Kamakura

Experience the 13th-century National Treasure Rokudo-e paintings at Shojuraigo-ji Temple in Otsu. These 15 silk scrolls depicting Buddhist cosmology offer unique insights into medieval Japanese spirituality, just 30 minutes from Kyoto.

Explore Japan's National Treasure Rokusoenen-den, an 803 CE Tang Dynasty manuscript at Enryaku-ji Temple. Learn about Huineng's revolutionary Zen teachings and plan your visit to Mount Hiei's UNESCO World Heritage site.

Discover the Ichiji Kinrin Image, a Kamakura-period silk painting designated an Important Cultural Property in 1940 and privately preserved in Ichinobe, Higashiomi, Shiga. Explore the mystical iconography of this supreme esoteric Buddhist deity and the rich cultural heritage of eastern Ōmi.

Discover the Anyoji Thirteen-Story Stone Pagoda, a nationally designated Important Cultural Property from the late Kamakura period, standing within the grounds of Tohozan Anyoji Temple in Ritto City, Shiga Prefecture. This 334 cm granite pagoda features exquisite relief carvings of four Buddhas and elegant eave curvature.

The subsidiary Kasuga Shrine Main Hall within Ikuwa Shrine in Yasu City, Shiga Prefecture, is an Important Cultural Property dating to the late Kamakura period. Built in the nagare-zukuri style with cypress bark roofing, this compact shrine hall preserves older architectural techniques than the adjacent main Ikuwa Shrine hall, making it a rare and valuable example of medieval Japanese sacred architecture.

Built in 1194 through the patronage of Minamoto no Yoritomo, the Tahōtō of Ishiyama-dera in Ōtsu is the oldest two-storied pagoda in Japan whose date of construction can be firmly confirmed. Its perfectly balanced form — a square lower story and a circular upper story — has earned it a place among Japan's Three Famous Pagodas, and it is a designated National Treasure. Inside are a seated statue of Dainichi Nyorai by the great sculptor Kaikei and early Kamakura pillar paintings.

Ono Shrine's tower gate in Ritto, Shiga is the oldest surviving romon at any shrine or temple in the prefecture, an early-Kamakura building in late Heian style.

Standing in the grounds of Zenryū-ji and Inshū-ji temples in Moriyama City, Shiga Prefecture, the Kakesho Hōtō is a 3.83-metre stone pagoda carved in the late Kamakura period (1275–1332) and designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan in 1925. With its base, cylindrical body, square roof and tall finial all beautifully preserved, and with striking peacock reliefs carved on the sides of its base, it is consistently ranked among the finest stone hōtō of the Ōmi region. The site also marks the ground where the Kanamori Gassen of 1466—the first ikkō-ikki in Japanese history—took place, making the pagoda both an artistic masterpiece and a silent witness to a pivotal moment in medieval Japanese religion.

Discover the Saimyoji Three-Story Pagoda, a National Treasure in Shiga Prefecture's Koto Sanzan temple complex. This Kamakura-period masterpiece features exquisite cypress-bark roofing and rare polychrome Buddhist murals that have survived over 700 years.

Explore the Saimyoji Main Hall, a Kamakura-period masterpiece and one of Japan's first National Treasures. Nestled in Shiga's Koto Sanzan mountains, this nail-free cypress temple offers ancient Buddhist art, stunning gardens, and spectacular autumn foliage.

Shina Shrine's main hall in Kusatsu, built in 1298, keeps a ridgepole inscription naming its carpenter. A wind-god hall with Kamakura brackets and white plaster.

An unsigned granite hokyointo at Jakushoji in Hino, Shiga, dated to the late Kamakura period by its upright corner ornaments, carved Buddhas and lotus base.

Two granite five-ring pagodas at Ishidō-ji in Shiga, dated 1304 and 1349. The carved year-marks make this Important Cultural Property a rare dating anchor.

Discover the Important Cultural Property seven-story stone pagoda at Sekininji Temple in Higashiomi, Shiga. Built in 1318, this Kamakura-period monument is tied to the legendary Man'yōshū poet Yamabe no Akahito. Explore its history, significance, and visitor tips.

Discover Chojuji Temple's National Treasure Main Hall in Konan, Shiga. This early Kamakura-period masterpiece of pure Japanese (wayo) architecture features a rare dual-hall structure and cypress bark roof. One of the Konan Sanzan temple trio, it offers serene beauty amid stunning seasonal foliage.

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.