The 78th Annual Exhibition of Shōsō-in Treasures

Nara National Museum · East and West New Wings · Nara · –

The annual exhibition of Shōsō-in Treasures, normally open for seventeen days each autumn. The Nara National Museum’s list of treasures on display has sixty items this year, eleven shown for the first time, including a Persian-style lacquered ewer, a West Asian glass ewer, and a square mirror imported from Tang China. Timed-entry tickets are generally required.

In-depth audio guide

Plan your visit

Opening hours
8:00–18:00 Until 20:00 on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, including November 3. Last entry is 60 minutes before closing: 17:00, or 19:00 on Fridays, weekends, and holidays. There is no time limit once inside.
Closed
Open daily during the run.
Admission
  • Adult ¥2,000
  • University/high-school student ¥1,500
  • Junior-high/elementary student ¥500
  • Campus Members student ¥400
Reservation
Timed-entry tickets must generally be bought in advance (free-admission visitors excepted). Late-entry prices apply to slots from 16:00 Monday–Thursday and from 17:00 Fridays, weekends, and holidays: adults ¥1,500, university/high-school students ¥1,000, junior-high/elementary students free. If slots remain, same-day timed tickets are sold at the museum’s special counter for an extra ¥200 per ticket. Free admission includes holders of a disability certificate or Mirairo ID with one carer, and preschool children. Visitors aged 70 and over need an adult ticket. No group tickets; up to 8 per purchase; no changes, cancellations, or refunds; no re-entry to the exhibition galleries. Tickets are sold through Lawson Ticket (L-code 57878), CN Playguide by phone, the exhibition’s online ticket site (with an English version), and the Bijutsuten Navi ticket app, on sale since September 4. The Buddhist Sculpture Hall is closed for renovation; the Ritual Bronzes Gallery is free.
Address
50 Noboriōji-chō, Nara 630-8213 (in Nara Park)

Information verified · Check the official site for same-day updates

Works (12)

  1. 7. Persian-style lacquered ewer Maker unknown · Coiled wooden body, black lacquer, silver heidatsu inlay; metal handle with silver hyōgo chain · Dedicated to Tōdai-ji in 756 · Shōsō-in Treasures, North Section 43 — Start with the silhouette from the side: the bird-head lid and handle follow a West Asian ewer, while the surface is East Asian black lacquer and silver.
  2. 60. White glass ewer Maker unknown · Alkali-lime glass (colourless) · Undated in the Imperial Household Agency record · Shōsō-in Treasures, Middle Section 69 — Look first at the colour of this 27-centimetre glass ewer: clear with a faint green tinge, and, according to the official text, without a single crack or cloudy patch.
  3. 17. Square mirror with birds, beasts, and flowers Maker unknown · Cast bronze (copper 70%, tin 25%, lead 5%) · Undated in the Imperial Household Agency record · Shōsō-in Treasures, South Section 70 — Find the lion-shaped knob at the centre, then count the six lion-like beasts around it. The mirror is only 17.1 centimetres square, yet it weighs about 1.9 kilograms.
  4. 59. Hunting-pattern silks and other fragments on a screen Maker unknown · Screen pasted with silk fragments, including green- and purple-ground hunting-roundel silks · Undated in the Imperial Household Agency record · Shōsō-in Treasures, South Section 179 — Look inside the pearl roundels for mounted hunters. The same design is woven on green and purple grounds, and both fragments are mounted on one screen.
  5. 26. Gigaku mask: Suikoō, the drunken Hu king Maker unknown · Paulownia, partly Japanese cypress; painted white, partly red with ink lines · Undated in the Imperial Household Agency record · Shōsō-in Treasures, South Section 1 — Step to the side to see the high nose and tall cap. This mask plays a drunken king of the Hu, and the agency record lists only one earlier showing, in 1964.
  6. 9. Red- and blue-stained ivory go stones with bachiru decoration (nos. 9 and 10) Maker unknown · Ivory stained red or dark blue, with bachiru engraving · Dedicated to Tōdai-ji in 756 · Shōsō-in Treasures, North Section 25 — Each stone is under two centimetres across. Find the bird holding a flower in fine white lines, then compare the red and dark-blue grounds.
  7. 14. Go board of mulberry with marquetry Maker unknown · Diffuse-porous wood; mulberry top, red sandalwood veneer elsewhere; ivory grid, mother-of-pearl points, marquetry · Undated in the Imperial Household Agency record · Shōsō-in Treasures, Middle Section 174 — Look at the playing surface first: ivory lines form a nineteen-line grid, as on a modern go board. Then lower your gaze to the openwork legs.
  8. 18. Brahma’s Net Sutra (Bonmō-kyō) Maker unknown · Ink on paper, 25 sheets; purple-paper cover painted in gold and silver; quartz roller ends · Nara period · Shōsō-in Treasures, Middle Section 34 — Begin at the start of the scroll: flowers and landscape painted in gold and silver on purple paper. The official text calls this cover and frontispiece extremely precious as work of the Nara period.
  9. 29. Offering box with mitsuda-e oil painting Maker unknown · Black-lacquered wood, painted in red and yellow, oil coating · Used at the Great Buddha’s eye-opening ceremony, 752 · Shōsō-in Treasures, Middle Section 143 — Look for the swirling phoenixes and fantastic birds on the black lacquer. This box held incense offered at Tōdai-ji’s eye-opening ceremony for the Great Buddha in 752.
  10. 33. Gilt-copper Buddhist banner Maker unknown · Gilt copper, wrought · Undated in the Imperial Household Agency record · Shōsō-in Treasures, South Section 156 — Read this 170-centimetre metal banner from top to bottom: four openwork plates of gilt copper are hinged together, and each section has a different design.
  11. 50. Rush mat Maker unknown · Rush; hem and ties of green plain-weave silk · Undated in the Imperial Household Agency record · Shōsō-in Treasures, South Section 151 — This rush mat is 261 centimetres long but only 29 centimetres wide, and it represents this year’s display of recent research.
  12. 42. Kōryū, the “rainbow dragon” Not a made object · Mummified Japanese marten, with remains of a mole and crow- and pigeon-family birds · Animal lived mid-11th to mid-12th century (dating analysis) · Shōsō-in Treasures, South Section 174 — This 23-centimetre “dragon” has been identified by research as the mummified body of a Japanese marten.

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