National Treasures of Kyoto

A manuscript in Teika's own hand kept in Tokyo. The same disordered leaves running through all the later copies proved this one to be the ancestor.

A Tang-dynasty copy of a letter by Wang Xizhi, kept in Tokyo. Nothing at all in his own hand survives, and so the copy itself is now the treasure here.

A Kamakura-period tachi held at the Tokyo National Museum in Tokyo. Its tang was never once cut back at all, and so the smith's own signature survives.

A Heian-period tachi held at the Tokyo National Museum in Tokyo. Its signature does survive, but several smiths in Bizen once bore this very same name.

Two Heian-period scrolls kept in Tokyo, written on paper bearing indigo cloud shapes. Tradition and inference here name two quite different hands for it.

An eight-lobed Heian-period mirror in Nara Prefecture. Nine Buddhist figures stand engraved upon its face, while flowers and birds cover all the back.

Kofun-period finds in Nara Prefecture, listed as a single lot. The tomb itself is placed about 350 metres to the west of Horyuji, and not by any address.

Yayoi-period finds in Fukuoka Prefecture, listed as a single lot. What came from the central burial is the property, and all of the rest an appendage.

Twelve Heian-period hanging scrolls held at the Kyoto National Museum. Twelve more of the very same name and owner hang at a different museum entirely.

The Taga Castle Monument records Taga Castle's founding in 724 and rebuilding in 762. Once doubted as a forgery, it became a National Treasure in 2024.

The 1227 main hall of Daihoonji (Senbon Shakado), Kyoto, a National Treasure since 1952 and the oldest building in central Kyoto.

Discover Byōbu Dodai, a National Treasure calligraphy scroll by Ono no Michikaze, written in 928 as a draft for imperial folding screens. Housed at the Sannomaru Shōzōkan in Tokyo, this rare Heian-period masterpiece marks the birth of Japan's native wayō calligraphy style. Learn its history, highlights, and how to visit.

This late-Heian National Treasure at the Kyoto National Museum shows the dead Buddha rising from his golden coffin to preach a last sermon to his mother, Queen Maya.

The only screen painting surviving from Japan's Heian period, this 11th-century National Treasure from To-ji temple may depict the Tang poet Bai Juyi at his retreat.

Kūkai's own ninth-century draft preface to the Diamond Sutra, at the Kyoto National Museum. Sixty-three lines whose deletions catch this monk mid-thought.

Forty Tang poems by Li Bai, Wang Wei, and others fill this 5.5-meter ninth-century cursive scroll at the Kyoto National Museum, a National Treasure since 1962.

Discover Tawaraya Sōtatsu's masterpiece of Japanese ink painting, "Lotus Pond and Waterfowl" (Renchi Suikin-zu), held by the Kyoto National Museum. This National Treasure hanging scroll, painted in the early Edo period in ink alone, quietly sets two lotus stems and two little grebes in dialogue to evoke the passage of a summer. This guide introduces the painting's artistic value, the reasons for its designation, its highlights, and the surrounding sights of Kyoto's Higashiyama district.

Sesshu's View of Amanohashidate, a National Treasure in Kyoto, maps the famed sandbar from a sky-high viewpoint that never existed. An unsigned sketch turned icon.

A late ninth-century vertical genealogy of the Amabe family, priests of Kono Shrine in Miyazu, privately owned and a National Treasure since 1976.

Discover the Okuiri, a National Treasure commentary on The Tale of Genji handwritten by the legendary poet Fujiwara no Teika around 1233. Learn about this invaluable manuscript's history, significance, and its role in preserving Japan's greatest literary masterpiece.