Kamakura

Discover the Katana, Unsigned (Yoshioka Ichimonji), an Important Cultural Property held in Chiba City. Forged in mid-Kamakura Bizen Province with a cutting edge of 72.8 cm and a deep curvature of 2.6 cm, this graceful blade was passed down through the legendary Uesugi clan and personally selected by warlord Uesugi Kagekatsu as one of his finest thirty-six swords. A small chip near the handguard reveals its use in actual combat. Explore the artistry of the Yoshioka Ichimonji school and museums where you can encounter related masterpieces.

A Kamakura-period Tale of Genji preserving 32 of its 54 chapters. No autograph survives, so early copies like this remain key witnesses. Privately held in Chiba.

The Important Cultural Property 'Sagoromo (Attributed to Fujiwara no Tameie)' is a Kamakura-period manuscript of the Heian court romance Sagoromo Monogatari, held in Chiba Prefecture. This four-volume work, traditionally attributed to the eminent poet Fujiwara no Tameie, son of Fujiwara no Teika, is an invaluable textual witness for the study of this celebrated tale's complex manuscript tradition.

Discover the National Treasure katana by Osafune Mitsutada, founder of Japan's greatest swordmaking lineage. Once owned by Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu, this 13th-century masterpiece features a dazzling chōji hamon and gold inlay attribution by Hon'ami Kōtoku.

An unsigned katana attributed to Kyoto master Rai Kuniyuki, held privately in Osaka. We explain how a Kamakura blade lost its signature and where to see his swords.

A wide, unsigned katana attributed to the Kamakura smith Sadamune, now an Important Cultural Property in Osaka. Its broad form earned the byname Habahiro.

Discover a National Treasure tachi forged in 1329 by Chikakage of the Osafune school in Bizen Province. With an elegant blade of approximately 80.6 cm, this late Kamakura period masterwork showcases the refined ji-hada and graceful suguha-based hamon characteristic of the Bizen tradition. Explore the legacy of swordsmith Chikakage, his close ties with the legendary Kagemitsu, and the rich history of Japan's greatest sword-producing region.

This National Treasure tachi, forged by master swordsmith Sukemitsu of the Yoshioka Ichimonji school in 1322, represents the pinnacle of late Kamakura-period Bizen swordsmithing. Featuring a dazzling chōji-midare hamon, sacred Buddhist inscriptions to Hachiman and Myōken, and a prestigious provenance tracing back to Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, this extraordinary blade invites you to explore the spiritual and artistic depths of Japan's sword culture.

Discover the National Treasure tachi signed by Moritoshi, a rare Kamakura-period masterwork from the Ko-Aoe school. Learn about its elegant chirimen-hada grain, historical significance, and how to appreciate Japanese swords in Japan.

Discover the Hōchō Masamune, a National Treasure tantō forged by Japan's greatest swordsmith. Learn about its dramatic metallurgical beauty, storied provenance through samurai clans, and why all three surviving Hōchō Masamune are designated National Treasures.

A National Treasure tantō forged by Shintōgo Kunimitsu, the founder of the Sōshū sword tradition, during the late Kamakura period. Considered the finest among Kunimitsu's surviving works for its exceptionally rich steel and temper pattern activity, this blade features Buddhist carvings of a ritual sword and Fudō Myōō. Formerly owned by the last Tokugawa shōgun, it is now privately held in Osaka.

Discover the National Treasure tantō 'Kuwayama Hōshō,' forged in 1324 by master swordsmith Fujiwara Sadayoshi of the Yamato Hōshō school. Listed in the celebrated Kyōhō Meibutsu Chō catalogue, this blade passed from samurai lord Kuwayama Motoharu to the powerful Maeda clan of Kaga. Explore its exquisite masame-hada forging, rich provenance, and enduring legacy as the finest work of the Hōshō tradition.

This National Treasure naginata was forged in 1320 by Sukemitsu, the foremost master of the Yoshioka Ichimonji school in Bizen Province. Retaining its original tang with a rare dated inscription, it perfectly exemplifies the Kamakura-period polearm blade form. Passed down through the prestigious Kaga Maeda clan, this masterpiece showcases exquisite chōji tempering patterns and finely forged steel that embody the pinnacle of 700-year-old Japanese sword craftsmanship.

Held in Osaka Prefecture, this Important Cultural Property is a black-ink drawing on paper that depicts both the layout of a Buddhist goma fire-ritual altar and the thirty-seven principal deities of the Diamond Realm Mandala rendered as their symbolic samaya emblems. Transmitted within the lineage of the great pilgrim-monk Chishō Daishi Enchin (814–891), it offers a rare window into the visual language of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism.

Discover the Usa-gū Shinryō Ōkagami, an Important Cultural Property and the sole surviving Kamakura-period manuscript documenting the sacred estates of Usa Jingū, the head shrine of over 44,000 Hachiman shrines across Japan.

An Important Cultural Property held by a private owner in Oita Prefecture, this hanging-scroll fragment is one section of the celebrated Satake-bon Sanjurokkasen-e — a 13th-century Kamakura-period scroll widely regarded as the finest surviving example of poet-portrait painting in Japan. Traditionally attributed in painting to Fujiwara no Nobuzane and in calligraphy to Gokyogoku Yoshitsune, the fragment depicts the Heian poet Fujiwara no Kanesuke (Tsutsumi Chunagon), great-grandfather of Genji author Murasaki Shikibu. It is one of 37 sections created when the original handscroll was famously divided in 1919, an event known as the Emaki Setsudan. This article guides visitors through the work's artistic significance, its remarkable scattering, and the cultural attractions of Oita that surround it.

Discover the Tachi inscribed Naminohira Ieyasu, a Kamakura-period Important Cultural Property crafted by Japan's longest-lived sword school, the Satsuma Naminohira lineage. This rare 67.5 cm blade, designated in 1955, preserves the Yamato tradition through its tight ko-itame hada and disciplined thin suguha temper line.

Held by the Sunritz Hattori Museum of Arts in Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture, this Important Cultural Property is a single-figure fragment of the celebrated thirteenth-century Satake-bon Sanjūrokkasen-e — the foremost surviving cycle of Thirty-six Immortal Poets paintings of the Kamakura period. The fragment depicts Nakatsukasa, a tenth-century Heian poetess and daughter of Prince Atsuyoshi and the poetess Ise. Traditionally attributed to the master portraitist Fujiwara Nobuzane, with calligraphy attributed to Gokyōgoku Yoshitsune, the work survived the famous 1919 dispersal known as the Cutting of the Picture Scroll and now rests on the quiet shore of Lake Suwa.

This rare 27-centimetre ken, straight and double-edged, is signed by Mitsutada, the Kamakura-era founder of Bizen's Osafune school, a smith famed for curved tachi.

A Kamakura silk painting of Aizen Myōō, the red king of passion, an Important Cultural Property of 1953. His iconography and where to see kindred scrolls in Tokyo.