Heian

Discover the $11 million Yuteki Tenmoku tea bowl at Osaka's Museum of Oriental Ceramics. This 12th-century Song Dynasty masterpiece features mesmerizing oil-spot patterns and stands as Japan's only National Treasure-designated Yuteki Tenmoku. Complete visitor guide included.

Experience one of only three surviving Yohen Tenmoku tea bowls in the world at Osaka's Fujita Museum. This 12th-century National Treasure displays mysterious cosmic patterns that modern science cannot reproduce, valued at 1.7 billion yen.

Discover the Engishiki, a National Treasure housed at Amanosan Kongoji Temple in Osaka. Copied in 1127 CE, these scrolls are the oldest surviving manuscripts of Japan's most complete ancient legal code, revealing Heian-period governance, Onmyōdō divination, and imperial court culture.

Discover the extraordinary Rhinoceros Horn Handle Knife, a National Treasure from Emperor Shomu's personal collection. Learn how to view this 1,260-year-old artifact during the exclusive 17-day Shosoin Exhibition at Nara National Museum, including tickets, access from Tokyo/Osaka/Kyoto, and combining your visit with World Heritage Sites.

Discover the Seihakuji circular inkstone, Japan's only ceramic inkstone designated as National Treasure. This Tang Dynasty masterpiece at Domyoji Tenmangu Shrine reveals 1,100 years of cultural exchange between China and Japan through the legacy of Sugawara no Michizane.

Discover the exquisite tortoiseshell-decorated ivory comb at Dōmyōji Tenman-gū Shrine in Osaka. This National Treasure from the Heian period showcases Tang dynasty craftsmanship through five precious materials, while telling the poignant story of Japan's patron deity of learning.

Discover the Nezame Monogatari Emaki, a 12th-century National Treasure housed at Nara's Yamato Bunkakan Museum. This exquisite handscroll exemplifies the pinnacle of Heian court painting with its gold-adorned illustrations and the last fragments of a lost tale of forbidden love.

Discover the National Treasure tachi signed Masatsune, a masterwork of the Ko-Bizen school of Japanese swordsmithing from the Heian period. Learn about its elegant form, cultural significance, and where to appreciate Japanese sword heritage.

The Colored-Picture Decorated Paper, Ink-Written Kanfugen-kyo (Fragment / Fan-Shaped Sutra) is a single surviving leaf of the celebrated Senmen Hokekyo Sasshi, originally a ten-volume fan-shaped sutra booklet from late Heian Japan. Layered with mica, gold and silver leaf, yamato-e painting, and elegant ink calligraphy, it is now an Important Cultural Property held by the Fujita Museum in Osaka.

An unsigned straight double-edged Heian sword owned by Kongo-ji, tied by temple tradition to the monk Akan's esoteric rites and kept at the Kyoto National Museum.

Kongo-ji in Osaka keeps a National Treasure scroll of the Engishiki shrine register, copied in 1127, naming 2,861 shrines recognized by the Heian court.

Six Bai Juyi poems in three scripts, with Ono no Michikaze's only surviving standard-script hand. See this National Treasure at Osaka's Masaki Art Museum.

Seven Heian-era kakemamori amulets at Osaka's Shitennoji, National Treasures worn at the neck, one concealing a wooden Buddha revealed by a 2018 CT scan.

A Heian National Treasure handscroll pairing thirty poets across fifteen rounds, with 130 waka in mature kana on purple-and-indigo tobikumo paper, in Izumi, Osaka.

The Kacho Maki-e Kyosoku, a 9th-century lacquered armrest at Osaka's Fujita Museum, is one of Japan's earliest maki-e works, decorated in gold and rare tin.

Dated 883, this National Treasure handscroll records Kanshinji's founding by Kukai's disciple Jichie and inventories the Osaka temple's early Heian halls and images.

A Heian court belt at Domyoji Tenmangu in Osaka, set with fifteen silver-plated plaques of hunters and ducks. A National Treasure linked to Sugawara no Michizane.

At Dōmyōji Tenmangū near Osaka, this 36.4 cm ivory court scepter is a National Treasure and one of six relics tied by tradition to Sugawara no Michizane.

Discover the Ryōbu Daikyō Kantoku-zu, a National Treasure silk painting from 1136 housed at Fujita Museum in Osaka. This Heian-period masterpiece depicts the legendary stories of how two sacred esoteric Buddhist sutras were obtained in India.

Discover the Shitennoji Engi, a National Treasure preserved at Shitennoji Temple in Osaka. This guide introduces the history, cultural value, highlights, and visiting information for the two-scroll set bearing the legendary handprints of Prince Shotoku and Emperor Go-Daigo.