Edo

Two silk scrolls in the hand of Jikusen Bonsen, a Chan monk who left Yuan China in 1329, written for a Zen abbot's installation. Held at closed Ryoko-in in Kyoto.

Preserved at Kenkun Shrine on Mount Funaoka in Kyoto, the autograph manuscript of the Shinchō-kōki (15 volumes; Important Cultural Property) was brushed by Ōta Gyūichi, a retainer who served Oda Nobunaga personally. Covering 1568 to 1582 in one volume per year and bearing an afterword by Konoe Iehiro dated 1699, it is regarded as the author's final, definitive version. Discover the eyewitness chronicle that underpins all modern study of Nobunaga, and the historic shrine that holds it.

Nineteen Southern Song plaque inscriptions sent by Wuzhun Shifan to Enni, now at Tofukuji, Kyoto, a National Treasure since 1974.

Twelve Southern Song volumes at Kyoto's Tofuku-ji form the Gisho Rokujo, a 10th-century Buddhist encyclopedia and the only known Song printing of the text.

This National Treasure is a handscroll containing a preface written by Emperor Gaozong (1107–1187), the founder of China's Southern Song dynasty, for the collected literary works of his father, Emperor Huizong — the last ruler of the Northern Song. Penned in 1154, this exceptionally rare example of imperial calligraphy is both a masterwork of brush art and a poignant tribute from a son to a father lost in the upheaval of the Jingkang Incident. The scroll also bears colophons by renowned scholars including Hu Sanxing and Wen Zhengming, and is deposited at the Kyoto National Museum.

The objects, including silk internal organs, placed inside the Shaka statue Chonen brought from Song China to Seiryoji, Kyoto; a National Treasure since 1955.

A Southern Song Buddhist canon of 6,102 volumes printed in Fuzhou, held by Daigoji, Kyoto, said to have been donated by Chogen; a National Treasure since 2017.

Discover the Song Dynasty edition of Taiping Yulan, a 1,000-volume Chinese encyclopedia designated as a National Treasure of Japan. Preserved at Tofuku-ji Temple in Kyoto, these 103 surviving volumes date back to 1199 and represent one of the most important literary treasures connecting Japan and China.

Discover the National Treasure "Diamond Sutra Handwritten by Daikaku Zenji" at Ryōkōin temple in Kyoto's Daitoku-ji complex. This 13th-century Zen calligraphy masterpiece by Rankei Dōryū, founder of Kamakura's Kenchō-ji, represents one of the finest surviving examples of Song-dynasty brushwork in Japan.

The archives of Toji in Kyoto, 24,067 documents from the Nara to the early Edo period, held by Kyoto Prefecture; a National Treasure since 1997 and on the Memory of the World Register.

The National Treasure 'Ink Writing by Wuzhun Shifan: Certificate of Enlightenment for Enni' at Tofuku-ji Temple in Kyoto is a formal inka certificate written on silk in 1237 by the great Chinese Chan master Wuzhun Shifan for his Japanese disciple Enni Ben'en. This masterpiece of Zen calligraphy documents a pivotal moment in the transmission of Zen Buddhism from China to Japan, and stands as one of the finest examples of Southern Song dynasty calligraphy preserved in Japan.

Dharma words of 1179 by the Southern Song Zen monk Mi-an Xianjie at Ryokoin, Daitokuji, Kyoto, a National Treasure since 1951 and namesake of the Mittan tea room.

Seiryo-ji's National Treasure Shaka was carved in Song China in 985 and brought to Japan by the monk Chonen. Inside lay silk organs, among the oldest known.

Tawaraya Sotatsu's pair of gold-leaf screens of the Wind God and Thunder God, owned by Kenninji in Kyoto and deposited with the Kyoto National Museum.

A thirteenth-century Southern Song painting of water buffalo attributed to Yan Ciping, owned by the Sen-oku Hakukokan; a National Treasure since 1957.

A 31-cm Nabeshima porcelain dish at Kyushu National Museum. Red and white peonies rise from a Taihu rock in a ribbed bowl, made at Saga's secret kiln c. 1680-1700.

Held at the Kyushu National Museum, this Important Cultural Property is a Yuan-dynasty Chinese tea bowl from the 13th–14th century. A rare kiln effect at the boundary of its black and brown glazes produces a silvery 'rainbow' band that gave the bowl its name. Its provenance traces back to the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa.