Kamakura

The Ko-Seto Yellow-Glazed Bottle with Fish-and-Wave Design, owned by the City of Nagoya, is a masterpiece of medieval Japanese ceramics produced at the Seto kilns in Aichi Prefecture during the early 14th century. Modeled on Chinese meiping bottles yet distinctly Japanese in interpretation, this Important Cultural Property combines a pale yellow-green ash glaze with intricate decoration of three fish swimming through ocean waves. As one of the finest surviving examples of Ko-Seto ware—Japan's only medieval glazed pottery tradition—it stands as a benchmark of fourteenth-century ceramic art and a window onto the Seto kilns at the height of their decorative achievement.

Held in the Hosa Library in Nagoya, the Song Edition of the Taiping Shenghui Fang (Kanazawa Bunko Version) is a Southern Song printed copy of the imperial medical encyclopedia originally compiled in 100 volumes by Wang Huaiyin under the command of Emperor Taizong. Designated an Important Cultural Property, it traveled from Hōjō Sanetoki's Kanazawa Bunko through Toyotomi Hidetsugu and Tokugawa Ieyasu to the first Owari lord Tokugawa Yoshinao. The 24 surviving printed booklets, supplemented by 27 Keichō-era manuscript volumes, bear the distinctive 'Kanazawa Bunko' and 'Gohon' seals on every volume, making it a primary witness to East Asian medical history.

Discover the Sanage Shrine Chinese Classics, an Important Cultural Property collection of medieval manuscripts of Chinese classics housed at Sanage Shrine in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture. Including the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Analects, and Bai Juyi's literary works copied between the late 13th and 14th centuries, these texts illuminate the depth of Chinese learning at a regional Japanese shrine-temple.

Held at Atsuta Jingu in Nagoya, this Important Cultural Property tachi was forged by the Chikuzen master Jitsua on a date in 1333 — the year the Kamakura shogunate fell — and was later dedicated to the shrine in 1595 by the samurai Matsushita Koichiro Morikatsu, who prayed for the fulfillment of all his wishes. Authentic dated works by Jitsua are extraordinarily rare, and the blade preserves both the original signature on the tang and a long votive inscription engraved on the ridge over two and a half centuries later, making it one of the most historically resonant swords in the shrine's collection of more than 450 blades.

Preserved at Atsuta Jingu in Nagoya, this Important Cultural Property is a tachi forged by the Hōki-Province smith Saneyuki in the late Heian to Kamakura period. On the eighth day of the eighth month of Genki 2 (1571), the Sengoku-era samurai Ōkubo Yokurō dedicated the sword to the deities of Atsuta Daimyōjin, and the dedication inscription was cut directly into the blade. Combining the elegance of the ancient Hōki tradition with a precisely dated record of warrior devotion, it is a rare masterpiece bridging two distinct eras of Japanese history.

A Kamakura tanto by Rai Kunimitsu at the Nagoya Japanese Sword Museum, a National Treasure since 1955, treasured by Oda Uraku and later kept by the Maeda family.

Discover the Wooden Seated Statue of Akasagarbha Bodhisattva, a 14th-century Important Cultural Property at Kioji Temple in Inazawa, Aichi. This serene hidden Buddha, carved in 1361 with sutras sealed inside, is unveiled only once every 25 years.

A National Treasure dagger by Kyoto master Rai Kunitoshi, dated 1316 and made when he was about 76. Owned by Atsuta Jingu, it is shown at the Tokyo National Museum.

Tucked away behind the three-story pagoda of Ishiteji Temple in Matsuyama, the Karitei-mo-ten-do is a small but exquisite shrine designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan. Built in the late Kamakura period (1275-1332) in the rare ikkensha nagare-misedana style with a cypress bark roof, it is among the oldest shrine structures in Ehime Prefecture. Discover its enduring tradition of safe-childbirth prayers and architectural details that mirror the National Treasure Niomon Gate.

A granite gorinto at Ishiteji in Matsuyama, just over 273 centimetres tall and designated in 1952. Bearing no carved date, it is dated by its form alone.

A 24.1-metre pagoda at Ishiteji in Matsuyama, designated an Important Cultural Property in 1907. Its central mast stops on a beam above the first storey.

The Main Hall of Ishiteji Temple in Matsuyama, Ehime is a National Important Cultural Property dating from the late Kamakura period. As the 51st temple of the Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage and only a short walk from Dōgo Onsen, it offers a rare combination of living pilgrimage culture and outstanding medieval Wayō-style architecture, alongside the National Treasure Niōmon Gate and other heritage buildings.

Three late Kamakura granite pagodas stand in a row at this Omishima shrine. The tallest rises past 394 cm, and one carries the name of a mason from Onomichi.

A late-Kamakura granite hokyointo at Kamei Hachiman Shrine on Uoshima, Ehime, 238 cm tall with its platform; island lore calls it a medieval warrior's grave.

A pair of uninscribed granite stupas of the late Kamakura period standing on one platform in a Noma rice field, Imabari. Designated in 1954, freely visitable.

Eleven granite pagodas behind Jozenji's main hall in Imabari: 4 gorinto, 5 hokyointo and 2 hoto, three of them dated 1326 or 1357, regathered here in 1704.

Taisanji Temple Niomon Gate stands midway up the approach in Matsuyama. Dated 1275 to 1332, it mixes Japanese and Zen-derived carpentry and once had two storeys.

The main hall of Taisanji in Matsuyama, Ehime, dated 1305 by its inscriptions and a National Treasure since 1956, a large esoteric hall of unusual plan.

The early Kamakura main hall of Daihoji in Matsuyama, Ehime, a National Treasure since 1953, simple and well-proportioned and the oldest wooden building in the prefecture.

Standing in the wooded grounds behind Noma Shrine in Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture, this 211 cm granite stone pagoda was created in 1322 by a man named Ki no Aruharu and his wife as a prayer for healing and longevity. Designated a National Important Cultural Property in 1954, it represents the distinctive regional Ochi-style and offers travelers a profound encounter with late Kamakura-period Buddhist art and devotion.