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Important Cultural Property of Nara

奈 良 県 の 重 要 文 化 財

Nara’s Important Cultural Properties — designated for their value to the nation’s cultural history.

1,352 total Nara
Showing 21 – 40 of 1,352
Stone Bridge in the Tiantai Mountains (Color on Paper; six sliding-door panels)
Nara 江戸 Important Cultural Property
Stone Bridge in the Tiantai Mountains (Color on Paper; six sliding-door panels)

A National Important Cultural Property held privately in Nara Prefecture, this set of six color-on-paper fusuma panels was painted in 1751 by Sakaki Hyakusen (1697–1752), one of the four founding figures of Japanese Nanga literati painting, just one year before his death. Depicting Mount Tiantai's legendary stone bridge and its abode of five hundred arhats, the work is part of the 41-panel cycle known as the Former Jimon-in Wall Paintings — the largest surviving program of architectural painting by Hyakusen and a milestone in the adaptation of Chinese Southern School painting to Japanese fusuma format.

Illustrated Scrolls of the Priest Ippen (Color on Paper)
Nara 鎌倉 Important Cultural Property
Illustrated Scrolls of the Priest Ippen (Color on Paper)

An Important Cultural Property held privately in Nara Prefecture, the four-scroll Shihon Chakushoku Ippen Shōnin Emaki depicts the life of Ippen Shōnin (1239–1289), founder of the Ji-shū sect. As a transcribed copy of the Sōshun-bon tradition, it preserves the spirit of Kamakura-period yamato-e painting and Japan's medieval Pure Land devotion.

Sacred Mirror of the Twelve Kumano Deities (thirteen figures)
Nara 鎌倉 Important Cultural Property
Sacred Mirror of the Twelve Kumano Deities (thirteen figures)

Discover the Kumano Junisha Gongen Mishōtai, an Important Cultural Property featuring thirteen Buddhist deities on a gilded bronze mirror disc. Explore the beauty of Shinto-Buddhist syncretism at Nara National Museum.

Uda Mikumari Shrine Subordinate Kasuga Shrine Main Hall
Nara 室町中期 Important Cultural Property
Uda Mikumari Shrine Subordinate Kasuga Shrine Main Hall

A middle Muromachi hall at Uda Mikumari Shrine, Nara, repeating the sumigi-iri Kasuga form of the 1320 main hall at a smaller scale for a deity from Kasuga Taisha.

Uda Mikumari Shrine Subordinate Munakata Shrine Main Hall
Nara 室町後期 Important Cultural Property
Uda Mikumari Shrine Subordinate Munakata Shrine Main Hall

The only nagare-style hall among the five medieval halls of Uda Mikumari Shrine, Nara: a late Muromachi subordinate hall showing the long slope of its roof in front.

Enjoji Temple Ugajin Shrine Main Hall
Nara 鎌倉後期 Important Cultural Property
Enjoji Temple Ugajin Shrine Main Hall

A late Kamakura shrine hall at Enjoji near Nara, kept inside a shed beside the Kasugado and Hakusando: an early Kasuga-style shrine with a karahafu porch.

Enjoji Temple Five-Ring Pagoda
Nara 鎌倉後期 Important Cultural Property
Enjoji Temple Five-Ring Pagoda

A stone five-ring pagoda dated 1321 in a village cemetery near Enjoji, Nara, bearing the oldest date of any gorinto in the prefecture, raised by a band of believers.

Enshoji Temple Five-Ring Pagoda
Nara 室町後期 Important Cultural Property
Enshoji Temple Five-Ring Pagoda

A stone five-ring memorial to warlord Tsutsui Junsho at Enshoji in Ikoma, carved with his name, his death date in 1550 and Sanskrit letters on each face.

Enjoji Main Hall
Nara 室町後期 Important Cultural Property
Enjoji Main Hall

The Amida hall of Enjoji in the hills east of Nara, rebuilt in 1472 on the plan of the Heian hall lost in 1466, with a stage on its front deck and painted pillars.

Enshoji Temple Main Hall
Nara 室町後期 Important Cultural Property
Enshoji Temple Main Hall

The main hall of Enshoji in Ikoma, built in 1552 for the memorial temple of warlord Tsutsui Junsho: a plain square hall moved here from central Nara city.

Enjoji Two-Storied Gate
Nara 室町後期 Important Cultural Property
Enjoji Two-Storied Gate

The vermilion gate of Enjoji near Nara, rebuilt in 1468 and designated in 1906, with an Amida seed syllable carved on the front and a peony on the back.

Enpukuji Hokyoin Pagoda
Nara 鎌倉後期 Important Cultural Property
Enpukuji Hokyoin Pagoda

Two late Kamakura hokyoin pagodas side by side at Enpukuji in Ikoma: one dated 1293 with Sanskrit letters for four Buddhas, the other carved with Buddha figures.

Enpukuji Temple Main Hall
Nara 室町前期 Important Cultural Property
Enpukuji Temple Main Hall

The main hall of Enpukuji in the Ikoma hills, dated to 1371 by ink on its altar wall frame, with shutters across its front and six groups of old parts kept with it.

Omiwa Shrine Auxiliary Otataneko Shrine Hall
Nara 室町中期 Important Cultural Property
Omiwa Shrine Auxiliary Otataneko Shrine Hall

Once the main hall of Daigorinji, Omiwa Shrine's Buddhist temple, this tiled hall keeps a Nara-period inner sanctum and early Kamakura outer space in one building.

Omiwa Shrine Worship Hall
Nara 江戸中期 Important Cultural Property
Omiwa Shrine Worship Hall

Rebuilt in 1664 by shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna, the Omiwa Shrine Worship Hall is where visitors pray toward Mount Miwa, as the shrine itself has no main sanctuary.

Omiwa Shrine Mitsu Torii Gate
Nara 明治 Important Cultural Property
Omiwa Shrine Mitsu Torii Gate

Behind the worship hall of Omiwa Shrine stands the Mitsu Torii, three torii joined as one. Revered in place of a sanctuary, the 1883 gate marks the sacred mountain.

Okadera Temple Shoin
Nara 江戸前期 Important Cultural Property
Okadera Temple Shoin

The shoin of Okadera in Asuka, Nara, a study hall of 1644 with four rooms in an L-shape and a kitchen once inside, is among the few shoin with Momoyama roots.

Okadera Temple Niomon Gate
Nara 桃山 Important Cultural Property
Okadera Temple Niomon Gate

The Niomon Gate of Okadera in Asuka, Nara, a two-storey gate of 1612 under a tiled hip-and-gable roof, stands at the temple of the Saigoku Kannon pilgrimage.

Kashihara Shrine Main Hall
Nara 江戸末期 Important Cultural Property
Kashihara Shrine Main Hall

Kashihara Jingu's Main Hall began as a Kyoto Imperial Palace sanctuary of 1855, moved here in 1890. On its bracketless detailing and what visitors can actually see.

Gangoji Temple Gokurakubo East Gate
Nara 鎌倉後期 Important Cultural Property
Gangoji Temple Gokurakubo East Gate

The East Gate of Gangoji is a late Kamakura four-legged gate moved from Todaiji's Sainan'in around 1411, marking the moment the temple turned to face east.