Muromachi

A Southern Song scroll attributed to Ma Yuan, this National Treasure shows a lone traveler hurrying under a folded umbrella as wind and rain cross towering peaks.

The Tokyo National Museum holds the National Treasure Haboku Sansui-zu (Broken-Ink Landscape) by Sesshū Tōyō, painted in 1495 when the master was 76. This 148.6 cm hanging scroll, given to his pupil Josui Sōen and inscribed with a personal preface plus poems by six Gozan Zen monks, represents the pinnacle of Muromachi splashed-ink landscape painting. Discover its history, artistry, and visitor information.

Discover Jinkenki, an Important Cultural Property consisting of 12 handwritten diary volumes by a Kōfuku-ji temple abbot, chronicling 15 years of political upheaval and daily life in Sengoku-era Yamato Province. Housed at the National Archives of Japan in Tokyo.

Discover the Seisetsu Shōchō Bokuseki 'Yo Kantaiji Zōsu Hōgo' at Eisei Bunko in Tokyo. This Important Cultural Property is a Dharma instruction brushed by the Yuan-Chinese Zen master Seisetsu Shōchō (1274–1339), who came to Japan in 1326 and shaped early Japanese Zen. Explore its history, artistic highlights, and visitor information.

Six Muromachi measuring boxes from Horyuji, now at the Tokyo National Museum, each counted as one sho yet hold 1.47 to 1.87 litres, from before standard units.

Seven matched gold fittings of peonies and lions, attributed to Goto Yujo, mounted on a guardless short-sword scabbard assembled for the Kaga Maeda house in 1649.

A bokuseki scroll at the Tokyo National Museum: a verse brushed by the Southern Song Zen monk Beijian Jujian in a Suzhou pavilion in 1229, an early tea scroll.

The Gotoh Museum in Setagaya, Tokyo, preserves the National Treasure 'Six Patriarch Shouldering a Pole,' a thirteenth-century Southern Song ink painting bearing the seal of the painter Chokuō. Rendered in the delicate mōryōga style with washes of pale ink and selective accents of dark ink, the scroll depicts Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism, at the life-changing moment he hears the Diamond Sutra. An inscription by Chan master Enkei Kōmon dates the work with unusual precision. Discover the history, artistic value, and visiting information for this masterpiece.

Held by the Nezu Museum in Tokyo's Minami-Aoyama district, Fishing Village at Sunset (attributed to Muqi) is a National Treasure and one of the supreme achievements of Southern Song ink painting. A scene from the famous Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers, it bears the seal of Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and is exhibited only rarely, every few years.

Jōroku-ji's two-storied Sanmon, raised in the late Muromachi period, is the oldest surviving building in Tokushima. Note its layered roofs and maple-lined approach.

Discover the Important Cultural Property front gate of Entsuji Temple in Mashiko, Tochigi — a bold Muromachi-period four-legged gate with exquisite Chinese-style carvings, standing at the historic headquarters of the Nagoe branch of Jodo Buddhism.

Built in 1527, Ōkura Shrine's main hall is a small single-bay thatched structure beside Tsuna Shrine in Mashiko, Tochigi, and an Important Cultural Property.

Tsuna Shrine's thatched main hall in Mashiko, Tochigi, is a Muromachi building tied to exiled lord Utsunomiya Asatsuna, an Important Cultural Property since 1916.

Murahi Shrine in Tochigi City dates back to 646 CE and is one of only twelve Engishiki-listed shrines in Tochigi Prefecture. Its main hall, built in 1553, features the rare sangensha-kasuga-zukuri style with a cypress bark roof — unique in the prefecture — and is designated a national Important Cultural Property for its exquisite Muromachi-period carvings and distinctive bracket complexes.

Kikō-ji's main hall in Nara, said to have modeled Tōdai-ji's Great Buddha Hall, is a tiered Muromachi rebuilding of 1544 housing a late-Heian seated Amida triad.

Built in 1494 inside the Hōryū-ji precinct, Kitamuro-in's main hall is a small three-bay sub-temple chapel roofed in cypress bark, with an Amida triad inside.

Dated 1463 by an inscription on its central pillar, Kichiden-ji's tahoto in Ikaruga is Nara's oldest surviving two-storied pagoda, with a hidden Dainichi inside.

The Niōmon of Kinpusenji Temple in Yoshinoyama, Nara, is a towering two-story medieval gateway rebuilt in 1456. Standing over 20 meters tall, it is one of Japan's largest temple gates, designated a National Treasure and a core component of the UNESCO World Heritage site "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range." Uniquely, it faces north—the opposite direction of the main hall—to welcome pilgrims arriving from Kyoto and Osaka toward the sacred mountains. The gate is currently undergoing its first major restoration in seventy years, with completion scheduled for fiscal year 2028.

The Main Hall of Koizumi Shrine in Yamatokoriyama, Nara Prefecture, is a designated Important Cultural Property dating from the late Muromachi period. Built in the one-bay Kasuga style with a cypress bark roof and vivid polychrome decoration, it features rare architectural elements such as boat-shaped bracket arms and freestanding railings. Originally founded as the tutelary shrine of the medieval Koizumi warrior clan, it offers an intimate glimpse of Japanese shrine architecture alongside nearby attractions like Jikō-in Temple and Koizumi Castle ruins.

Kofuku-ji's Five-Storied Pagoda in Nara, founded in 730 by Empress Komyo, is a National Treasure and the second-tallest wooden pagoda in Japan at 50.9 meters. The current 1426 structure is a symbol of the ancient capital, now undergoing a major restoration from 2022 to 2034.