Heian

Discover the Song Edition of Liu Mengde's Collected Works, a National Treasure held at Tenri University Library in Nara. Printed in 12th-century China, brought to Japan by Zen master Eisai, and once admired by shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, this rare printed book offers a remarkable glimpse into the literary exchange between Tang China and medieval Japan.

Standing over five meters tall in the inner sanctuary of Taimadera in Katsuragi, Nara, the Taima Mandala Shrine is a National Treasure built in the late 8th to early 9th century to enshrine the four-meter-square Taima Mandala tapestry. Its rare flat hexagonal form, hidden early Heian decoration in gold and silver, Kamakura-period maki-e doors bearing over 2,000 donors' names, and pedestal donated as a wish of Minamoto no Yoritomo together preserve more than a thousand years of Japanese Pure Land devotion.

Discover the Nihon Kanreiroku-shō, a precious 1147 manuscript preserved at the Sakamoto Ryūmon Bunko in Yoshino, Nara. This Important Cultural Property is the only surviving copy of an early Heian Buddhist tale collection compiled by the Gangō-ji monk Gishō, offering rare glimpses into Japan's vanished setsuwa literature.

Housed at Tenri Central Library in Nara, the National Treasure Harima no Kuni Fudoki is the only surviving ancient manuscript of a gazetteer of Harima Province compiled in the early Nara period. This late-Heian copy from the Sanjonishi family preserves place-name origins, myths, and even the earliest written reference to Japanese sake brewing, offering a remarkably vivid voice from 1,300 years ago.

Preserved within Kasuga Taisha in Nara, the Hongū Goryō Koshinpō-rui is a National Treasure collection of 292 sacred objects once placed in the shrine's main sanctuaries. Ranging from a dazzling Heian-period makie zither to jeweled swords, lacquer mirror stands, and ritual implements, this ensemble represents the pinnacle of Japanese court craft. See these thousand-year-old treasures at the Kasuga Taisha Kokuhōden.

Discover the four imposing Heian-period guardian statues enshrined in Kōfuku-ji's East Golden Hall (Tōkondō) in Nara—National Treasures carved from single blocks of cypress, with vivid original polychromy and remarkably expressive faces.

Discover the National Treasure Wooden Seated Statue of Shaka Nyorai and Two Attendant Bodhisattvas, enshrined in Hōryū-ji's Upper Hall (Jōdō) behind the Great Lecture Hall. Carved in cherry wood using the rare single-block technique, this commanding 10th-century Heian-period triad—Shakyamuni Buddha flanked by Manjusri and Samantabhadra—is opened to the public only three days each year, from November 1 to 3.

Discover the Wooden Seated Statue of Shaka Nyorai at Murō-ji Temple in Uda, Nara — a National Treasure carved from a single block of kaya wood in the 9th century. Long enshrined as a guest deity in the Miroku-dō hall, the statue has been on view at the temple's new Hōmotsuden since 2020, where visitors can admire its serene smile and full-body honpa-shiki rolling-wave drapery up close. This guide covers the statue's significance, why it earned National Treasure status, viewing highlights, access, and nearby attractions.

Enshrined in the Shōryōin of Hōryū-ji, this National Treasure group of five late Heian-period wooden seated statues depicts Prince Shōtoku flanked by his eldest son, two brother princes, and the Goguryeo monk who was his Buddhist teacher. Created around 1121 for the prince's 500th-anniversary memorial, the sculptures are opened to the public only during the Otaiya and Oeshiki services each March, offering a rare glimpse into a thousand-year-old devotional world.

The Wooden Seated Statue of Maitreya Buddha at Tōdai-ji in Nara is a National Treasure carved in the early 9th century, during the early Heian period. Standing only 39 cm tall yet possessing a monumental presence, it earned the nickname Kokoromi no Daibutsu, or the Trial Great Buddha. Treasured since the Kamakura era as a sacred image believed to have been carved by Rōben Sōjō, the founding abbot of Tōdai-ji, this masterpiece of early Heian Nara-region sculpture can be viewed at the Tōdai-ji Museum when on display.

A Heian-period bronze staff-head found atop Mt. Dainichi in 1893, with twin dragons and a lotus-pedestal vase — one of fewer than a dozen survivors. Tateyama Museum.

Five figures emerge from a tuff boulder at Nisseki-ji in Toyama. The Fudō Myōō at the centre, over three metres tall, is Hokuriku's largest rock-carved Buddha image.

The Kōdōji Temple Ruins in Mihama, Fukui mark a temple a local clan founded in the late 7th century, traced by excavation from founding to abandonment around 900.

Housed in the Kyushu National Museum in Dazaifu, Fukuoka, the Tahō Senbutsu Sekitō is a 5.5-meter-tall, 3.5-ton octagonal stone Buddhist banner-pillar carved in northern China in 1084 CE under the Khitan-ruled Liao dynasty. Densely covered with buddhas, bodhisattvas, celestial musicians, kalavinka birds and Sanskrit dharani inscriptions, it is a benchmark masterpiece of Liao-period Buddhist sculpture and Japan's only stone banner-pillar of Chinese origin designated as an Important Cultural Property.

Beneath Fukuoka's Maizuru Park lies the Kōrokan, ancient Japan's only excavated foreign guesthouse, where imported ceramics mark four centuries of exchange.

Preserved at Seiganji Temple in Imazu, Fukuoka, this National Treasure scroll was brushed by Myōan Eisai — the monk who would go on to introduce Rinzai Zen and green tea culture to Japan — on the fifteenth day of the seventh month in 1178. Dedicated to the temple's Urabon (Obon) ceremony, the scroll records Eisai's sponsorship of a copy of the Lotus Sutra and survives as one of the earliest autograph works of this pivotal figure. Executed in bold Song-influenced calligraphy on sheets of red, white, and indigo paper decorated with mica-printed clouds and birds, the scroll was designated a National Treasure in 1953 and is entrusted to the Kyushu National Museum.

Made in 1142, this gilt-bronze casket held 33 copper plates engraved with the Lotus Sutra and was buried on Mount Kubote. Its four faces carry fine Buddhist figures.

A Heian Eleven-Headed Kannon at Hase-dera in Kurate, Fukuoka. Carved from one camphor block, about 187 cm tall, with a stern long face and a rare painted halo.

Nestled in Iwaki City, Fukushima, the Shiramizu Amidado is a late Heian-period Amida Hall built in 1160 by Tokuhime—daughter of Fujiwara no Kiyohira—to pray for her late husband's soul. It is the only National Treasure building in Fukushima Prefecture and one of only three surviving Heian-era structures in the entire Tōhoku region. Its graceful pyramidal tochibuki roof, three-bay-square plan, and surrounding Pure Land–style garden form an exquisite embodiment of Heian Buddhist culture.

An andesite memorial bearing a dated 1181 inscription, built for Minamoto no Motomitsu, second lord of the Mutsu Ishikawa clan, and counted among Japan's earliest dated stone gorintō.