Heian

Nineteen Heian-period scrolls of Tang commentaries on the Wen Xuan, lost in China, survive at Yokohama's Kanazawa Bunko, designated a National Treasure in 1955.

Discover the Important Cultural Property artifacts excavated from the Tangodaira Tumulus Group in Hachinohe, Aomori. Explore ancient swords, jewels, and a unique Korean-made gilt-bronze sword pommel at the Hachinohe City Museum.

An 89.4 cm late Heian blade by Ko-Bizen smith Sanetsune, given to Kunozan Toshogu by shogun Hidetada in 1617. A National Treasure shown in special exhibits.

Around 1141, Retired Emperor Toba's court copied the Lotus Sutra one scroll per person on gold-strewn papers. Trace Tesshuji's nineteen-scroll National Treasure.

The Soryu-kyo at Katori Jingu, Chiba, is a bronze mirror dated 1149 with a continental-style twin-dragon reverse, the oldest dated Japanese mirror of its kind.

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.

An unbroken 8.3-meter scroll of 101 classical poems in flowing 11th-century kana on cloud-patterned paper, held as a National Treasure at Osaka's Fujita Museum.

The National Treasure celadon vase 'Bansei', fired at Southern Song China's Longquan kilns, passed from an empress to a Kyoto temple before reaching Izumi, Osaka.

A ninth-century Tang manuscript of China's first dictionary survives in Osaka as a National Treasure. See its seal-script columns at the Kyou Shooku library.

Osaka's Kyou Shooku library holds eleven Song-printed volumes of the Shiji jijie, the oldest Shiji commentary, a National Treasure once owned by Naito Konan.