Kamakura

A National Treasure at Kyoto National Museum, this 13th-century tachi is one of few blades signed by Norikuni, a refined master of Kyoto's Awataguchi school.

Japan's oldest complete copy of the Nihon Shoki's Age of the Gods books, an autograph manuscript by the Kamakura scholar Urabe no Kanekata, dated around 1286.

Held at the Kyoto National Museum, the National Treasure Myōe Shōnin Kashū is a 13.5-meter handscroll transcribed in 1248 by the disciple Junshōbō Kōshin on the seventeenth memorial anniversary of his teacher, the Kamakura-period monk Myōe (1173–1232). The scroll gathers 155 waka poems, 112 by Myōe himself, and is the only complete surviving collection of his poetry. This guide introduces the work's background, its significance as a National Treasure designated in 1952, highlights such as Myōe's famous moon poem, visitor information for the Kyoto National Museum, and nearby Higashiyama sites including the World Heritage temple Kōzan-ji where Myōe lived and composed.

The National Treasure Yamai no Sōshi paints twelfth-century illness with rare candour, watching the sick and the onlookers who laugh, stare, or look away.

At the Kyoto National Museum, the National Treasure Gaki Zoshi pictures hungry ghosts unseen by the living, its seven scenes moving from torment to salvation.

Faceless courtiers fill the picture hidden beneath the sutra text. This National Treasure at the Kyoto National Museum was copied over an abandoned scroll in 1192.

A Southern Song celadon vase of shimokabura form, a Japanese National Treasure with a smooth, crackle-free pale-blue glaze. Its kiln is still debated by scholars.

This National Treasure is Retired Emperor Go-Uda's autograph diary, brushed in 1319 in the margins of an annotated court almanac, now preserved in Sakura, Chiba.

A National Treasure near Tokyo: a Southern Song printing of the Hanshu in 61 fascicles, holding the earliest reliable Chinese record of Japan, the Wa people.

A complete Southern Song printing of the Book of the Later Han, kept in Sakura, whose account of the eastern peoples names Queen Himiko and an embassy of 57 CE.

A National Treasure near Tokyo: the Song-dynasty Shiji printed by Huang Shanfu, the oldest complete copy of the three-commentary edition, all 130 chapters intact.

Held at the Tokyo National Museum, this National Treasure is the oldest surviving manuscript of the Eiga Monogatari, a historical tale in kana script chronicling roughly two centuries of Heian court life centered on Fujiwara no Michinaga. Copied in the Kamakura period, the seventeen volumes pair large-format and masu-format books transmitted through the Sanjōnishi family, with a documented provenance stretching back more than five hundred years.

On the back of the Akihagi-jo handscroll lies a Tang copy of the Huainanzi's military chapter, older than the poems on its front. Both sides are National Treasures.

Brushed in 1124, this is the oldest surviving Zen calligraphy. Cut in two long ago, its front half is National Treasure number one, the supreme tearoom scroll.

A Kamakura warrior's horse-tack set at Tokyo's Musashi Mitake Shrine, the gilt-bronze saddle inlaid with iridescent shell circles, designated a National Treasure.

At the Tokyo National Museum, this Tang scroll is the oldest surviving copy of the early Tang writer Wang Bo, brushed around 685 to 689, a decade after his death.

Two white-bronze mirrors at the Tokyo National Museum, donated to Hōryūji by Empress Kōmyō in 736. Their backs cast a Daoist realm of sacred peaks and seas.

A katana attributed to the Kamakura smith Masamune, shortened in 1609 and gold-inlaid by appraiser Hon'ami Kotoku. Once held by warrior Jo Kagemochi, now in Ueno.

A National Treasure katana by Mitsutada of Bizen, prized for its flamboyant clove temper line. Now unsigned, it bears a gold attribution by Honami Kotoku.

A National Treasure katana attributed to Sōshū Sadamune, heir to Masamune. A tortoiseshell crest carved on its shortened tang gives the blade its lasting name.