Kamakura

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.

Discover the National Treasure calligraphy by Shūhō Myōchō (National Master Daitō), founder of Daitokuji Temple. Written in 1330 for a female Zen practitioner, this masterpiece is preserved at Daisenin sub-temple in Kyoto.

Discover the National Treasure calligraphy by Zen master Shūhō Myōchō (Daitō Kokushi), bestowing the name "Kanzan" upon his disciple in 1329. Learn about this pivotal work in Japanese Zen history, now deposited at the Kyoto National Museum.

Discover the National Treasure calligraphy of Daitō Kokushi — a 1330 certificate of dharma transmission from Zen master Shūhō Myōchō to Kanzan Egen, preserved at Myōshin-ji temple in Kyoto. Learn about its significance in Japanese Zen Buddhism.

Discover the National Treasure calligraphy "Kandoku Shinsen-bō" by Zen master Shūhō Myōchō (Daitō Kokushi), housed at Shinjuan sub-temple in Daitokuji, Kyoto. Learn about its historical significance, the art of bokuseki, and how to visit this rarely seen masterpiece.

Discover the Dailōtan-kyō Volume 3, a National Treasure Buddhist sutra copied in 673 CE during the Tang Dynasty. Housed at Chion-in temple in Kyoto, this ancient cosmological scripture offers a rare glimpse into early Buddhist manuscript culture.

Discover Choshuki, an Important Cultural Property held by Reizei-ke Shiguretei Bunko in Kyoto. These four scrolls—the diary of Heian aristocrat Minamoto no Moromitsu, copied around 1221 by the celebrated poet Fujiwara no Teika—capture rituals, imperial pilgrimages and politics at the dawn of the insei era.

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.

Brushed by Shunjo a month before his death in 1227, this National Treasure at Kyoto's Sennyu-ji certifies that his disciple Shinkai inherited the master's teaching.

Preserved at Tenkyū-in, a sub-temple of Kyoto's great Myōshin-ji, the Lotus Sutra Dhāraṇī Chapter brushed in 1325 by Madenokōji Nobufusa—court noble of Emperor Go-Daigo and one of the celebrated 'Three Bō of the Later Age'—is a designated Important Cultural Property. Written just after Nobufusa returned from his daring diplomatic mission to Kamakura, the scroll bridges medieval Japanese calligraphy, devotional Buddhism, and the politics of the late Kamakura court.

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.

Discover the National Treasure calligraphy by Mugaku Sogen, a 13th-century Zen master who defied Mongol swords with poetry. Housed at Shokoku-ji's Jotenkaku Museum in Kyoto, this 1279 masterwork reveals the spiritual bond between two Zen monks across decades.

The autograph diary of Fujiwara no Teika at the Reizei Family Shiguretei Library, Kyoto, a National Treasure since 2000 and a prime source for early Kamakura history.

The seated Kukai enshrined in Toji's Mieido, made by Unkei's son Kosho in 1233; the source of later images of Kobo Daishi and a National Treasure since 2000.

Discover the five Wooden Standing Goho-jin Statues of Raigo-in, a Sennyu-ji sub-temple in Higashiyama Kyoto. These Important Cultural Property guardian deities flank what is said to be Japan's oldest Sanbo Kojin image, a deity long venerated by the imperial family for safe childbirth, and are now entrusted to the Kyoto National Museum.

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.

The principal Thousand-Armed Kannon at the centre of Sanjusangendo in Kyoto, made by Unkei's son Tankei in 1251 to 1254 and flanked by a thousand standing Kannon.

Sanjusangen-do's 1,001 standing Thousand-Armed Kannon include 124 Heian figures saved from the 1249 fire. The full set became a National Treasure in 2018.