National Treasure

Discover the Jūgoban Uta-awase (Saisen), a National Treasure calligraphy scroll from the Heian period. Compiled by Fujiwara no Kintō, this exquisite poetry anthology features gold and silver decorated paper (saisen) and is preserved by the Maeda Ikutokukai Foundation in Tokyo.

Discover the Aloeswood Wood-Marquetry Box, an 8th-century National Treasure housed in the Gallery of Horyuji Treasures at Tokyo National Museum. This rare Nara-period sutra box features precious aloeswood, ivory, and ebony arranged in an elegant checkerboard pattern, embodying the artistic legacy of the Silk Road in Japan.

Held by the Seikado Foundation in Tokyo, this tachi signed 'Kanenaga' is the finest surviving work of the first-generation Kanenaga, founding master of the Tegai school of Yamato province in the late Kamakura period. Designated a National Treasure in 1952, the sword is prized for its unshortened signed tang and the brilliant crystalline particles of its temper line. It is displayed at the Seikado Bunko Art Museum in Marunouchi, Tokyo.

Discover Dōjigiri Yasutsuna, one of Japan's Five Greatest Swords Under Heaven. This Heian-period National Treasure at the Tokyo National Museum is famed for its legend of slaying the demon Shuten-dōji. Learn its history, artistry, and how to visit.

Fujiwara no Kintō's Hokuzanshō guided Heian court ritual. The Maeda Ikutokukai's National Treasure copy, twelve scrolls, is attributed to Fujiwara no Korefusa.

A complete ten-scroll Heian Lotus Sutra, the Sensōji-kyō keeps its gold-flecked paper, inlaid axles, and woven cords intact, now held at the Tokyo National Museum.

This 11th-century National Treasure, kept for centuries at Chikubushima on Lake Biwa, copies the Lotus Sutra over paper drawn with gold-and-silver birds and flowers.

Preserved at Waseda University Library in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward, this National Treasure is the sole surviving volume of a lost 100-volume Chinese Confucian commentary. A Tang-dynasty handscroll that reached Japan in the Nara period, it bears the personal library seal of Empress Kōmyō. Discover its extraordinary journey, scholarly importance, and how to experience it today.

Housed at Eisei Bunko in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, the National Treasure Raden Shigure-gura is a Kamakura-period black-lacquered saddle whose pine and kudzu motifs, inlaid in iridescent shell, conceal five Japanese characters that spell out a famous love poem by the poet-monk Jien from the Shin Kokin Wakashū anthology.

Held at the Sonkeikaku Bunko in Tokyo, this National Treasure comprises four late-Heian manuscripts of the Ruijū Kokushi—Sugawara no Michizane's 205-volume classified history completed in 892 under Emperor Uda. Covering auspicious omens, earthquakes, and Buddhist rites, they are vital for reconstructing the lost Nihon Kōki and for modern earthquake research.

The Gotoh Museum in Setagaya, Tokyo, preserves the National Treasure 'Six Patriarch Shouldering a Pole,' a thirteenth-century Southern Song ink painting bearing the seal of the painter Chokuō. Rendered in the delicate mōryōga style with washes of pale ink and selective accents of dark ink, the scroll depicts Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism, at the life-changing moment he hears the Diamond Sutra. An inscription by Chan master Enkei Kōmon dates the work with unusual precision. Discover the history, artistic value, and visiting information for this masterpiece.

Held by the Nezu Museum in Tokyo's Minami-Aoyama district, Fishing Village at Sunset (attributed to Muqi) is a National Treasure and one of the supreme achievements of Southern Song ink painting. A scene from the famous Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers, it bears the seal of Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and is exhibited only rarely, every few years.

Discover the National Treasure 'Silk-Painted Image of the Eleven-Headed Kannon' at Nara National Museum — a 12th-century Heian-period masterpiece on silk. As one of Japan's oldest surviving silk paintings of this form of Kannon, it features an unusually naturalistic three-quarter pose, exquisite cut-gold-leaf (kirikane) decoration, and motifs newly introduced from Song-dynasty China. This guide covers the painting's iconography, history, and how to plan your visit to the museum in Nara Park.

Housed at the Nara National Museum, the Gyūhi Keman are a set of thirteen fan-shaped Buddhist pendant garlands of ox-hide, cut in openwork and painted on both faces with kalavinka and hōsōge arabesques. Originally preserved at Tō-ji Temple in Kyoto, they date to the 11th century and are the oldest surviving leather keman of this form in Japan.

Discover the Lotus Arabesque Maki-e Sutra Box, a National Treasure from the late Heian period housed at Nara National Museum. Crafted in the exceptionally rare lacquered-leather (shippi) technique and adorned with togidashi maki-e, this elegant container once preserved decorated sutras at Jingū-ji in Fukui.

The 3,184 wooden tablets (mokkan) excavated from the Heijō Palace Site in Nara were designated a National Treasure in 2017—the first time in history wooden tablets received this honor. These contemporary primary sources reveal the daily administration and life of 8th-century Japan in ways no compiled history ever could, now accessible at the Heijō Palace Site Museum within the UNESCO World Heritage area.

The Taiyuin Mausoleum at Rinnoji Temple in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, is the final resting place of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty, completed in 1653. Comprising a National Treasure–designated main hall and over twenty Important Cultural Properties, the complex forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage–listed Shrines and Temples of Nikko. Discover its dignified gold-and-black lacquer interiors, dragon ceiling paintings by master artist Kano Tan'yū, and the transformative experience of ascending through five magnificent gates toward the sacred inner sanctum.

Standing beside the Yoshino River in Gojo City, Nara Prefecture, the Octagonal Hall of Eisan-ji is a National Treasure built between 760 and 764 by Fujiwara no Nakamaro to honor his father Muchimaro. Together with the Yumedono of Horyu-ji, it is one of only two Nara-period octagonal halls that survive in their original form. Inside, faded but visible eighth-century paintings of bodhisattvas and celestial beings still remain on its pillars and beams.

Discover the National Treasure Kasugado and Hakusando at Enjoji Temple in the wooded hills east of Nara. Built in 1228 and originally part of Kasuga Taisha, these two diminutive vermillion shrines are the oldest surviving examples of kasuga-zukuri architecture in Japan. This guide explores their early-Kamakura craftsmanship, fascinating history, and how to visit them along the historic Yagyu Road.

Discover the Kairyuoji Five-Story Small Pagoda, Japan's smallest National Treasure pagoda, designated as architecture rather than a craft object. Standing only 4.01 meters tall yet faithfully built as a complete five-story structure, this rare Tenpyo-era masterpiece has been enshrined within the West Golden Hall of Kairyuoji Temple in Nara for approximately 1,300 years, offering a rare window into eighth-century Japanese pagoda design closely related to Yakushiji's East Pagoda.