Heian

The National Treasure main hall of Ishiyama-dera in Otsu joins a sanctuary rebuilt in 1096 to a 1602 worship hall on stilts. Sealed Kannon, Genji Room, fees.

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.

A Tang hemp kesa at Enryakuji, said to have been brought from China by Saicho, a National Treasure since 1966 and a rare surviving example in hemp.

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.

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.