Heian

Unearthed on Mount Hiei in 1924, this Heian gilt-bronze box held a Lotus Sutra copied by Empress Jotomon-in in 1031. Its lid bears the title in hollow script.

A Tang hemp kesa at Enryakuji, said to have been brought from China by Saicho, a National Treasure since 1966 and a rare surviving example in hemp.

An unsigned straight double-edged Heian sword owned by Kongo-ji, tied by temple tradition to the monk Akan's esoteric rites and kept at the Kyoto National Museum.

Copied in 1160 by Fujiwara no Koreyuki, these National Treasure scrolls at the Kyoto National Museum set a complete Heian poetry anthology on ashide-e paper.

A Tang manuscript of the Book of Han, chapter 57 on poet Yang Xiong, at Kyoto National Museum. Taboo strokes and 948 reading marks trace ten centuries of study.

Fujiwara no Kintō's only surviving autograph draft of the Hokuzanshō, held at the Kyoto National Museum. Its reverse hides two of Japan's oldest kana letters.

This National Treasure handscroll preserves love poems from the Kokin Wakashu in flowing kana on mica-printed Chinese paper, long credited to Ono no Tofu.

This Tang-dynasty scroll at the Kyoto National Museum preserves 172 lines of the Shishuo Xinshu, the world's oldest surviving manuscript of the Chinese classic.

A National Treasure at the Kyoto National Museum, this tachi is the only blade securely attributed to the late-Heian smith Yasuie, unshortened and finely preserved.

Copied in mid-Heian times, the Iwasaki-bon preserves Volumes 22 and 24 of Japan's first chronicle, layered with ancient reading marks and 15th-century notes.

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.