Edo

At the foot of Tokyo Tower stands the 1743 vermilion front gate of Shinkō-in, a branch of the Tokugawa temple Zōjō-ji, registered as a Cultural Property in 2001.

The Jizō-dō at Yūtenji Temple in Meguro, Tokyo, is a nationally registered tangible cultural property dating from the late 18th century. Its extraordinary ceiling paintings of Edo-era firefighter matoi standards, combined with refined Buddhist architectural details, make it a unique cultural treasure. Discover the fascinating story of faith, firefighting heritage, and Edo craftsmanship in the heart of trendy Nakameguro.

Discover the Jizodo-mon Gate at Yutenji Temple in Meguro, Tokyo—a Registered Tangible Cultural Property featuring unique ceiling carvings of Edo firefighter matoi standards. Explore its history, architecture, and deep connection to the machi-bikeshi tradition.

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.

Discover Tawaraya Sōtatsu's masterpiece of Japanese ink painting, "Lotus Pond and Waterfowl" (Renchi Suikin-zu), held by the Kyoto National Museum. This National Treasure hanging scroll, painted in the early Edo period in ink alone, quietly sets two lotus stems and two little grebes in dialogue to evoke the passage of a summer. This guide introduces the painting's artistic value, the reasons for its designation, its highlights, and the surrounding sights of Kyoto's Higashiyama district.

A Southern Song celadon vase of shimokabura form, a Japanese National Treasure with a smooth, crackle-free pale-blue glaze. Its kiln is still debated by scholars.

Discover the Important Cultural Property collection of over 3,000 documents related to Okubo Toshimichi, one of the Three Great Nobles of the Meiji Restoration, housed at the National Museum of Japanese History in Sakura, Chiba.

A National Treasure near Tokyo: a Southern Song printing of the Hanshu in 61 fascicles, holding the earliest reliable Chinese record of Japan, the Wa people.

A complete Southern Song printing of the Book of the Later Han, kept in Sakura, whose account of the eastern peoples names Queen Himiko and an embassy of 57 CE.

A National Treasure near Tokyo: the Song-dynasty Shiji printed by Huang Shanfu, the oldest complete copy of the three-commentary edition, all 130 chapters intact.

Discover the Important Cultural Property tsuba (sword guard) known as the 'Hand Guard with the Motif of a Fierce Tiger in the Rain' (signed Toshinaga, with kao), housed at the Tokyo National Museum. Created by Nara Toshinaga, the foremost master of the Nara school of mid-Edo period sword-fitting artisans, this 7.4 cm iron tsuba captures a tiger crouched in a storm — a dramatic miniature scene executed in high-relief carving, gold and silver inlay, openwork, and hairline engraving. Learn about the work's artistry and visit one of Tokyo's most extraordinary museum districts in Ueno.

Brushed in 1124, this is the oldest surviving Zen calligraphy. Cut in two long ago, its front half is National Treasure number one, the supreme tearoom scroll.

Discover the Matsuya Katatsuki, an Important Cultural Property of Japan — a Chinese-made shouldered tea caddy that passed through the hands of shoguns and tea masters for over 500 years. Now housed at the Nezu Museum in Tokyo's Aoyama district.

A small ink scroll the Chan master Xutang Zhiyu brushed near age eighty for a Japanese monk, slashed by a servant in 1637 and now a National Treasure in Tokyo.

Brushed in 1325 by the Yuan master Gulin Qingmao for his disciple Betsugen Enshi, this farewell verse, once owned by Oda Nobunaga, is now a National Treasure.

Watanabe Kazan's 1837 portrait of scholar Takami Senseki blends Western facial shading with East Asian brushwork. A National Treasure at the Tokyo National Museum.

Just 24.2 cm tall, this National Treasure at Tokyo's Nezu Museum is a peak of Southern Song bird-and-flower painting, attributed to Li Anzhong and shown only rarely.

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.

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 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.