National Treasure

Ninety-three Kasuga miracle tales on twenty silk scrolls, painted around 1309 by Takashina Takakane. Complete and never repainted, a National Treasure since 2021.

A National Treasure at the Tokyo National Museum, the only Peacock Wisdom King painting left from Heian Japan, admired for its gentle deity and refined gold work.

Painted by the Song court artist Li Di and dated 1197, this National Treasure pairs a white and a red cotton rose, one flower as it shifts colour across a day.

The oldest surviving painted image of Kokūzō in Japan, this 12th-century silk scroll at the Tokyo National Museum is admired for its fine cut-gold kirikane work.

Japan's oldest surviving arhat paintings, this 11th-century National Treasure of 16 silk scrolls at the Tokyo National Museum glows with soft, back-dyed color.

A late-12th-century National Treasure of Senju Kannon at the Tokyo National Museum: forty-two arms ringed by small hands, the silk worked in fine gold kirikane.

Ito Jakuchu's National Treasure: thirty silk scrolls of birds, fish, and flowers painted over a decade for a Kyoto Zen temple, held at Tokyo's Sannomaru Shozokan.

A National Treasure at Tokyo Nezu Museum, this rare Kamakura scroll shows Nachi Falls alone as a sacred deity, fusing yamato-e and Chinese ink-and-gold landscape.

A 12th-century Heian National Treasure at Tokyo National Museum, this silk scroll depicts Fugen Bosatsu on a six-tusked white elephant amid fine cut-gold ornament.

A fan-shaped Song-dynasty painting of one apple branch, its blossoms ranging from bud to full bloom. Now a National Treasure at Tokyo's Ebara Hatakeyama Museum.

A National Treasure at the Tokyo National Museum: a Southern Song three-scroll set by Liang Kai of a gaunt Buddha and snowy peaks, held by the Ashikaga shoguns.

A Southern Song scroll attributed to Ma Yuan, this National Treasure shows a lone traveler hurrying under a folded umbrella as wind and rain cross towering peaks.

The fullest of the Five Great Man'yōshū manuscripts, this Heian set of twenty booklets is named for a collation note of 1184 and written by some fifteen hands.

Ritual deposits found beneath Kofuku-ji's Central Golden Hall in Nara in 1874: gilt bronze vessels, mirrors, gold, and coins, about 1,400 pieces, the richest known.

A National Treasure of the Maeda Ikutokukai: a 12th-century manuscript of the Kokin Wakashu preserving the Kiyosuke text. Its attribution to Kiyosuke is debated.

A National Treasure handscroll of the Kokin Wakashu, copied in the mid-11th century by the Third of three hands once attributed to Ki no Tsurayuki himself.

A National Treasure and the oldest complete Kokin Wakashu, dated 1120, at the Tokyo National Museum. Its kana sits on dyed paper printed with mica and gold foil.

A Heian National Treasure at the Okura Shukokan, Tokyo: the kana preface to the Kokin Wakashu, brushed in cursive across thirty-three dyed, decorated paper sheets.

Housed at the Sonkeikaku Bunko in Komaba, Tokyo, the National Treasure Sanchō Shinkan brings together autograph letters by three emperors — Fushimi, Hanazono, and Go-Daigo — who lived through the turbulent transition from the late Kamakura period to the Nanboku-chō era. This article introduces one of Japan's most remarkable assemblages of imperial calligraphy and living historical voice.

The Tokyo National Museum holds the National Treasure Haboku Sansui-zu (Broken-Ink Landscape) by Sesshū Tōyō, painted in 1495 when the master was 76. This 148.6 cm hanging scroll, given to his pupil Josui Sōen and inscribed with a personal preface plus poems by six Gozan Zen monks, represents the pinnacle of Muromachi splashed-ink landscape painting. Discover its history, artistry, and visitor information.