The term "National Treasure" has been used in Japan to denote cultural properties since 1897, although the definition and the criteria have changed since the introduction of the term. The written materials in the list adhere to the current definition, and have been designated National Treasures according to the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties that came into effect on June 9, 1951. The items are selected by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology based on their "especially high historical or artistic value".
Writing was introduced from Korea to Japan around 400 AD (in the form of Chinese books), with work done in Chinese by immigrant scribes from the mainland.Korea and China. Literacy remained at an extremely marginal level in the 5th and 6th centuries, but during the 7th century a small number of Japanese scholar-aristocrats such as Prince Shōtoku began to write in Chinese for official purposes and in order to promote Buddhism. By the late 7th century, reading and writing had become an integral part of life of some sections of the ruling and intellectual classes, particularly in government and religion. The earliest extant large-scale works compiled in Japan are the historical chronicles Kojiki (712) and Nihon Shoki (720). Other early Japanese works from the Nara period include biographies of Prince Shōtoku, cultural and geographical records (fudoki) and the Man'yōshū, the first anthology of Japanese poetry. Necessarily all of these works were either written in Chinese or in a hybrid Japanese-Chinese style and were modeled on Chinese prototypes. The development of a distinct Japanese script (kana) in the 9th century was the starting point of the classical age of Japanese literature and led to a number of new, uniquely Japanese genres of literature, such as tales (monogatari) or diaries (nikki). Because of the strong interest and support in literature of the Heian court, writing activities flourished particularly in the 10th and 11th centuries.
This list contains books of various type that have been compiled in Classical and early Feudal Japan. More than half of the 72 designated treasures are works of poetry and prose. Another large segment consists of historical works such as manuscripts of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki; the rest are books of various type such as dictionaries, law books, biographies or music scores. The designated manuscripts date from 9th century Heian period to the Edo period with most dating to the Heian period. They are housed in temples, museums, libraries or archives, universities and in private collections.
The objects in this list represent about one third of the 237 National Treasures in the category "writings". They are complemented by 58 Chinese book National Treasures and 107 other written National Treasures.
Statistics
Prefecture City National Treasures Aichi Nagoya 1 Fukuoka Dazaifu 1 Kagawa Takamatsu 1 Kōchi Kōchi 1 Kyoto Kyoto 27 Miyagi Sendai 1 Nara Nara 2 Tenri 3 Osaka Izumi 1 Kawachinagano 2 Minoh 1 Osaka 2 Saga Saga 1 Shiga Ōtsu 1 Tokyo Tokyo 25 Yamaguchi Hōfu 1
PeriodOnly the oldest period is counted, if a National Treasure consists of items from more than one period. National Treasures Heian period 53 Kamakura period 17 Nanboku-chō period 2
Usage The table's columns (except for Remarks and Image) are sortable by pressing the arrows symbols. The following gives an overview of what is included in the table and how the sorting works. Name: the name as registered in the Database of National Cultural Properties Authors: name of the author(s) Remarks: information about the type of document and its content Date: period and year; the column entries sort by year. If only a period is known, they sort by the start year of that period. Format: principal type, technique and dimensions; the column entries sort by the main type: scroll (includes handscrolls and letters), books (includes albums, ordinary bound books and books bound by fukuro-toji)(袋とじ) binding folded uncut pages in a book, so that there are two blank pages between two pages outside. and other (includes hanging scrolls) Present location: "temple/museum/shrine-name town-name prefecture-name"; the column entries sort as "prefecture-name town-name". Image: picture of the manuscript or of a characteristic document in a group of manuscripts
Treasures
Japanese literature The adaption of the Chinese script, introduced in Japan in the 5th or 6th century, followed by the 9th century development of a script more suitable to write in the Japanese language, is reflected in ancient and classical Japanese literature from the 7th to 13th century. This process also caused unique genres of Japanese literature to evolve from earlier works modelled on Chinese prototypes. The earliest traces of Japanese literature date to the 7th century and consist of Japanese verse (waka) and poetry written in Chinese by Japanese poets (kanshi). While the latter showed little literary merit compared to the large volume of poems composed in China, waka poetry made great progress in the Nara period culminating in the Man'yōshū, an anthology of more than 4,000 pieces of mainly tanka ("short poem") from the period up to the mid-8th century. Until the 9th century, Japanese language texts were written in Chinese characters via the man'yōgana writing system, generally using the phonetic value of the characters. Since longer passages written in this system became unmanageably long, man'yōgana was used mainly for poetry while classical Chinese was reserved for prose. Consequently, the prose passages in the Man'yōshū are in Chinese and the Kojiki (712), the oldest extant chronicle, uses man'yōgana only for the songs and poems.
A revolutionary achievement was the development of kana, a true Japanese script, in the mid to late 9th century. This new script enabled Japanese authors to write more easily in their own language and led to a variety of vernacular prose literature in the 10th century such as tales (monogatari) and poetic journals (nikki). Japanese waka poetry and Japanese prose reached their highest developments around the 10th century, supported by the general revival of traditional values and the high status ascribed to literature by the Heian court. The Heian period (794 to 1185) is therefore generally referred to as the classical age of Japanese literature. Being the language of scholarship, government and religion, Chinese was still practiced by the male nobility of the 10th century while for the most part aristocratic women wrote diaries, memoirs, poetry and fiction in the new script. The Tale of Genji written in the early 11th century by a noblewoman (Murasaki Shikibu) is according to Helen Craig McCullough the "single most impressive accomplishment of Heian civilization".
Another literary genre called setsuwa ("informative narration") goes back to orally transmitted myths, legends, folktales, and anecdotes. Setsuwa comprise the oldest Japanese tales, were originally Buddhist influenced, and were meant to be educational. The oldest setsuwa collection is the Nihon Ryōiki (early 9th century). With a widening religious and social interest of the aristocracy, setsuwa collections were compiled again in the late 11th century starting with the Konjaku Monogatarishū The high quality of the Tale of Genji influenced the literature into the 11th and 12th centuries. A large number of monogatari and some of the best poetic treatises were written in the early Kamakura period (around 1200).
Waka Waka ("Japanese poem") or uta ("song") is an important genre of Japanese literature. The term originated in the Heian period to distinguish Japanese-language poetry from kanshi, poetry written in Chinese by Japanese authors. Waka began as an oral tradition, in tales, festivals and rituals,Traces of ancient poems of courtship and praise for the ruler survive in the Kojiki, Nihon Shoki and Man'yōshū. and began to be written in the 7th century. In the Asuka and Nara periods, "waka" included a number of poetic forms such as tanka ("short poems"), chōka ("long poems"), bussokusekika, sedōka ("memorized poem") and katauta ("poem fragment"), but by the 10th century only the 31-syllable tanka survived. The Man'yōshū, of the mid-8th century, is the primary record of early Japanese poetry and the first waka anthology. It contains the three main forms of poetry at time of compilation: 4,200 tanka, 260 chōka and 60 sedōka; dating from 759 backwards more than one century.The Man'yōshū also consists of a small amount of Chinese poetry (kanshi) and prose (kanbun).
The early 9th century, however, was a period of direct imitation of Chinese models making kanshi the major form of poetry at the time. In the late 9th century, waka and the development of kana script rose simultaneously with the general revival of traditional values, culminating in the compilation of the first imperial waka anthology, the Kokinshū, in 905. It was followed in 951 by the Gosen Wakashū; in all seven imperial anthologies were compiled in the Heian period. The main poetic subjects were love and the four seasons; the standards of vocabulary, grammar and style, established in the Kokinshū, dominated waka composition into the 19th century.
For aristocrats to succeed in private and public life during the Heian period, it was essential to be fluent in the composition and appreciation of waka, as well as having thorough knowledge of and ability in music, and calligraphy. Poetry was used in witty conversations, in notes of invitation, thanks or condolence, and for correspondence between friends and lovers. Some of the finest poetry of the Heian period came from the middle-class court society such as ladies in waiting or middle-rank officials. Uta-awase poetry contests, in which poets composed poetry on a given theme to be judged by an individual, were held from 885 onwards, and became a regular activity for Heian courtiers from the 10th century onward. Contest judgments led to works about waka theory and critical studies. Poems from the contents were added to imperial anthologies. Critical theories, and the poems in the anthologies (particularly the Kokinshū), became the basis for judgments in the contests. Utaawase continued to be held through the late-11th century, as social rather than literary events. Held in opulence in a spirit of friendly rivalry, they included chanters, scribes, consultants, musicians, and an audience. During the Heian period, waka were often collected in large anthologies, such as the Man'yōshū or Kokinshū, or smaller private collections of the works of a single poet. Waka also featured highly in all kinds of literary prose works including monogatari, diaries and historical works. The Tale of Genji alone contains 800 waka.
At the end of the Heian period, the aristocracy lost political and economical power to warrior clans, but retained the prestige as custodians of high culture and literature. Nostalgia for the Heian court past, considered then as classical Japanese past (as opposed to Chinese past), created a renaissance in the arts and led to a blossoming of waka in the early Kamakura period. Poets of middle and lower rank, such as Fujiwara no Shunzei, Saigyō Hōshi and Fujiwara no Teika, analyzed earlier works, wrote critical commentaries, and added new aesthetic values such as yūgen to waka poetry. Some of the best imperial anthologies and best poetic anthologies, such as Shunzei's Korai fūteishō, were created in the early Kamakura period. The audience was extended from the aristocracy to high ranking warriors and priests, who began to compose waka. By the 14th century, linked verse or renga superseded waka poetry in importance.