National Treasure

Unearthed on Mount Hiei in 1924, this Heian gilt-bronze box held a Lotus Sutra copied by Empress Jotomon-in in 1031. Its lid bears the title in hollow script.

Discover the Shichijō Shinō Kesa, a rare Tang dynasty hemp kesa designated as a National Treasure of Japan. Brought from China by the monk Saichō over 1,200 years ago, this sacred Buddhist vestment is preserved at Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A National Treasure of Enryaku-ji: a Sui-dynasty patchwork silk robe Saicho brought back from Tang China, said to have belonged to the Tiantai founder Zhiyi.

Discover the Ecchū no Kuni Kansō Nōkoku Kōtaiki Zankan, a National Treasure scroll at Ishiyama-dera Temple in Shiga Prefecture. This rare Nara-period document records grain storage transfers in ancient Etchū Province, offering a unique window into Japan's 8th-century governance system.

Held at Ishiyamadera, this National Treasure carries the Enryaku Kotaishiki, an 803 law on handing over provincial office, with a Sanskrit primer on its reverse.

Saichō wrote this fire-damaged Enryaku-ji scroll in 811, listing the Buddhist ritual objects he carried home from Tang China, each entry signed in his own hand.

Two scrolls at Ishiyama-dera preserve the Book of Han, China's history of the Former Han, copied by hand in eighth-century Japan, with a Buddhist text on the back.

Compiled in 543 and lost in China, the Yupian survives only in Tang manuscripts in Japan. This National Treasure at Ishiyama-dera is volume 27's latter half.

At Jinsho-ji in Shiga, sixteen copper trays cut with gold-and-silver openwork florals once held petals scattered at Buddhist rites. A peak of Japanese metalwork.

Onjo-ji's National Treasure near Lake Biwa: the oldest surviving painting of Fudo Myoo alone, a yellow deity in empty space, born of the monk Enchin's vision.

A scroll Emperor Saga wrote in 823 certifying the monk Kojo's ordination on Mount Hiei. The only authenticated example of his hand, now a National Treasure.

At Ishiyama-dera in Shiga, one of the oldest copies of the Shiji sits on paper a Heian monk later reused for a Shingon ritual. The scroll is a National Treasure.

At Ishiyama-dera in Shiga, the Shaku Makaen Ron is a rare Tang-dynasty manuscript of a commentary on the Awakening of Faith, kept in five folding booklets.

A Heian-period Japanese copy of Du Yu's Confucian commentary, this National Treasure scroll at Ishiyama-dera carries esoteric Buddhist ritual on its reverse side.

A Heian-period copy of Du Yu's annotated Spring and Autumn Annals, this scroll at Shiga's Ishiyama-dera is a National Treasure, with Buddhist precepts on its back.

Copied by the Heian monk Shunyu at Ishiyama-dera, these scrolls are said to carry a fragrance from Kukai's robe. An 83-scroll National Treasure, shown only rarely.

A fragment of a household register from 908 for a district in present-day Yamaguchi, it survived because a Buddhist text was later copied on its reverse.

On Lake Biwa's north shore, Sugaura's villagers kept 1,281 documents recording their medieval self-rule and land disputes. They became a National Treasure in 2018.

Kept at Taiheiji in mountainous Shiga, these 142 volumes are the oldest dated copy of the Great Wisdom Sutra in Japan, brushed in 712 at the wish of Prince Nagaya.

Twenty-seven sutra volumes kept at Jomyoji Temple in Koka, Shiga, copied in 712 for Prince Nagaya: Japan's oldest dated Daihannya-kyo, a National Treasure.