Important Cultural Property of Wakayama

Discover the Zushi-iri Kurikara Ryūken at Ryūkō-in on Mount Kōya in Wakayama Prefecture — an Important Cultural Property comprising a sculpted Kurikara dragon sword housed in its own dedicated reliquary cabinet. Tradition holds that this sacred sword was used by Kōbō Daishi Kūkai during his renowned rain-praying ritual at Shinsen-en in 824. Explore the symbolism of the Kurikara dragon, the artistry of the reliquary, the legends linking Kūkai with dragon kings, viewing information at the Kōyasan Reihōkan museum, and nearby attractions across this sacred mountain.

Held on Mount Koya, these three handwritten scrolls of the core esoteric sutras carry rare Heian reading marks prized as evidence for the history of Japanese.

An Important Cultural Property at Ryūkōin on Mount Kōya: a 1058 Heian manuscript of the Mahāvairocana Sūtra, a foundational scripture of Shingon esoteric Buddhism.

A Muromachi tachi by Kagenaga of Inaba Province, given to Susa Shrine in Arida, Wakayama, by the shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune in 1721 and kept as a shrine treasure.

A Kamakura tachi by Kunitoki of the Higo Enju school, given to Kishu Toshogu by the shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune in 1721 and held at the Wakayama Prefectural Museum.

A Momoyama tachi signed Kunihiro, generally identified as the work of Horikawa Kunihiro, owned by Kongobu-ji on Mt Koya and shown at times in its Reihokan museum.

A late Kamakura tachi by Kageyori of Bizen, its tang signed and dated to 1289 and unaltered, owned by Kishu Toshogu and held at the Wakayama Prefectural Museum.

A Kamakura tachi signed Sanenaga of the Osafune line in Bizen, dedicated to Kishu Toshogu by Tokugawa Tsunanori and held at the Wakayama Prefectural Museum.

An Important Cultural Property at Kishū Tōshōgū: a 71-centimeter Nanbokuchō tachi by the Kyoto Nobukuni line, with an irregular temper and a groove on both faces.

An Important Cultural Property at Wakamiya Hachiman Shrine: a 1386 Nanbokuchō tachi by Osafune Hidemitsu of Bizen, later given to the shrine by Tokugawa Yoshimune.

An Important Cultural Property at Kishū Tōshōgū: an 80-centimeter Kamakura tachi attributed to Sanenaga of Bizen, with original tang and Tokugawa-crested mounting.

The tachi signed Ohara Sanemori at Kishu Toshogu continues the Hoki line after Yasutsuna, a carved 13th-century blade and Important Cultural Property.

The tachi signed Masatsune at Kumano Hayatama Taisha is a Ko-Bizen work, an Important Cultural Property separate from the shrine's National Treasures.

The tachi signed Mitsutada at Kishu Toshogu is by the founder of the Osafune school, bearing a paulownia crest rather than the Tokugawa hollyhock, of Kamakura date.

The tachi signed Moriie at Kishu Toshogu, a finest work of this Bizen smith, descended through the Kii Tokugawa and is an Important Cultural Property.

Held by Kishu Toshogu, the tachi signed Yasutsuna is among Japan's oldest signed blades. Forged in Heian-period Hoki, it is an Important Cultural Property.

An Important Cultural Property at Kishū Tōshōgū: a slender 72-centimeter tachi by the late-Kamakura Kyoto master Rai Kunitoshi, with a calm straight temper line.

A Kamakura short sword signed Kunimitsu, held by Kongobu-ji on Koyasan and designated in 1913. By tradition its maker is Shintogo Kunimitsu, founder of Soshu work.

A Kamakura short sword signed Rai Kunimitsu at Hirohachiman Shrine in Hirogawa, town of the rice-sheaf tsunami legend. A Kyoto Rai-school work designated in 1950.

A Heian handscroll at Ryuko-in on Koyasan: an annotated Sutra for Humane Kings, a state-protection scripture, designated an Important Cultural Property in 1930.