Kamakura

A mid-Kamakura tachi by Yoshihira of the Fukuoka Ichimonji school in a private collection, a National Treasure since 1963, once missing and since found.

A Kamakura tachi by Yoshifusa of the Ichimonji school in a private collection, a National Treasure since 1953, kept at full length and granted to the Shimazu by the shogun in 1667.

A Kamakura tachi by Rai Kunitoshi in a private collection, a National Treasure since 1952, a rare and elegant example of his irregular temper line.

A Kamakura tanto by Shintogo Kunimitsu located in Tokyo, a National Treasure since 1953, sound and showing his characteristics well.

A Kamakura tanto by Rai Kunitsugu in a private collection, a National Treasure since 1955, his largest dagger and influenced by the Soshu style.

Held in a private Tokyo collection, the Nanbu Family Documents are an Important Cultural Property of Japan comprising 243 unmounted medieval letters and orders preserved by the Hachinohe (later Tōno) Nanbu clan. Spanning the Kamakura through early Edo periods, the archive includes original directives from Southern Court generals Kitabatake Akiie and Akinobu, alongside the Soga Documents — making it a vital window into the wars and politics of medieval northern Japan.

Calligraphy by the Southern Song Chan master Xutang Zhiyu on wax-coated paper, an Important Cultural Property prized as a tea-room scroll, privately held in Tokyo.

A broad, sturdy short sword by Kyoto smith Rai Kunimitsu, this Important Cultural Property belonged to Aizu lord Hoshina Masayuki and later to the Tokugawa shoguns.

The Albino sheet of the Yamai no Soshi, a 12th-century Buddhist handscroll, was cut from its parent scroll in 1796 and named an Important Cultural Property in 1938.

At Tokyo's Artizon Museum, this Tokiwa scroll of the Heiji Monogatari Emaki paints the 1159 war apart from its famous kin, from Tokiwa's flight to a court purge.

Volume eight of the nine-scroll Shui Kotokuden, a Kamakura life of Honen, founder of Japan's Pure Land school, drafted in 1301 by Shinran's great-grandson Kakunyo.

This Kamakura-period handscroll, an Important Cultural Property in a private Tokyo collection, illustrates the diary of Murasaki Shikibu, author of Genji.

Discover the Celadon Ewer with Peony Design at Tokyo National Museum — a 15th-century Longquan ware masterpiece from Ming-dynasty China, beloved in Japan as classic Tenryu-ji celadon and designated an Important Art Object.

A National Treasure dagger by Kyoto master Rai Kunitoshi, dated 1316 and made when he was about 76. Owned by Atsuta Jingu, it is shown at the Tokyo National Museum.

Discover the Silk-Painted Biography of Prince Shōtoku, a set of four hanging scrolls designated as a National Important Cultural Property and held by Myōan-ji temple in Bandō City, Ibaraki Prefecture. Created during the Kamakura period to support the Pure Land mission in eastern Japan, this masterpiece depicts about seventy scenes from Prince Shōtoku's legendary life. Learn about its founding by Jōnen, a disciple of Shinran, the painting's iconographic highlights, where to see the faithful replica, visitor access, and surrounding pilgrimage sites.

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

An unsigned National Treasure tanto by Soshu Sadamune at the Tokyo National Museum, once owned by a Karatsu lord, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the Tokugawa shoguns.

This National Treasure colophon by Yuan literatus Feng Zizhen praises a lost insect scroll by Song painter Yi Yuanji. Sen no Rikyu's letter saved it from being cut.

A late Kamakura armor laced in white silk, with Fudo Myoo stenciled on its breastplate. Owned by Hinomisaki Shrine and famed for its pioneering 1805 restoration.

The Former Jurin-in Treasure House, now in the Tokyo National Museum grounds, is a small log-built storehouse of the early Kamakura period (1185 to 1274).