Kamakura

The Heart Sutra scroll of Hasedera Temple in Sakurai, Nara, is part of the National Treasure Hasedera-kyō, a Kamakura-period set of 34 decorated sutras. With gold and silver foil, molten gold boundary lines, crystal scroll rods, and brilliantly painted frontispieces, it is one of medieval Japan's supreme works of sacred art.

Discover the Muryōgi-kyō (Sutra of Innumerable Meanings), three exquisite scrolls from the Hase-dera Sutra set — a 34-scroll National Treasure produced in 13th-century Japan. Decorated with scattered gold and silver foil, gold-pigment ruled lines, crystal axles, and brilliantly painted frontispieces, these Kamakura-period scriptures embody the height of Japanese Buddhist art. We also guide you through the spiritual home of these treasures: the famous "Temple of Flowers," Hase-dera in Nara.

Discover the National Treasure Wooden Statues of the Four Heavenly Kings at Kōfuku-ji's Chū-kondō in Nara — towering, dynamic Kamakura-period guardians carved in katsura wood by the Kei school, now watching over the reconstructed Central Golden Hall.

The National Treasure Wooden Standing Statues of the Four Heavenly Kings at Kōfuku-ji's Nan'endō, sculpted in 1189 by the workshop of Kōkei (father of Unkei) for the hall's dedication ceremony. With rare iconography drawn from the Dharani-jikkyō sutra, they may be viewed only on October 17 each year.

A National Treasure enshrined at Yoshino Mikumari Shrine in Nara Prefecture, this seated wooden statue of Tamayorihime-no-Mikoto was created in 1251 by a Buddhist sculptor for the imperial patron Senyōmon'in. Its ink inscription gives the precise date, making it a rare dated example among Kamakura-period Shinto sculpture. Carved in joined-block cypress with inlaid crystal eyes, it portrays its subject as a refined court lady and is widely regarded as Japan's finest surviving goddess image. This guide introduces the statue and the World Heritage shrine that has sheltered it for centuries.

A detailed guide to the National Treasure Wooden Standing Statues of Tentōki and Ryūtōki, a pair of lantern-bearing demon figures carved by Kōben—third son of Unkei—in 1215 and displayed today in the Kokuhō-kan of Kōfuku-ji Temple in Nara.

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.

A 4.5-meter nine-tier Shakudani-stone pagoda at Ōtaniji in Echizen, dated by inscription to 1323. It marks the grave of Taichō, the monk who opened Mt. Haku.

Rising 22 meters above a forested mountain valley in Obama City, Fukui, the Three-Storied Pagoda of Myōtsū-ji was completed in 1270 during the mid-Kamakura period. As one of only two structures designated National Treasures in all of Fukui Prefecture, this hinoki-bark-roofed pagoda is celebrated as the earliest example of a Japanese pagoda incorporating the 'kobushi-bana' ornamentation of the imported daibutsuyō style — a transitional masterpiece set in primeval mountain stillness.

Hidden in a deep mountain valley in Obama City, Fukui Prefecture, the Myotsuji Main Hall is a thirteenth-century cypress-bark-roofed Buddhist hall and the only National Treasure architecture in Fukui Prefecture. Reconstructed in 1258, it elegantly fuses traditional Japanese styling with newer continental building techniques, and enshrines four Important Cultural Property statues including a serene Heian-period Medicine Buddha. Together with the equally celebrated three-story pagoda, it preserves a sublime atmosphere of medieval esoteric Buddhism deep in the forests of Wakasa.

At Eiheiji lies Dōgen's own 1233 manuscript of the Fukan Zazengi, his founding guide to Zen sitting and the only surviving autograph of this National Treasure.

A 3.35-meter granite pagoda on a Dazaifu hill, raised in the 13th century on the site of the lost Hannya-ji temple, its four faces carved with Sanskrit syllables.

Discover Fumon-in Main Hall, an Important Cultural Property in Asakura, Fukuoka. Founded by the monk Gyoki in 747 and rebuilt in the late Kamakura period, it is the oldest surviving wooden building in Fukuoka Prefecture.

Encounter the Nikko Ichimonji, a 13th-century Bizen Fukuoka Ichimonji masterpiece and National Treasure at Fukuoka City Museum, once treasured by the Hōjō clan and Kuroda family.

Discover Eryū-ji Kannon-dō, an Important Cultural Property in Aizubange, Fukushima. This Kamakura-period thatched-roof hall houses an extraordinary 8.5-meter Senju Kannon carved from a single standing tree, flanked by a complete set of 28 guardian deities.

Kumano Jinja Nagatoko in Kitakata, Fukushima, is an early-Kamakura worship hall of 44 open pillars and no walls. Walk among the columns beside its golden ginkgo.

A late-Kamakura shrine at Koan-ji in Fukushima once held a bronze Kannon triad. Restored in the 1970s, it now holds Benzaiten, among Aizu's oldest buildings.

Terraces, ramparts, and dry moats on a wooded ridge above the Abukuma River mark Shirakawa Castle, the Yuki clan seat abandoned after their fall in 1590.

Ancestral seat of Date Masamune's clan in Fukushima: a medieval lord's residence, its planned town, and the only confirmed garden in a Tohoku warrior house.

The oldest of three guardian shrines behind Ichijoji's main hall, this single-bay Kasuga-style shrine houses Bishamonten. Bracket details date it to late Kamakura.