Heian

The archive of the Katori family, hereditary priests of Katori Jingu in Chiba: 381 documents, late Heian to Edo, on how a great medieval shrine ran its estates.

Discover the National Treasure tachi signed Masatsune, a masterwork of the Ko-Bizen school of Japanese swordsmithing from the Heian period. Learn about its elegant form, cultural significance, and where to appreciate Japanese sword heritage.

The Colored-Picture Decorated Paper, Ink-Written Kanfugen-kyo (Fragment / Fan-Shaped Sutra) is a single surviving leaf of the celebrated Senmen Hokekyo Sasshi, originally a ten-volume fan-shaped sutra booklet from late Heian Japan. Layered with mica, gold and silver leaf, yamato-e painting, and elegant ink calligraphy, it is now an Important Cultural Property held by the Fujita Museum in Osaka.

A Southern Song-period silk painting of a quail bearing the "Zakkashitsu-in" connoisseurship seal of Shogun Ashikaga Yoshinori, this Important Cultural Property descends from the celebrated Higashiyama lineage of Chinese paintings cherished by the Ashikaga shogunal house, and is privately preserved in Tokyo as a quiet witness to Japan's medieval engagement with classical Chinese art.

Held privately in Tokyo, this Heian-period painting sets Vajrasattva among four bodhisattvas of desire, touch, love and pride: passion turned toward awakening.

Discover the Pigeon on a Peach Branch (Momohato-zu), a Japanese National Treasure attributed to Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty. This exquisite silk painting from 1107 showcases the boneless (mokkotsu) technique, Slender Gold calligraphy, and a provenance tracing back to Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

Designated as a National Treasure, Kokin Wakashū Volume 5 (Kōya-gire) is the oldest surviving manuscript of Japan's first imperially commissioned poetry anthology and a supreme masterpiece of kana calligraphy. Written around 1050 CE, this scroll of autumn poems showcases the dynamic Second Style attributed to Minamoto no Kaneyuki. Discover its profound significance, the three distinct calligraphic styles, and where to appreciate this millennium-old treasure.

A tachi signed "Shinbo saku," once a National Treasure and now an Important Cultural Property of unknown whereabouts. Related blades survive in Yamagata and Tokyo.

The Nihon Shoki Jindai Jōkan Dankan is a rare manuscript fragment of Japan's first official chronicle, transcribed in the late 8th to early 9th century. Designated an Important Cultural Property, it preserves the foundational myths of the Age of Gods—creation, the birth of the islands, the sun goddess Amaterasu—in pure classical Chinese without later reading marks, ranking among the oldest extant copies of the Nihon Shoki and bearing the distinguished provenance of poet-scholar Sasaki Nobutsuna.

A precious fragment of the Lotus Sutra in gold ink on indigo paper, handwritten by Fujiwara no Michinaga — the most powerful nobleman of the Heian period — and buried at the summit of Mount Kinpu in 1007. Housed at the Tokyo National Museum, this Important Cultural Property is among the earliest sutra mound artifacts in Japan, bearing witness to the deep Buddhist faith of the Heian aristocracy.

Calligraphy by the Southern Song Chan master Xutang Zhiyu on wax-coated paper, an Important Cultural Property prized as a tea-room scroll, privately held in Tokyo.

A single handscroll recording a waka poetry contest at the court of Emperor Daigo, hosted by a consort, preserving the verses and verdicts of a Heian gathering.

The Kachomon Kei is a Heian bronze ritual gong from Nara, decorated with flowers and birds and struck during Buddhist services as a signal. Designated in 1953.

A twelfth-century Heian lacquer box for a court cap, worked in hyomon with silver and gold set flush into black lacquer. A Kasuga Taisha treasure that lost its lid.

Discover the Lotus Sutra known as Kunoji-kyo, a National Treasure of Japan featuring exquisite gold and silver decorations created by the imperial court in the 12th century. Learn about its history, artistic value, and where to see it.

The Dai Hannya Kyō at Wakasa-hiko Shrine in Obama City, Fukui Prefecture, is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property — a remarkably rare complete set of 600 hand-copied sutra scrolls from the early Heian period. Written on brown hemp paper by skilled copyists, this extraordinary collection has been preserved for over a millennium within the syncretic Shinto-Buddhist tradition.

Discover the Iwashiro Yoneyama-ji Sutra Mound Excavated Items, a nationally designated Important Cultural Property housed at the Sukagawa City Museum in Fukushima Prefecture. This assemblage — including an inscribed ceramic outer container dated 1171, a bronze sutra cylinder, a small knife, a bronze mirror, a sword guard, and iron arrowheads — offers a vivid window onto late Heian-period sutra-mound beliefs rooted in mappō thought and devotion to the future Buddha Maitreya.

A privately held Heian straight sword in Fukushima, an Important Cultural Property since 1989. Its central shinogi ridge points toward the curved Japanese sword.

A Heian tachi in Fukushima, archaic in its rounded back and tang cord-hole yet built in ridge-line shinogi style, marking the shift toward the curved Japanese blade.

Unearthed from the wooded hillside behind Kōshakuzan Tennoji in the famous hot-spring town of Iizaka, this late Heian ceramic sutra container was designated a National Important Cultural Property in 1936. It is a quiet but powerful witness to how the late-Heian piety of sutra burial reached the northeastern provinces of Japan, and a compelling reason to extend any visit to Iizaka Onsen with a stop at this ancient temple.