National Treasure

The only autograph copy of Shinran's Kyogyoshinsho, handed down at Bando Hoonji and now at Higashi Honganji, Kyoto, a National Treasure since 1952.

A Tang manuscript of the Chinese dictionary Yupian at Kozanji, Kyoto, a National Treasure since 1952, lost in China and completed by the second half at Ishiyamadera.

Eleven signed waka sheets from a 1200 poetry session on the Kumano road, led by retired emperor Go-Toba, now one National Treasure scroll at Nishi Hongan-ji, Kyoto.

Three poem sheets of 1201 written by Emperor Go-Toba, Fujiwara no Ietaka and Jakuren at gatherings on the road to Kumano; a National Treasure at Kyoto's Yomei Bunko.

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.

A two-scroll Heian manuscript glossing the eighty-fascicle Flower Garland Sutra, giving its hard words a pronunciation and meaning. A National Treasure since 1952.

A Tang seven-panel kesa of Toji, Kyoto, said to have come to Kukai from Huiguo, a National Treasure since 1953, woven with layered clouds in tsuzure-ori.

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.

A 14th-century National Treasure of Chion-in, the 'Hayaraigo' shows Amida and twenty-five bodhisattvas plunging down a steep mountain to welcome a dying believer.

The National Treasure painting of Enma-ten (Yama) at Daigo-ji Temple in Kyoto is a masterpiece of Kamakura-period esoteric Buddhist art. Rather than the fearsome King of Hell, this silk scroll depicts Yama as an elegant, bodhisattva-like figure seated upon a white water buffalo—believed to have been created as the principal icon for safe-childbirth prayers. With its exquisite cut-gold leaf decoration and masterful brushwork, it stands as one of Japan's finest medieval Buddhist paintings.

At Daigo-ji in Kyoto, a National Treasure shows Kariteimo, once a child-devouring demon, now cradling an infant with a pomegranate, a goddess of safe childbirth.

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.

Five Heian-period silk scrolls at Tō-ji in Kyoto show the Five Great Wisdom Kings, made for the imperial New Year rite Kūkai began in 835 and shown only rarely.

A Kamakura-period National Treasure at Daigo-ji in Kyoto: five silk scrolls of the Five Wisdom Kings, led by Fudo, painted as icons of an esoteric protection rite.

Jingo-ji's Red Shakyamuni is a 12th-century silk painting whose deep vermilion robe and lacelike cut-gold patterns mark the peak of late-Heian Buddhist art.

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.

At Tō-ji, the Twelve Devas appear not as separate scrolls but across a pair of six-panel folding screens, painted on silk in 1191 and attributed to Takuma Shōga.

Seven portraits of Shingon patriarchs at Toji, Kyoto, five brought from China by Kukai and two added by him, a National Treasure since 1952.

A National Treasure six-panel screen at Jingo-ji near Kyoto, painted about 1200 for the Shingon kanjo rite. Its native yamato-e landscape is the oldest to survive.

A National Treasure chinso at Daitokuji, this 1334 portrait of founder Shuho Myocho bears a verse in his own hand. Shown at the October airing and 2026 Tokyo show.