National Treasure

The late Kamakura west main hall of Namura Shrine in Ryuo, Shiga, a National Treasure since 1955, with a lattice-fronted front room and fine frog-leg struts.

Two Momoyama buildings at Hiyoshi Taisha in Otsu: an 1586 National Treasure whose roof stops at the rear, raised over a chamber that once held Buddhist images.

Momoyama halls at Hiyoshi Taisha in Otsu, built 1595 and 1596. The 1595 Main Hall is a National Treasure whose details diverge quietly from its western twin.

Hogonji's karamon gate, Kannon Hall and corridors on Chikubushima, moved by Toyotomi Hideyori in 1603; the gate, possibly from Osaka Castle, is a National Treasure.

The late Kamakura main hall of Mikami Shrine in Yasu, Shiga, a National Treasure since 1952, a hip-and-gable shrine hall of a kind rarely found.

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.

A Tang hemp kesa at Enryakuji, said to have been brought from China by Saicho, a National Treasure since 1966 and a rare surviving example in hemp.

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.