Heian

A Heian-period copy of Du Yu's annotated Spring and Autumn Annals, this scroll at Shiga's Ishiyama-dera is a National Treasure, with Buddhist precepts on its back.

Copied by the Heian monk Shunyu at Ishiyama-dera, these scrolls are said to carry a fragrance from Kukai's robe. An 83-scroll National Treasure, shown only rarely.

A fragment of a household register from 908 for a district in present-day Yamaguchi, it survived because a Buddhist text was later copied on its reverse.

A National Treasure at Onjo-ji in Otsu, these ninth-century documents tied to the monk Enchin include two Tang travel passes, the world's only surviving originals.

Saichō's 805 handscroll at Enryaku-ji lists the texts he carried home from Tang China. Partly in his own hand, it bears a Tang prefect's colophon and seals.

Held at Enryaku-ji, this National Treasure is a single scroll of two Tang government permits issued to the monk Saichō in 804 and 805. Part is in his own hand.

Six documents in Saichō's own hand, this National Treasure scroll at Enryaku-ji traces how Tendai won state recognition and its own ordination platform on Mt. Hiei.

A decorated Heian copy of the Lotus Sutra's first chapter, named for Chikubushima island where it was long kept, with birds and flowers in gold and silver.

A National Treasure Eleven-Headed Kannon at Kogen-ji in Shiga, carved from one cypress block in the early Heian period and known for the laughing face at its back.

At Shiga's Mii-dera, a National Treasure portrays Shinra Myojin, a guardian deity said to have appeared to the monk Enchin at sea. Carved in cypress, rarely shown.

A tenth-century National Treasure at Onjō-ji in Ōtsu, Shiga: the seated portrait of Chishō Daishi, the Naka-son Daishi, a secret image opened only on 29 October.

At Onjo-ji in Otsu, this older of two National Treasure portraits of the monk Enchin is said to hold his cremated remains. A concealed image, it is rarely opened.

A National Treasure at Onjo-ji near Lake Biwa, this Tang handscroll in ink line maps the deities of the Diamond World mandala, brought from China by Enchin in 855.

At Chōan-ji, 15 minutes from Sado's port, an 87 cm cypress Amida sits with crystal set in its brow — a serene late-Heian Buddha beside a rare Korean bell.

A late-Heian Eleven-Headed Kannon at Hōden-ji in central Itoigawa, carved in the rough-hewn nata-bori style and an Important Cultural Property since 1923.

Three Heian-era Kannon at Chōkoku-ji on Sado, each cut from a single kaya block. Once mistaken for unfinished work, now prized as a complete provincial style.

A late-Heian Kannon of polychromed cypress at Honkō-ji on Sado Island, an Important Cultural Property said to have been venerated by the exiled Emperor Juntoku.

At Nō Hakusan Shrine in Itoigawa, a late-Heian cherry-wood Kannon hides a riddle: lost arms and head scars hint it began as a four-armed Eleven-Headed Kannon.

On a hill above Naoetsu sits a late-Heian Dainichi Nyorai of kaya wood. Crowned and forming the wisdom-fist mudra, it was among Niigata's earliest protected images.

An early Heian seated Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of Healing and former principal image of Sado Kokubunji in Niigata. Carved from one block, it survived a 1529 fire.