Heian

Discover the National Treasure "Fujiwara no Sukemasa Hitsu Shi-Kaishi," the oldest surviving poetry paper in Japan. Written in 969 by one of the legendary Three Traces calligraphers, this masterpiece at Kagawa Prefectural Museum reveals the birth of Japanese-style calligraphy.

At the Grand Shrine of Ise, this scroll is volume 22 of the Yupian, a Chinese dictionary lost in China. Copied in 904, its back bears an Ise priesthood register.

Discover the Former Precincts of Jionji Temple, a nationally designated historic site in Sagae, Yamagata. Explore Heian and Kamakura-era Buddhist statues, the Twelve Divine Generals, sacred Bugaku dance, and a vast temple complex that once rivaled the great monasteries of Nara and Kyoto.

A curved blade signed "Nobufusa," among Japan's oldest signed swords. Forged in Heian-period Bizen, given by Tokugawa Ieyasu, now a National Treasure in Tsuruoka.

Discover Gatsurinji Yakushido, an Important Cultural Property in Yamaguchi City. Built in 1189 by the monk Chogen during the reconstruction of Todai-ji, this thatched-roof hall is the oldest surviving wooden structure in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

The eighth volume of the Koyagire, the oldest surviving copy of Japan's first imperial poetry anthology and one of only three left whole, at the Mori Museum in Hofu.

Held at the Mōri Museum in Hōfu, this single handscroll is Japan's oldest dated copy of Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, brushed and annotated in 1073.

The Main Hall of Ishiyamadera in Ōtsu, Shiga, is the oldest wooden building in the prefecture — a National Treasure uniting a 1096 inner sanctum with a cliff-hanging outer hall donated by Yodo-dono in 1602. Built on a natural-monument wollastonite outcrop, it preserves the Genji-no-Ma chamber where Murasaki Shikibu is said to have conceived The Tale of Genji, and remains a living icon of Japanese literary and Buddhist heritage.

Unearthed on Mount Hiei in 1924, this Heian gilt-bronze box held a Lotus Sutra copied by Empress Jotomon-in in 1031. Its lid bears the title in hollow script.

Discover the Shichijō Shinō Kesa, a rare Tang dynasty hemp kesa designated as a National Treasure of Japan. Brought from China by the monk Saichō over 1,200 years ago, this sacred Buddhist vestment is preserved at Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Discover the Ecchū no Kuni Kansō Nōkoku Kōtaiki Zankan, a National Treasure scroll at Ishiyama-dera Temple in Shiga Prefecture. This rare Nara-period document records grain storage transfers in ancient Etchū Province, offering a unique window into Japan's 8th-century governance system.

Held at Ishiyamadera, this National Treasure carries the Enryaku Kotaishiki, an 803 law on handing over provincial office, with a Sanskrit primer on its reverse.

Saichō wrote this fire-damaged Enryaku-ji scroll in 811, listing the Buddhist ritual objects he carried home from Tang China, each entry signed in his own hand.

Compiled in 543 and lost in China, the Yupian survives only in Tang manuscripts in Japan. This National Treasure at Ishiyama-dera is volume 27's latter half.

Onjo-ji's National Treasure near Lake Biwa: the oldest surviving painting of Fudo Myoo alone, a yellow deity in empty space, born of the monk Enchin's vision.

A scroll Emperor Saga wrote in 823 certifying the monk Kojo's ordination on Mount Hiei. The only authenticated example of his hand, now a National Treasure.

A Heian document at Enryaku-ji, Mount Hiei, tied to the 805 transmission of the bodhisattva precepts from the master Daosui to Saichō, founder of Tendai.

At Jōraku-ji in Shiga, a Heian cast-bronze ringed staff sets a pagoda and water vessel in its loop. An Important Cultural Property and stored treasure, rarely shown.

At Ishiyama-dera in Shiga, the Shaku Makaen Ron is a rare Tang-dynasty manuscript of a commentary on the Awakening of Faith, kept in five folding booklets.

A Heian-period Japanese copy of Du Yu's Confucian commentary, this National Treasure scroll at Ishiyama-dera carries esoteric Buddhist ritual on its reverse side.