A Castle Built of Brush and Ink
Open the album called Kanbokujo and you are looking at eight hundred years of Japanese handwriting, leaf by leaf. The name means "castle of brush and ink," and the object lives up to it: 311 fragments of calligraphy, cut from sutra scrolls, poetry anthologies, letters, and court documents, pasted onto the front and back of a single folding album. The earliest pieces were written in the Nara period (8th century); the latest date to the Muromachi period (15th century). The Agency for Cultural Affairs designated it a National Treasure on June 30, 1961, and it is now one of three National Treasures held by the MOA Museum of Art in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture.
An album of this kind is called a tekagami, literally a "mirror of hands," with "hand" meaning handwriting. From the Momoyama period onward, collectors prized kohitsugire, fragments snipped from older manuscripts, as objects for display in the tea room. A tekagami gathered such fragments into one accordion-folded book, arranged by convention: writings of emperors first, then princes, courtiers, monks, and poets. Kanbokujo follows this order across 154 leaves on the front and 157 on the back. Closed, the album measures 38.2 by 31.9 centimeters, roughly the size of a large atlas, yet it concentrates more major names of Japanese calligraphy than almost any other single object.
Why This Album Is a National Treasure
Kanbokujo is counted among the Three Great Tekagami, alongside Moshiogusa at the Kyoto National Museum and Minu Yo no Tomo at the Idemitsu Museum of Arts in Tokyo. Add the Otekagami of the Yomei Bunko library in Kyoto and you have the Four Great Tekagami. All four are National Treasures, which says something about how Japan values these albums: not as scrapbooks, but as the most complete surviving record of its calligraphic tradition.
What sets Kanbokujo apart is its working history. It is thought to have been assembled earlier than most comparable albums, and it served as a reference ledger for professional authentication. The Kohitsu family held a near monopoly on calligraphy appraisal in the Edo period, judging the age and authorship of old fragments for daimyo and wealthy merchants. Kanbokujo passed down through Kohitsu Ryochu (1655-1736), founder of a branch line of that family, who used it as a baseline against which new fragments could be compared. In other words, this album helped define what experts believed the handwriting of Fujiwara no Yukinari or Ono no Michikaze looked like.
Its later provenance reads like a history of modern Japanese collecting. The album belonged to Masuda Don'o (1847-1938), the industrialist and tea master who built one of the era's great private collections, before entering the collection assembled by Okada Mokichi (1882-1955), founder of the MOA Museum of Art.
Leaves Worth Lingering Over
Because the album opens accordion-style, the museum can show only a portion of its leaves at one time. Whichever section is displayed, a few categories repay close attention.
The album includes fragments traditionally attributed to some of the most storied names in Japanese history: Prince Shotoku, the 7th-century regent; Sugawara no Michizane, the 9th-century scholar-statesman later deified as the god of learning; Ono no Michikaze and Fujiwara no Sukemasa, two of the "Three Brush Traces" who shaped the native Japanese style of writing. The word "attributed" matters here. Many assignments rest on Edo-period appraisal rather than documentary proof, and the museum presents them with the prefix "den" (traditionally ascribed to). A fragment of the Kengukyo sutra ascribed to Emperor Shomu, known as the Ojomu, represents the dignified Nara-period sutra hand at its most monumental.
One leaf stands on firmer ground. A six-line fragment of the Hakushi Monju, the collected poems of the Tang poet Bai Juyi, carries the poem title "Spring Outing" from volume 63. Kohitsu Ryochu judged it the work of Fujiwara no Yukinari (972-1027), the most celebrated calligrapher of the Heian court, and the writing matches Yukinari's authenticated Hakushi Shikan scroll in the Tokyo National Museum closely enough that scholars accept it as his hand. Bai Juyi's poetry was the shared literary currency of Heian aristocrats, and seeing his Chinese verses rendered in Yukinari's poised, fluid brush makes that cultural exchange tangible.
Look also at the papers themselves. Indigo-dyed sheets with gold ruling, mica-printed patterns, delicately tinted grounds: the leaves document a thousand years of decorative papermaking as much as they document handwriting.
Seeing Kanbokujo at the MOA Museum of Art
The MOA Museum of Art sits on a hillside above Atami with a wide view over Sagami Bay. Its galleries, renovated in 2017 under the direction of artist Hiroshi Sugimoto and architect Tomoyuki Sakakida, use yakusugi cedar, black plaster, and low light to flattering effect for works on paper.
Kanbokujo is not on permanent display. Works of calligraphy on paper are light-sensitive, and the museum typically brings the album out about once a year, most often during its winter Meihinten (masterpiece exhibition), when it appears alongside the museum's two other National Treasures: Ogata Korin's Red and White Plum Blossoms screens and Ninsei's tea jar with wisteria design. The selection of visible leaves changes from showing to showing, so even repeat visitors encounter new material. Check the museum's exhibition calendar before planning a trip. Photography of the collection is permitted in most cases, an unusually generous policy for National Treasures.
Around the Museum
Getting there is simple: from JR Atami Station, served by the Tokaido Shinkansen about 40 minutes from Tokyo, a bus from stop 8 reaches the museum's front entrance in roughly 7 minutes. The museum complex itself deserves a half day. A reconstruction of the golden tea room of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a noh theater, gardens, and several restaurants, including a soba house and a patisserie by chef Toshihiko Yoroizuka, are spread across the grounds.
Atami is one of Japan's classic hot-spring resorts. After the museum, you can soak in a seaside onsen, walk the Kiunkaku villa with its blend of Japanese and Western architecture, or time a visit to one of the fireworks displays the city stages over the bay throughout the year. In late January and February, the plum grove at Atami Baien, among the earliest-blooming in Japan, often overlaps with the museum's display season for the album.
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Q&A
- Can I see Kanbokujo at any time of year?
- No. To protect the fragile paper and ink, the album is displayed only for limited periods, typically about once a year, often in the winter masterpiece exhibition. Check the MOA Museum of Art's official exhibition schedule before visiting.
- What does the name Kanbokujo mean?
- It combines kan (writing brush), boku (ink), and jo (castle): a fortress built of brush and ink. The name reflects the album's standing as a concentrated stronghold of celebrated handwriting.
- Are all 311 leaves genuine works of the people they are attributed to?
- Not necessarily. Most attributions derive from Edo-period connoisseurship and are presented as traditional ascriptions. The leaves themselves are authentic period manuscripts from the 8th to 15th centuries; it is the named authorship that often remains conventional. A few, such as the Bai Juyi fragment linked to Fujiwara no Yukinari, are supported by comparison with authenticated works.
- Is photography allowed?
- The MOA Museum of Art generally permits photography of its collection displays, including National Treasures, without flash. Restrictions can apply to specific loans or exhibitions, so follow the signage in each gallery.
- How do I get to the MOA Museum of Art from Tokyo?
- Take the Tokaido Shinkansen to Atami Station (about 40 to 50 minutes from Tokyo Station), then board the bus for the museum from stop 8 at the station bus terminal. The ride to the terminus at the museum takes about 7 minutes.
Basic Information
| Name | Tekagami "Kanbokujo" (311 leaves) |
|---|---|
| Designation | National Treasure (calligraphy and classical books), designated June 30, 1961 |
| Quantity | 1 album |
| Period | Nara to Muromachi periods (8th to 15th century) |
| Dimensions | 38.2 x 31.9 cm (closed) |
| Composition | 311 calligraphy fragments: 154 on the front, 157 on the back |
| Owner | Sekai Kyusei Kyo (Church of World Messianity) |
| Custodian | MOA Museum of Art, 26-2 Momoyama-cho, Atami City, Shizuoka Prefecture |
| Public display | Limited periods only, typically about once a year; museum hours 9:30-16:30 (last entry 16:00), closed Thursdays (open on national holidays) and during exhibition changes |
References
- 国指定文化財等データベース 手鑑「翰墨城」（三百十一葉）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/201/755
- MOA美術館 手鑑「翰墨城」
- https://www.moaart.or.jp/collections/090/
- MOA美術館 手鑑「翰墨城」白氏文集切・春遊
- https://www.moaart.or.jp/?collections=090-1
- MOA美術館 利用案内
- https://www.moaart.or.jp/guide/
- WANDER 国宝 手鑑 翰墨城
- https://wanderkokuho.com/201-00755/
Last verified: 2026.06.10