National Treasures of Nara

A National Treasure of Japan, the Ichiji Rendai Hokekyō (Fugen Kanpotsuhon) is a dazzling late Heian decorated sutra in which each written character is enthroned on a painted lotus pedestal and encircled by a golden halo. The gold- and silver-strewn paper and the yamato-e frontispiece depicting a Heian memorial rite make it one of Japan's finest sōshokukyō. It is preserved at the Museum Yamato Bunkakan in Nara.

A herdboy rides his ox home through falling snow in Li Di's Returning Herd in Snow, a Southern Song National Treasure kept at Nara's Yamato Bunkakan museum.

The Matsura Screens, a National Treasure pair of gold-leaf screens, show 18 life-size Edo courtesans. See the 22 kimono and rosary at Nara's Yamato Bunkakan.

Discover the National Treasure 'Silk-Painted Image of the Eleven-Headed Kannon' at Nara National Museum — a 12th-century Heian-period masterpiece on silk. As one of Japan's oldest surviving silk paintings of this form of Kannon, it features an unusually naturalistic three-quarter pose, exquisite cut-gold-leaf (kirikane) decoration, and motifs newly introduced from Song-dynasty China. This guide covers the painting's iconography, history, and how to plan your visit to the museum in Nara Park.

Housed at the Nara National Museum, the Gyūhi Keman are a set of thirteen fan-shaped Buddhist pendant garlands of ox-hide, cut in openwork and painted on both faces with kalavinka and hōsōge arabesques. Originally preserved at Tō-ji Temple in Kyoto, they date to the 11th century and are the oldest surviving leather keman of this form in Japan.

Discover the Lotus Arabesque Maki-e Sutra Box, a National Treasure from the late Heian period housed at Nara National Museum. Crafted in the exceptionally rare lacquered-leather (shippi) technique and adorned with togidashi maki-e, this elegant container once preserved decorated sutras at Jingū-ji in Fukui.

The 3,184 wooden tablets (mokkan) excavated from the Heijō Palace Site in Nara were designated a National Treasure in 2017—the first time in history wooden tablets received this honor. These contemporary primary sources reveal the daily administration and life of 8th-century Japan in ways no compiled history ever could, now accessible at the Heijō Palace Site Museum within the UNESCO World Heritage area.

Standing beside the Yoshino River in Gojo City, Nara Prefecture, the Octagonal Hall of Eisan-ji is a National Treasure built between 760 and 764 by Fujiwara no Nakamaro to honor his father Muchimaro. Together with the Yumedono of Horyu-ji, it is one of only two Nara-period octagonal halls that survive in their original form. Inside, faded but visible eighth-century paintings of bodhisattvas and celestial beings still remain on its pillars and beams.

Discover the National Treasure Kasugado and Hakusando at Enjoji Temple in the wooded hills east of Nara. Built in 1228 and originally part of Kasuga Taisha, these two diminutive vermillion shrines are the oldest surviving examples of kasuga-zukuri architecture in Japan. This guide explores their early-Kamakura craftsmanship, fascinating history, and how to visit them along the historic Yagyu Road.

Discover the Kairyuoji Five-Story Small Pagoda, Japan's smallest National Treasure pagoda, designated as architecture rather than a craft object. Standing only 4.01 meters tall yet faithfully built as a complete five-story structure, this rare Tenpyo-era masterpiece has been enshrined within the West Golden Hall of Kairyuoji Temple in Nara for approximately 1,300 years, offering a rare window into eighth-century Japanese pagoda design closely related to Yakushiji's East Pagoda.

Gangō-ji's Gokurakubō Main Hall in Nara is a National Treasure whose west roof still keeps gyōki-buki tiles brought from Asuka-dera, among the oldest in Japan.

The Niōmon of Kinpusenji Temple in Yoshinoyama, Nara, is a towering two-story medieval gateway rebuilt in 1456. Standing over 20 meters tall, it is one of Japan's largest temple gates, designated a National Treasure and a core component of the UNESCO World Heritage site "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range." Uniquely, it faces north—the opposite direction of the main hall—to welcome pilgrims arriving from Kyoto and Osaka toward the sacred mountains. The gate is currently undergoing its first major restoration in seventy years, with completion scheduled for fiscal year 2028.

Towering over the cherry-covered ridge of Yoshino-yama in Nara, Kinpusen-ji's Main Hall (Zao-do) is Japan's second-largest wooden historic structure at roughly 34 meters tall. As the head temple of Shugendo mountain asceticism, it enshrines three colossal hidden statues of Zao Gongen and is registered as both a National Treasure and a UNESCO World Heritage core asset of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range. Discover its Momoyama-era architecture, sacred interior, and spiritual significance.

Kofuku-ji's Five-Storied Pagoda in Nara, founded in 730 by Empress Komyo, is a National Treasure and the second-tallest wooden pagoda in Japan at 50.9 meters. The current 1426 structure is a symbol of the ancient capital, now undergoing a major restoration from 2022 to 2034.

Standing quietly within the precincts of Kofukuji Temple in Nara City, the Three-Storied Pagoda is a National Treasure originally built in 1143 through the patronage of Empress Kokamon'in Shoshi, consort of Emperor Sutoku. After being destroyed in the 1180 burning of Nara, it was rebuilt in the early Kamakura period in faithful imitation of the original Heian style. Approximately 19 meters tall, the pagoda is celebrated for the refined delicacy of its timbering, its elegant silhouette, and a unique interior program of four thousand Buddha paintings arranged across X-shaped panels between the four central pillars. Its interior is opened to visitors only on July 7 each year during the Benzaiten ceremony.

Standing within the Kōfuku-ji precincts in Nara, the Tōkondō (Eastern Golden Hall) was originally founded in 726 by Emperor Shōmu as a prayer for the recovery of his aunt, the retired Empress Genshō. The present hall was rebuilt in 1415 in a deliberate revival of the eighth-century Tenpyō style, modeled on the Kondō of Tōshōdai-ji, and was designated a National Treasure in 1952. Its interior houses an extraordinary assembly of Buddhist sculptures—including the National Treasure statues of Yuima Koji, Monju Bosatsu, the Twelve Heavenly Generals, and the Four Heavenly Kings, along with the Important Cultural Property Yakushi Triad—making it one of the most richly endowed halls in the World Heritage Site of Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara.

Tucked into the northwestern corner of Kōfuku-ji in Nara, the National Treasure Hokuendō is an octagonal hall first built in 721 to memorialize Fujiwara no Fuhito and rebuilt in 1210 in the Kamakura style. Widely praised as Japan's most beautiful octagonal hall, it combines rare triple-stepped brackets, triple-rafter eaves, and hexagonal ground rafters with Unkei workshop masterpieces including Maitreya and the Asanga–Vasubandhu figures, viewable during special spring and autumn openings.

Taima-dera's late-Nara East Pagoda, 24.4 m tall, has a rare eight-ringed finial and a fishbone flame seen on no other tower in Japan, beside its sister West Pagoda.

Standing at the foot of Mount Nijō in Katsuragi City, Nara Prefecture, the Main Hall of Taima-dera—known as Mandala-dō—is a National Treasure of late Heian-period wayō architecture completed in 1161, incorporating an older Nara-period inner sanctuary. It enshrines the Taima Mandala within a National Treasure hexagonal cabinet and is famed for the Princess Chūjō legend and its seasonal flowers.

The Main Hall of Chōkyū-ji Temple in Ikoma City, Nara Prefecture, is a National Treasure built in 1279 during the late Kamakura period. Celebrated as a masterwork of the shin-wayō style blending Japanese wayō elegance with continental daibutsuyō elements, the hall preserves a mature esoteric Buddhist spatial plan beneath a gracefully curving cypress-bark roof, with its construction date confirmed by original ridge-beam inscriptions.