Nara

Nearly 70,000 documents and sacred texts from the Nara to the Meiji period at Daigoji, Kyoto, a National Treasure since 2013.

Discover the Dailōtan-kyō Volume 3, a National Treasure Buddhist sutra copied in 673 CE during the Tang Dynasty. Housed at Chion-in temple in Kyoto, this ancient cosmological scripture offers a rare glimpse into early Buddhist manuscript culture.

Three documents of 780 to 785 on the ordination of Saicho, founder of Japanese Tendai, held by Raigoin in Ohara, Kyoto; a National Treasure since 1955.

The archives of Toji in Kyoto, 24,067 documents from the Nara to the early Edo period, held by Kyoto Prefecture; a National Treasure since 1997 and on the Memory of the World Register.

The gilt bronze Shaka of Kanimanji in Kizugawa, Kyoto, 2.4 metres high, a National Treasure since 1953 and comparable to the Yakushi of Yakushiji.

The National Treasure 'Ink Writing by Wuzhun Shifan: Certificate of Enlightenment for Enni' at Tofuku-ji Temple in Kyoto is a formal inka certificate written on silk in 1237 by the great Chinese Chan master Wuzhun Shifan for his Japanese disciple Enni Ben'en. This masterpiece of Zen calligraphy documents a pivotal moment in the transmission of Zen Buddhism from China to Japan, and stands as one of the finest examples of Southern Song dynasty calligraphy preserved in Japan.

Kyoto's Myōshin-ji holds a bonshō with a 698 inscription, the oldest date on any Japanese temple bell. Cast in Kyushu, it is also prized for its ōshikichō tone.

Dharma words of 1179 by the Southern Song Zen monk Mi-an Xianjie at Ryokoin, Daitokuji, Kyoto, a National Treasure since 1951 and namesake of the Mittan tea room.

A Nara-period Eleven-Headed Kannon in dry lacquer over a wooden core at Omido Kannonji, Kyotanabe, a National Treasure since 1953.

Seiryo-ji's National Treasure Shaka was carved in Song China in 985 and brought to Japan by the monk Chonen. Inside lay silk organs, among the oldest known.

Tobatsu Bishamonten at Kyoto's To-ji, a Tang-dynasty National Treasure that once guarded Rashomon gate. The 189.4 cm figure stands on the palms of the earth goddess.

A Nara-period illustrated sutra of the Buddha's life, pictures above and text below, held by Johonrendaiji, Kyoto; a National Treasure since 1952.

Daigo-ji's eighth-century Illustrated Sutra of Cause and Effect runs painted scenes of the Buddha's life above the text, an early root of Japan's picture scrolls.

A thirteenth-century Southern Song painting of water buffalo attributed to Yan Ciping, owned by the Sen-oku Hakukokan; a National Treasure since 1957.

Located in Fuchū Town, Hiroshima Prefecture, the Shimo-okada Kanga Site is a Nara-period government facility designated as a National Historic Site in 2021. Almost certainly the 'Aki Umaya' post-station on the ancient Sanyō Highway, the site preserves two L-shaped tile-roofed stone-foundation buildings and yielded wooden tablets (mokkan), illuminating how Japan's early centralized state managed long-distance administration.

The Ishidoji Temple Three-Storied Pagoda in Higashiomi, Shiga: an early Nara-period granite tower about 7.5 m tall, linked to Baekje, designated in 1907.

A Tang hemp kesa at Enryakuji, said to have been brought from China by Saicho, a National Treasure since 1966 and a rare surviving example in hemp.

Two scrolls at Ishiyama-dera preserve the Book of Han, China's history of the Former Han, copied by hand in eighth-century Japan, with a Buddhist text on the back.

Compiled in 543 and lost in China, the Yupian survives only in Tang manuscripts in Japan. This National Treasure at Ishiyama-dera is volume 27's latter half.

At Ishiyama-dera in Shiga, one of the oldest copies of the Shiji sits on paper a Heian monk later reused for a Shingon ritual. The scroll is a National Treasure.