National Treasure Paintings in Kyoto City

Counts by owner

Kyoto City has 24 owners of National Treasure paintings, holding 42 items in all. Some items group several scrolls together: Jingo-ji's portraits said to be Minamoto no Yoritomo, Taira no Shigemori, and Fujiwara no Mitsuyoshi are 3 scrolls as 1 item, and Chion-in's Illustrated Biography of Hōnen Shōnin is 48 scrolls as 1 item.

Tōfuku-ji's Five Hundred Arhats (by Myōchō; of the 47 scrolls, 2 are replacements painted by Kanō Takanobu) was recommended for designation as a National Treasure on March 26, 2026, but it remains an Important Cultural Property until the designation is announced in the Official Gazette.

List (1): 18 items at Tō-ji, Daigo-ji, Jingo-ji, and Kōzan-ji

The murals on the first story of Daigo-ji's five-story pagoda (18 panels) were completed in the 10th month of 951 (Tenryaku 5); they are Heian-period murals depicting the deities of the Mandalas of the Two Worlds and the Eight Shingon Patriarchs on the pillars and boards inside the pagoda. Of Tō-ji's Portraits of the Seven Shingon Patriarchs (7 scrolls), 5 were painted by Li Zhen and other Tang court painters and were given to Kūkai by his teacher Huiguo (Keika).

List (2): 15 items in Kita, Kamigyō, Shimogyō, and Higashiyama wards

Daitoku-ji and its subtemples (tatchū) Jukō-in and Kōtō-in hold paintings from Southern Song China, portraits of Zen monks, and Muromachi-period wall and sliding-door paintings from a hōjō. The wall and sliding-door paintings of Chishaku-in are Momoyama-period works painted in rich colors on gold grounds by Hasegawa Tōhaku and his school. Chion-in's Descent of Amida with Twenty-Five Bodhisattvas is called "Hayaraigō" (Swift Descent) because Amida and the bodhisattvas are shown hurrying to welcome the dying.

List (3): 9 items in Sakyō and Ukyō wards

Taizō-in's Hyōnen-zu (Catching a Catfish with a Gourd) is by Josetsu, and Seiryō-ji's Sixteen Arhats (16 scrolls) are Northern Song works.

Counts by period

By period, the Kamakura period has the most with 15, followed by the Heian period with 7, the Muromachi period with 3, the Nara, Nanboku-chō, and Momoyama periods with 2 each, and the Edo period with 1. The oldest are the 2 Nara-period copies of the Illustrated Sutra of Cause and Effect (E-Ingakyō) (at Jōbon Rendai-ji and Daigo-ji), and the newest is the Edo-period Wind God and Thunder God screens.

Paintings made in China number 8: 7 from the Southern Song and 1 from the Northern Song, and 4 of them are handed down at Zen temples: Daitoku-ji, Kōtō-in, Konchi-in, and Tōfuku-ji. In addition, there is 1 item each spanning two periods: Tō-ji's Portraits of the Seven Shingon Patriarchs (Tang and Heian) and the Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga (Heian and Kamakura). By year of designation as a National Treasure, 39 were designated in 1951–57; since then there have been only Jingo-ji's landscape screen in 1967, Daigo-ji's murals in 1976, and Shōjōke-in's Amida Triad in 2012.

National Treasures on deposit at museums

The Kyoto National Museum holds more than 6,500 items on deposit from temples, shrines, and individuals, as well as 9 National Treasure paintings owned by the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, such as Sesshū's View of Ama-no-Hashidate.

Chion-in's 2 items, Jingo-ji's three portraits, Jōbon Rendai-ji's Illustrated Sutra of Cause and Effect, Konchi-in's Autumn and Winter Landscapes, and others are lent by the Kyoto National Museum to exhibitions outside the museum.

Originals at temples, reproductions, and special exhibitions

About the only originals you can see at a temple at any time are the wall and sliding-door paintings in Chishaku-in's Treasure Hall. The others are shown for limited periods, displayed as reproductions, or shown at museum exhibitions.

• Chishaku-in (Higashiōji Shichijō-sagaru, Higashiyama Ward; a 10-minute walk east of Keihan Shichijō Station): Treasure Hall admission is 500 yen for adults, 300 yen for junior high and high school students, 200 yen for elementary school students. Closed for display changes on April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31.
• Shōgunzuka Seiryūden (at the top of the Higashiyama Driveway): Admission to see the Blue Fudō is 600 yen for adults, 400 yen for junior high and high school students, 200 yen for elementary school students (free for elementary school students accompanied by a parent or guardian).
• Daigo-ji Reihōkan (Daigo Higashiōji-chō, Fushimi Ward): The former four central pillars of the five-story pagoda, an attachment (tsuketari) to the National Treasure, are shown in the autumn special exhibition (October 17 to December 6, 2026). A ticket for 1 area costs 600 yen for adults and 400 yen for junior high and high school students; free for elementary school students and younger.
• Kyoto National Museum (Chaya-machi, Higashiyama Ward): The Meihin Gallery costs 700 yen for adults; free for high school students and younger and anyone under 18. It is closed during the special exhibition "The Tale of Genji: The Splendor of the Court" (October 6 to November 29, 2026).