National Treasure

Osaka's Fujita Museum holds a National Treasure scroll illustrating Murasaki Shikibu's 1008 court diary. See its moonlit boating scene and gold leaf pages.

Twelve scrolls over 190 meters long depict Xuanzang's 17-year journey to India. A Kamakura masterpiece once kept secret at Kofukuji, now at Osaka's Fujita Museum.

Held by the Fujita Museum in Osaka, the National Treasure Saimon Shingetsu-zu (Brushwood Gate and the New Moon) is the oldest surviving Japanese poem-painting scroll with a confirmed date, inscribed Ōei 12 (1405). Inspired by a couplet of the Tang poet Du Fu, it carries a preface by the Zen monk Gyokuen Bonpō and poems by eighteen monks of Nanzen-ji and other Five Mountains temples. This guide explores the work itself, its place at the origin of Muromachi ink painting, what to look for in the scroll, and how to plan a visit to the Fujita Museum.

A National Treasure of Japan, the Ichiji Rendai Hokekyō (Fugen Kanpotsuhon) is a dazzling late Heian decorated sutra in which each written character is enthroned on a painted lotus pedestal and encircled by a golden halo. The gold- and silver-strewn paper and the yamato-e frontispiece depicting a Heian memorial rite make it one of Japan's finest sōshokukyō. It is preserved at the Museum Yamato Bunkakan in Nara.

A herdboy rides his ox home through falling snow in Li Di's Returning Herd in Snow, a Southern Song National Treasure kept at Nara's Yamato Bunkakan museum.

The Matsura Screens, a National Treasure pair of gold-leaf screens, show 18 life-size Edo courtesans. See the 22 kimono and rosary at Nara's Yamato Bunkakan.

Held by the Osaka Aoyama Historical Literature Museum in Kawanishi, Hyogo, the National Treasure Tosa Nikki is the manuscript copy made by Fujiwara no Tameie in 1236, who transcribed Ki no Tsurayuki's lost autograph 'without altering a single character.' The closest surviving witness to Japan's first kana diary, it preserves the tenth-century spelling and calligraphic forms of Tsurayuki's original — a literary treasure set in Kawanishi, the legendary birthplace of the Seiwa Genji clan.

Fukiji Ōdō, located on the Kunisaki Peninsula in Bungo-Takada, Oita Prefecture, is the oldest surviving wooden structure in Kyushu and a designated National Treasure of Japan. Ranked alongside Byōdō-in's Phoenix Hall and Chūson-ji's Golden Hall as one of Japan's Three Great Amida Halls, this late Heian-period masterpiece preserves extraordinary wall paintings depicting the Pure Land paradise and an Important Cultural Property statue of Amida Buddha.

Sixty-one Buddhas carved into volcanic cliffs in Usuki, Oita, became Japan's first rock-cut National Treasures in 1995. Meet the restored Furuzono Dainichi.

Discover the Daihoji Three-Storied Pagoda, a National Treasure built in 1333 in Aoki Village, Nagano. Known as the "Looking Back Pagoda" for its breathtaking beauty, this pure Japanese-style masterpiece stands among the finest pagodas in eastern Japan.

Discover Nishina Shinmeigu in Omachi, Nagano — the only surviving medieval Shinmei-zukuri shrine in Japan. Designated a National Treasure, this sacred site preserves centuries of Shikinen Sengu tradition amid the stunning Japanese Alps.

Found nearly whole in 1986, this mica-flecked Jomon figure was Japan's first prehistoric National Treasure. The original stands at a museum in Chino, Nagano.

A large Late Jomon clay figure from the Nakappara site in Chino, Nagano, named for its inverted-triangle, mask-like face. A National Treasure since 2014.

Hon'ami Kōetsu's Raku bowl Fujisan, white above and dark below like snow-capped Mount Fuji, is a National Treasure rarely shown at Sunritz Hattori Museum, Lake Suwa.

Kao's Kanzan, a 14th-century National Treasure of early Japanese ink painting at the Sunritz Hattori Museum on Lake Suwa, shown only in select exhibitions.

Only two Fugen Bosatsu paintings rank as National Treasures in Japan. Explore Bujoji Temple's Heian masterpiece, its cut-gold kirikane artistry, and how to see it.

Deer rest among golden bush clover on this Kamakura-period lacquer box kept at Izumo Taisha. Explore its sprinkled-gold artistry, shell inlay, and how to see it.

A late Kamakura armor laced in white silk, with Fudo Myoo stenciled on its breastplate. Owned by Hinomisaki Shrine and famed for its pioneering 1805 restoration.

Discover the State Guest House Akasaka Palace, Japan's sole Neo-Baroque palace and first modern National Treasure. Explore its stunning Meiji-era architecture, lavish state rooms with cloisonné art, and beautiful gardens in central Tokyo.

Made in 1639 for Chiyohime, the shogun's two-year-old daughter, this 70-piece trousseau glitters with gold maki-e from The Tale of Genji. A National Treasure.