Kamakura

The Horyuji Temple Eastern Precinct Bell Tower, an early Kamakura National Treasure, is the oldest skirted belfry in Japan, with a Tenpyo bell said to be Chuguji's.

The Horyuji Temple Eastern Precinct Raido Hall, built in 1231, is a worship hall facing the octagonal Yumedono. What a raido is for and how to read it on site.

Muroji Temple Main Hall (Kanjodo) in Uda City, Nara, was dedicated in 1308 for the esoteric kanjo rite, its inner sanctuary screened by doors and a slatted window.

Tucked into the cedar-clad hills of Nara, the Miroku-dō at Murō-ji is an Important Cultural Property dating to the early Kamakura period. This three-bay hall with a hip-and-gable shingled roof preserves rare medieval techniques, including a distinctive double-roof attic structure, and houses a treasured Maitreya Bodhisattva statue from the late Nara to early Heian period. Discover the history and charm of this serene mountain temple, long known as 'Nyonin Kōya' — the Kōya-san for women.

Yakushi-ji's East Precinct Hall, rebuilt in 1285, is a National Treasure that survived the 1528 fire with the East Pagoda and enshrines a famed bronze Kannon.

South of Yakushi-ji stands the Wakamiya-sha, a single-bay Kasuga-style shrine in cypress bark and the precinct's oldest building, from the late Kamakura period.

The stone treasure pagoda of Raigoji in Nara City, a hoto made in 1310 in the late Kamakura period, was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1954.

The 1283 main hall of Ryosenji in Nara, a National Treasure since 1953 and a fine Kamakura hall in the Japanese style, with ornate porch bracketing and cove boards.

Hasedera Temple in Nara preserves one of Japan's most exquisite National Treasures: the Kanfugen-kyō, a single scroll from the 34-volume Hasedera-kyō set of decorated sutras created in the Kamakura period. Adorned with scattered gold and silver foil, gold-ink ruled lines, and crystal scroll rods, it represents the pinnacle of medieval Japanese devotional art. This article explores its historical background, the reasons for its National Treasure designation, its artistic highlights, and how to visit Hasedera Temple.

An Important Cultural Property preserved at Kōfuku-ji in Nara, this Kamakura-period silk hanging scroll depicts two of the Four Heavenly Kings — the surviving half of an originally complete set of four. Painted by artists associated with the Nanto Edokoro workshop during the temple's restoration after the burning of Nara in 1180, it consciously revives Nara-period iconography while showing the emerging realism of the new Kamakura style. Normally not on view, it is shown only during special exhibitions.

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.

At Toshodai-ji in Nara, the relics Ganjin carried from China rest in a glass jar atop a gilt-bronze turtle, a National Treasure shown only once a year, in October.

A tiny rock-crystal reliquary shaped as a five-element stupa, made to hold relics and sealed inside the gilt-bronze altar pagoda Eison built at Saidaiji in 1270.

An Important Cultural Property of Japan, this set of five wooden statues — a standing Thousand-Armed Kannon flanked by four Heavenly Kings, all enshrined in their original Kasuga-style shrine — has been preserved in the Senjudō hall of Tōdai-ji's Kaidan-in compound in Nara. Created around 1269 in conjunction with the founding of the hall by the Vinaya master Enshō, the statues are widely recognised as a leading example of the Zen-pa school of Kamakura-period sculptors. Treated as hidden Buddhas from the Muromachi period onwards, they retain their original gilding, cut-gold patterns, and bronze accessories in remarkable condition.

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.

The Heart Sutra scroll of Hasedera Temple in Sakurai, Nara, is part of the National Treasure Hasedera-kyō, a Kamakura-period set of 34 decorated sutras. With gold and silver foil, molten gold boundary lines, crystal scroll rods, and brilliantly painted frontispieces, it is one of medieval Japan's supreme works of sacred art.

Discover the Muryōgi-kyō (Sutra of Innumerable Meanings), three exquisite scrolls from the Hase-dera Sutra set — a 34-scroll National Treasure produced in 13th-century Japan. Decorated with scattered gold and silver foil, gold-pigment ruled lines, crystal axles, and brilliantly painted frontispieces, these Kamakura-period scriptures embody the height of Japanese Buddhist art. We also guide you through the spiritual home of these treasures: the famous "Temple of Flowers," Hase-dera in Nara.

Discover the National Treasure Wooden Statues of the Four Heavenly Kings at Kōfuku-ji's Chū-kondō in Nara — towering, dynamic Kamakura-period guardians carved in katsura wood by the Kei school, now watching over the reconstructed Central Golden Hall.

The National Treasure Wooden Standing Statues of the Four Heavenly Kings at Kōfuku-ji's Nan'endō, sculpted in 1189 by the workshop of Kōkei (father of Unkei) for the hall's dedication ceremony. With rare iconography drawn from the Dharani-jikkyō sutra, they may be viewed only on October 17 each year.