Muromachi

The Horyuji Temple Jizo Hall, built in 1372, is a small three-bay square hall. Compare it with the Shindo of 1284 and the Chuin Main Hall of 1434 on the same site.

The Horyuji Temple Chuin Main Hall, built in 1434 in a sub-temple, is a small square hall entered from the gable under a porch, designated with its altar platform.

The Horyuji Temple Eastern Precinct South Gate (Fumeimon), built in 1459, is a three-bay eight-legged gate in the south wall. Its rank, date and what to look for.

The Horyuji Temple Great South Gate, a National Treasure rebuilt in 1438, ends the pine approach. Its history, flower brackets and contrast with the Great East Gate.

The Horyuji Temple Yakushibo Priests' Quarters, late Muromachi, hold a sub-temple's seven matted rooms and kitchen under a roof gabled east and hipped west.

The Hori family house in Nishiyoshino, Nara, a thatched house of the late Muromachi period said to have sheltered the Southern Court, is among Japan's oldest.

The main hall of Matsunooji in Yamatokoriyama, Nara, built in 1337, is a five-bay hip-and-gable hall of the early Muromachi period, designated as early as 1902.

The three-storied pagoda of Minami Hokkeji, or Tsubosakadera, in Nara was built in 1497 and is an Important Cultural Property; its hidden Buddha is shown at times.

The raido of Minami Hokkeji, or Tsubosakadera, in Nara is a rare free-standing worship hall of the mid-Muromachi period (1393 to 1466) set before its octagonal hall.

Muroji Temple Five-Ring Stupa in Uda City, Nara, is an early Muromachi stone monument, excavated in 1916, preserving the layout of a medieval burial plot.

Hidden at the innermost sanctuary of Murō-ji Temple in Nara's Uda mountains, the Mieidō is an Important Cultural Property from the early Muromachi period. Reached by nearly 700 stone steps, this three-bay-square pyramidal-roofed hall enshrines an image of Kōbō Daishi and is one of the oldest Daishidō halls in Japan, noted for its unique thick wooden board step-roof. A sacred highlight of the temple long known as "Women's Kōya."

Yakushi-ji's South Gate, built in 1512, began as the West Precinct gate, moved onto the stones of the lost Great South Gate, fronting the Hakuho precinct.

In the hills of eastern Nara, the small main hall of Yasaka Shrine wears a rare roof of thick boards laid in overlapping tiers, a late-Muromachi nagare-zukuri.

An Important Cultural Property on Mount Yoshino, Yoshimizu Shrine Shoin shows an early form of shoin-zukuri and is tied to Yoshitsune and Emperor Go-Daigo.

A 17-metre pagoda roofed in cypress bark at Ryosenji in Nara, an Important Cultural Property since 1899, dated 1356 by the Agency and about 1283 by the temple.

A mid-Muromachi bell tower at Ryosenji in Nara, an Important Cultural Property since 1943, one bay square with a flared skirt, holding a bell cast in 1644.

A National Treasure: a Southern Song edition of Ouyang Xiu's works, edited by Zhou Bida, once in the medieval Kanazawa Bunko library and nearly complete at Tenri.

Discover the Song Edition of Liu Mengde's Collected Works, a National Treasure held at Tenri University Library in Nara. Printed in 12th-century China, brought to Japan by Zen master Eisai, and once admired by shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, this rare printed book offers a remarkable glimpse into the literary exchange between Tang China and medieval Japan.

The Main Hall of Oyama Shrine Maedate Shadan in Tateyama Town, Toyama, is a magnificent late-Muromachi sanctuary in the five-bay flowing-roof style with cypress-bark thatching, and is the largest shrine honden in the entire Hokuriku region. Designated a National Important Cultural Property in 1906, it embodies thirteen centuries of devotion to sacred Mount Tate, one of Japan's Three Sacred Mountains.

On a wooded hillside in Fushiki, Takaoka City, stands Keta Shrine, the first-ranked shrine of ancient Etchu Province. Its Main Hall, rebuilt in the Eiroku era (1558-1570) after fires set during the Warring States period, is a three-bay flowing-roof structure (sanken-sha nagare-zukuri) with a cypress-bark shingle roof, and preserves the bold timber proportions and carving styles of the Late Muromachi period. Designated a National Important Cultural Property in 1931, it sits within a landscape steeped in history: the shrine's inner precinct marks the traditional site of the Etchu Sōsha, the auxiliary Ōtomo Shrine honors the Man'yōshū poet Ōtomo no Yakamochi, and nearby are the National Treasure Shōkōji Temple, the Takaoka City Man'yō Historical Museum, the ruins of the Etchu provincial capital, and the celebrated coastal view of Amaharashi.