Heian
平安Browse Japan’s cultural heritage from the Heian period (794 – 1185). Filter by prefecture, type, and keyword, with concise stories, maps, and travel tips.
Written in 797 by Kūkai at 24, this is the oldest manuscript in his own hand: three speakers debate the three teachings, voicing his choice of Buddhism.
Discover the Shihon Hakubyō Fudō Myōō Nidōji Bishamonten Zuzō, a Nationally Important Cultural Property of Japan housed at Entsū-ji Temple on Mount Kōya in Wakayama Prefecture. This rare esoteric Buddhist iconographic drawing on paper depicts Fudō Myōō with two attendant boys and the guardian deity Bishamonten, executed in the refined hakubyō (white-line) ink technique. Learn about its iconographic significance, the history of its closed training-temple home, and how to experience the world of Mount Kōya — a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Two Heian-period figures at Kimiidera, second temple of the Saigoku route. Called Brahma and Indra but in bodhisattva form. On view in the Daikomyoden since 2023.
A National Treasure of Japan, the Wang Bo Collection Volume 28 is the world's oldest surviving manuscript of poetry by Tang-dynasty prodigy Wang Bo (649-676). Brought to Japan via the Kentōshi missions and once preserved at Kōfuku-ji Temple in Nara, this remarkable scroll preserves verses lost in China for over a thousand years.
A straight, double-edged ken signed Kuninaga, the Kyoto smith famed for curved tachi like the Tsurumaru. Few signed works survive; this is his only known ken.
A handscroll recording a poetry contest of 1091, named for Fujiwara no Shinshi, foster mother of Emperor Shirakawa. This Important Cultural Property is now lost.