Muromachi

Dated to 1448, the main hall of Mito Shrine in Jōyō, Kyoto is the city's oldest surviving building, a single-bay nagare-zukuri hall roofed in cypress bark.

Discover Ryogin-an Hojo, a National Treasure at Tofukuji Temple in Kyoto. Built in 1387, this is the oldest existing hojo architecture in Japan, blending shinden-zukuri and shoin-zukuri styles with three stunning dry landscape gardens by Mirei Shigemori.

The Shoin of Reiunin, a sub-temple of Myoshinji in Kyoto, is a masterpiece of small-scale study hall architecture from around 1532. Designated as an Important Cultural Property, it features the Miyuki-no-Ma chamber where Emperor Go-Nara once received Zen instruction. Alongside the Dojinsai at Ginkakuji, it stands as one of the finest surviving examples of Higashiyama-era shoin architecture, enriched by Kano Motonobu's paintings and a celebrated dry landscape garden.

Discover the Main Hall (Hondo) of Rokuharamitsu-ji, a designated Important Cultural Property rebuilt in 1363. This rare pre-Onin War structure in Kyoto houses a National Treasure statue and embodies centuries of Japanese Buddhist heritage.

Yuan Chan master Yunfeng Miaogao's 1284 colophon on a calligraphy by his dharma ancestor Dahui Zonggao. An Important Cultural Property at Kyoto's Kitamura Museum.

The Ōte-kagami at Kyoto's Yōmei Bunko gathers 307 calligraphy fragments across two oversized albums, from a 20-line Ōjōmu sutra leaf to a hand by Emperor Saga.

Discover the National Treasure bokuseki calligraphy by Chinese Chan master Xutang Zhiyu, preserved at Daitoku-ji temple in Kyoto. Learn about its Zen heritage, tea ceremony significance, and how to view this masterpiece.

Discover the National Treasure bokuseki by Yuan-dynasty Zen master Gulin Qingmao, bestowed upon his Japanese disciple Getsurin Dōkō in 1327. Now deposited at Kyoto National Museum, this masterpiece of Zen calligraphy embodies centuries of cross-cultural spiritual exchange between China and Japan.

Discover the Important Cultural Property "Dōto" — two powerful characters by Chinese Chan monk Gekkan Bunmei, housed at Shōkoku-ji's Jōtenkaku Museum in Kyoto. Learn about bokuseki (Zen calligraphy), its meaning, and how to visit.

A National Treasure of Shōjōke-in, Kyoto: a Southern Song Amida triad in three signed scrolls by the Ningbo painter Fuetsu, now held at the Kyoto National Museum.

Ninna-ji's National Treasure Kujaku Myōō, a Song-dynasty Chinese painting, shows the Peacock Wisdom King with three faces and six arms on a white peacock.

Two Southern Song scrolls at Kyoto's Konchi-in, the Autumn and Winter Landscapes are a National Treasure once owned by the Ashikaga shoguns and ascribed to Huizong.

Discover Kenpon Bokuga Sansuizu, a National Treasure ink landscape painting attributed to the great Song Dynasty master Li Tang, housed at Koto-in, a sub-temple of Daitoku-ji in Kyoto. Learn about its artistic significance, history with the Hosokawa samurai clan, and how to plan your visit.

Discover Muqi's "Kannon, Monkeys and Cranes" — a 13th-century Southern Song masterpiece and one of Japan's most revered National Treasures, held at Daitoku-ji in Kyoto. A cornerstone of the Ashikaga shogunate's Higashiyama Gyomotsu collection, this three-scroll ink painting will be a headline exhibit at the Tokyo National Museum's 2026 Daitoku-ji 700th anniversary exhibition.

Housed at Daitoku-ji in Kyoto, this National Treasure is a thirteenth-century hanging scroll by the Chinese Chan Buddhist monk-painter Muqi, depicting the White-Robed Kannon in ink and light color on silk. Once part of the Ashikaga shogunate's Higashiyama Gomotsu collection and bearing Yoshimitsu's Doyu seal, it forms the central panel of the famed Kannon, Gibbons, and Crane triptych and stands as a foundational model for Japanese ink painting. A full guide to its history, artistic significance, viewing opportunities, and access to Daitoku-ji.

At Manshuin in Kyoto, a handscroll in Emperor Go-Kashiwabara's own hand gathers poems by two Warring States emperors, marked for critique by the poet Asukai Eiga.

Discover the Diamond Sutra (Kongō-kyō) by Zhang Jizhi, a National Treasure of Japan housed at Chishaku-in Temple in Kyoto. This 1253 masterpiece of Southern Song calligraphy represents one of the finest examples of Chinese brushwork preserved in Japan.

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.

Discover the National Treasure "Zen'in Gakuji narabini Haiji" at Tōfuku-ji Temple in Kyoto—19 masterful calligraphy scrolls by Wuzhun Shifan and Zhang Jizhi from 13th-century Southern Song China, representing the finest surviving examples of Zen temple signboard calligraphy.

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.