National Treasures of Kyoto

Twenty-nine letter drafts by regent Fujiwara no Tadamichi fill a 9.8-meter scroll at the Kyoto National Museum, the clearest record of the Hosshoji school's origins.

A National Treasure: book nine of the Man'yoshu on silver-flecked indigo paper, late Heian period, and the only Aigami-bon to survive as a complete scroll.

Held at the Kyoto National Museum, the National Treasure Myōe Shōnin Kashū is a 13.5-meter handscroll transcribed in 1248 by the disciple Junshōbō Kōshin on the seventeenth memorial anniversary of his teacher, the Kamakura-period monk Myōe (1173–1232). The scroll gathers 155 waka poems, 112 by Myōe himself, and is the only complete surviving collection of his poetry. This guide introduces the work's background, its significance as a National Treasure designated in 1952, highlights such as Myōe's famous moon poem, visitor information for the Kyoto National Museum, and nearby Higashiyama sites including the World Heritage temple Kōzan-ji where Myōe lived and composed.

The National Treasure Yamai no Sōshi paints twelfth-century illness with rare candour, watching the sick and the onlookers who laugh, stare, or look away.

At the Kyoto National Museum, the National Treasure Gaki Zoshi pictures hungry ghosts unseen by the living, its seven scenes moving from torment to salvation.

Faceless courtiers fill the picture hidden beneath the sutra text. This National Treasure at the Kyoto National Museum was copied over an abandoned scroll in 1192.