Heian

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.

The oldest surviving painted image of Kokūzō in Japan, this 12th-century silk scroll at the Tokyo National Museum is admired for its fine cut-gold kirikane work.

Japan's oldest surviving arhat paintings, this 11th-century National Treasure of 16 silk scrolls at the Tokyo National Museum glows with soft, back-dyed color.

A late-12th-century National Treasure of Senju Kannon at the Tokyo National Museum: forty-two arms ringed by small hands, the silk worked in fine gold kirikane.

A 12th-century Heian National Treasure at Tokyo National Museum, this silk scroll depicts Fugen Bosatsu on a six-tusked white elephant amid fine cut-gold ornament.

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.

A National Treasure at the Tokyo National Museum: a Southern Song three-scroll set by Liang Kai of a gaunt Buddha and snowy peaks, held by the Ashikaga shoguns.

A Southern Song scroll attributed to Ma Yuan, this National Treasure shows a lone traveler hurrying under a folded umbrella as wind and rain cross towering peaks.

The fullest of the Five Great Man'yōshū manuscripts, this Heian set of twenty booklets is named for a collation note of 1184 and written by some fifteen hands.

A National Treasure of the Maeda Ikutokukai: a 12th-century manuscript of the Kokin Wakashu preserving the Kiyosuke text. Its attribution to Kiyosuke is debated.

A National Treasure handscroll of the Kokin Wakashu, copied in the mid-11th century by the Third of three hands once attributed to Ki no Tsurayuki himself.

A National Treasure and the oldest complete Kokin Wakashu, dated 1120, at the Tokyo National Museum. Its kana sits on dyed paper printed with mica and gold foil.

A Heian National Treasure at the Okura Shukokan, Tokyo: the kana preface to the Kokin Wakashu, brushed in cursive across thirty-three dyed, decorated paper sheets.

Discover the Jūgoban Uta-awase (Saisen), a National Treasure calligraphy scroll from the Heian period. Compiled by Fujiwara no Kintō, this exquisite poetry anthology features gold and silver decorated paper (saisen) and is preserved by the Maeda Ikutokukai Foundation in Tokyo.

Discover Dōjigiri Yasutsuna, one of Japan's Five Greatest Swords Under Heaven. This Heian-period National Treasure at the Tokyo National Museum is famed for its legend of slaying the demon Shuten-dōji. Learn its history, artistry, and how to visit.

Fujiwara no Kintō's Hokuzanshō guided Heian court ritual. The Maeda Ikutokukai's National Treasure copy, twelve scrolls, is attributed to Fujiwara no Korefusa.

A complete ten-scroll Heian Lotus Sutra, the Sensōji-kyō keeps its gold-flecked paper, inlaid axles, and woven cords intact, now held at the Tokyo National Museum.

Two Kunoji-kyo scrolls at the Gotoh Museum: a Heian decorated Lotus Sutra written one chapter per person by Retired Emperor Toba's court circle around 1141.

Three Kunoji-kyo scrolls at the Tokyo National Museum, a gold-strewn Heian sutra copied by court nobles, ranked Important Cultural Property, not National Treasure.

This 11th-century National Treasure, kept for centuries at Chikubushima on Lake Biwa, copies the Lotus Sutra over paper drawn with gold-and-silver birds and flowers.