Heian

The Horyuji Temple Tsumamuro Dormitory, about 1121, is a long, narrow lesser dormitory of 27 bays beside the East Dormitory, showing how monks' quarters were ranked.

Muroji Temple Five-Storied Pagoda in Uda City, Nara, is about 16 metres tall, the smallest outdoor pagoda in Japan, with a vase on its finial in place of a flame.

Muroji Temple Golden Hall is an early Heian hall in Uda City, Nara. Its roof breaks where the worship bay rebuilt in 1672 meets the Heian core behind it.

Muroji Temple Sutra Pagoda in Uda City, Nara, is a late Heian stone pagoda on a wooded summit, hollowed for a sutra container, with coins buried beneath it.

Housed at Kasuga Taisha Shrine in Nara, the Kinji Raden Kenukigata Tachi is a resplendent twelfth-century ceremonial sword designated a National Treasure of Japan. Known as the Golden Sword for its near-pure gold fittings, its gilt lacquer scabbard features a playful cat pursuing sparrows through a bamboo grove, rendered in exquisite mother-of-pearl inlay and colored glass.

The Amida Triad and Attendant Child on Silk, a National Treasure preserved at Hokke-ji in Nara, is a set of three large hanging scrolls painted in the late Heian to early Kamakura period. Its dramatic contrast between the serene, frontal Amida and the animated bodhisattvas and attendant child—richly ornamented with gold pigment and cut-gold leaf—has earned it recognition as one of the finest masterpieces in the history of Japanese painting. It is shown only briefly each autumn in the Jikō-den treasure hall.

Held by Hōryū-ji in Nara, the Important Cultural Property Star Mandala on Silk is a rare Heian-period four-court circular mandala. With Shaka Kinrin at its center surrounded by the Big Dipper, Nine Luminaries, twelve zodiac signs and twenty-eight lunar mansions, it is a cosmic map where Indian, Chinese and even Greek-Babylonian astronomical traditions meet on a single piece of silk.

Woven in Tang-dynasty China in a Persian style, this Hōryū-ji National Treasure silk shows four winged-horse riders turning to shoot lions inside beaded roundels.

A National Treasure: a Southern Song edition of Ouyang Xiu's works, edited by Zhou Bida, once in the medieval Kanazawa Bunko library and nearly complete at Tenri.

Discover the Song Edition of Liu Mengde's Collected Works, a National Treasure held at Tenri University Library in Nara. Printed in 12th-century China, brought to Japan by Zen master Eisai, and once admired by shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, this rare printed book offers a remarkable glimpse into the literary exchange between Tang China and medieval Japan.

Standing over five meters tall in the inner sanctuary of Taimadera in Katsuragi, Nara, the Taima Mandala Shrine is a National Treasure built in the late 8th to early 9th century to enshrine the four-meter-square Taima Mandala tapestry. Its rare flat hexagonal form, hidden early Heian decoration in gold and silver, Kamakura-period maki-e doors bearing over 2,000 donors' names, and pedestal donated as a wish of Minamoto no Yoritomo together preserve more than a thousand years of Japanese Pure Land devotion.

Discover the Nihon Kanreiroku-shō, a precious 1147 manuscript preserved at the Sakamoto Ryūmon Bunko in Yoshino, Nara. This Important Cultural Property is the only surviving copy of an early Heian Buddhist tale collection compiled by the Gangō-ji monk Gishō, offering rare glimpses into Japan's vanished setsuwa literature.

Housed at Tenri Central Library in Nara, the National Treasure Harima no Kuni Fudoki is the only surviving ancient manuscript of a gazetteer of Harima Province compiled in the early Nara period. This late-Heian copy from the Sanjonishi family preserves place-name origins, myths, and even the earliest written reference to Japanese sake brewing, offering a remarkably vivid voice from 1,300 years ago.

Preserved within Kasuga Taisha in Nara, the Hongū Goryō Koshinpō-rui is a National Treasure collection of 292 sacred objects once placed in the shrine's main sanctuaries. Ranging from a dazzling Heian-period makie zither to jeweled swords, lacquer mirror stands, and ritual implements, this ensemble represents the pinnacle of Japanese court craft. See these thousand-year-old treasures at the Kasuga Taisha Kokuhōden.

Discover the four imposing Heian-period guardian statues enshrined in Kōfuku-ji's East Golden Hall (Tōkondō) in Nara—National Treasures carved from single blocks of cypress, with vivid original polychromy and remarkably expressive faces.

Discover the National Treasure Wooden Seated Statue of Shaka Nyorai and Two Attendant Bodhisattvas, enshrined in Hōryū-ji's Upper Hall (Jōdō) behind the Great Lecture Hall. Carved in cherry wood using the rare single-block technique, this commanding 10th-century Heian-period triad—Shakyamuni Buddha flanked by Manjusri and Samantabhadra—is opened to the public only three days each year, from November 1 to 3.

Discover the Wooden Seated Statue of Shaka Nyorai at Murō-ji Temple in Uda, Nara — a National Treasure carved from a single block of kaya wood in the 9th century. Long enshrined as a guest deity in the Miroku-dō hall, the statue has been on view at the temple's new Hōmotsuden since 2020, where visitors can admire its serene smile and full-body honpa-shiki rolling-wave drapery up close. This guide covers the statue's significance, why it earned National Treasure status, viewing highlights, access, and nearby attractions.

Enshrined in the Shōryōin of Hōryū-ji, this National Treasure group of five late Heian-period wooden seated statues depicts Prince Shōtoku flanked by his eldest son, two brother princes, and the Goguryeo monk who was his Buddhist teacher. Created around 1121 for the prince's 500th-anniversary memorial, the sculptures are opened to the public only during the Otaiya and Oeshiki services each March, offering a rare glimpse into a thousand-year-old devotional world.

The Wooden Seated Statue of Maitreya Buddha at Tōdai-ji in Nara is a National Treasure carved in the early 9th century, during the early Heian period. Standing only 39 cm tall yet possessing a monumental presence, it earned the nickname Kokoromi no Daibutsu, or the Trial Great Buddha. Treasured since the Kamakura era as a sacred image believed to have been carved by Rōben Sōjō, the founding abbot of Tōdai-ji, this masterpiece of early Heian Nara-region sculpture can be viewed at the Tōdai-ji Museum when on display.