Kamakura

The West Main Hall (Nishi Honden) of Namura Shrine in Ryūō, Shiga Prefecture, is a National Treasure of Japan rebuilt in 1308 during the late Kamakura period. This three-bay nagare-zukuri shrine with cypress bark roofing features exquisite frog-leg bracket carvings and a distinctive diamond-lattice front chamber. Explore the shrine grounds filled with Important Cultural Properties including the Rōmon Gate, East Main Hall, and a dynamic Fudō Myō-ō statue, along with access details and festival information.

Tucked into a quiet cedar grove in Yasu City, Shiga, the Hiyoshi Shrine Honden is a small but exquisitely preserved late-Kamakura main hall built in the single-bay nagare-zukuri style with hinoki-bark roof, designated an Important Cultural Property in 1944.

The Main Hall of Mikami Shrine in Yasu City, Shiga Prefecture, is a National Treasure built in the late Kamakura period at the foot of Mt. Mikami, known as Ōmi Fuji. Featuring the unique Mikami-zukuri architectural style found nowhere else in Japan, this 700-year-old masterpiece stands alongside Important Cultural Property buildings within the shrine grounds. The annual Zuiki Matsuri harvest festival is designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property.

Discover the Shichijō Shinō Kesa, a rare Tang dynasty hemp kesa designated as a National Treasure of Japan. Brought from China by the monk Saichō over 1,200 years ago, this sacred Buddhist vestment is preserved at Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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 Jinsho-ji in Shiga, sixteen copper trays cut with gold-and-silver openwork florals once held petals scattered at Buddhist rites. A peak of Japanese metalwork.

The Gyorekisho records the monk Enchin's 853 to 858 journey through Tang China. The Ishiyama-dera scroll is a Kamakura-period copy, an Important Cultural Property.

Held at Ishiyama-dera near Lake Biwa, this two-scroll ink-on-paper land register from the 1190s lists fields, areas, and dues from the medieval estate system.

Three ink-on-paper scrolls show how Jōrakuji in Konan, Shiga rebuilt after the 1360 lightning fire that razed it. These medieval appeals funded the temple's National Treasure main hall and pagoda.

At Ishiyama-dera in Shiga, the Shaku Makaen Ron is a rare Tang-dynasty manuscript of a commentary on the Awakening of Faith, kept in five folding booklets.

On Lake Biwa's north shore, Sugaura's villagers kept 1,281 documents recording their medieval self-rule and land disputes. They became a National Treasure in 2018.

Held at Enryaku-ji, this National Treasure is a single scroll of two Tang government permits issued to the monk Saichō in 804 and 805. Part is in his own hand.

A National Treasure at Onjo-ji near Lake Biwa, this Tang handscroll in ink line maps the deities of the Diamond World mandala, brought from China by Enchin in 855.