousand-Armed Kannon and three Buddhist triads, it became the first cultural property in Japan to be designated both a Special Historic Site and an Important Cultural Property.

A middle Muromachi hall at Uda Mikumari Shrine, Nara, repeating the sumigi-iri Kasuga form of the 1320 main hall at a smaller scale for a deity from Kasuga Taisha.

The only nagare-style hall among the five medieval halls of Uda Mikumari Shrine, Nara: a late Muromachi subordinate hall showing the long slope of its roof in front.

A late Kamakura shrine hall at Enjoji near Nara, kept inside a shed beside the Kasugado and Hakusando: an early Kasuga-style shrine with a karahafu porch.

A stone five-ring pagoda dated 1321 in a village cemetery near Enjoji, Nara, bearing the oldest date of any gorinto in the prefecture, raised by a band of believers.

A stone five-ring memorial to warlord Tsutsui Junsho at Enshoji in Ikoma, carved with his name, his death date in 1550 and Sanskrit letters on each face.

The Amida hall of Enjoji in the hills east of Nara, rebuilt in 1472 on the plan of the Heian hall lost in 1466, with a stage on its front deck and painted pillars.

The main hall of Enshoji in Ikoma, built in 1552 for the memorial temple of warlord Tsutsui Junsho: a plain square hall moved here from central Nara city.

The vermilion gate of Enjoji near Nara, rebuilt in 1468 and designated in 1906, with an Amida seed syllable carved on the front and a peony on the back.

Two late Kamakura hokyoin pagodas side by side at Enpukuji in Ikoma: one dated 1293 with Sanskrit letters for four Buddhas, the other carved with Buddha figures.

The main hall of Enpukuji in the Ikoma hills, dated to 1371 by ink on its altar wall frame, with shutters across its front and six groups of old parts kept with it.

Once the main hall of Daigorinji, Omiwa Shrine's Buddhist temple, this tiled hall keeps a Nara-period inner sanctum and early Kamakura outer space in one building.

Rebuilt in 1664 by shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna, the Omiwa Shrine Worship Hall is where visitors pray toward Mount Miwa, as the shrine itself has no main sanctuary.

Behind the worship hall of Omiwa Shrine stands the Mitsu Torii, three torii joined as one. Revered in place of a sanctuary, the 1883 gate marks the sacred mountain.

The shoin of Okadera in Asuka, Nara, a study hall of 1644 with four rooms in an L-shape and a kitchen once inside, is among the few shoin with Momoyama roots.

The Niomon Gate of Okadera in Asuka, Nara, a two-storey gate of 1612 under a tiled hip-and-gable roof, stands at the temple of the Saigoku Kannon pilgrimage.

Kashihara Jingu's Main Hall began as a Kyoto Imperial Palace sanctuary of 1855, moved here in 1890. On its bracketless detailing and what visitors can actually see.