Kokuho (national treasures) to be featured at Nara National Museum in 2025

The Nara National Museum, located in the heart of Japan’s Buddhist culture, was founded in 1895 for the conservation and exhibition of Buddhist and Shintoist art. To celebrate the 130th anniversary of its foundation, the museum is hosting a special exhibition next year (2025) to trace its own history and to highlight some of the most iconic kokuho* (government-designated national treasures) it houses** or has exhibited in the past.

Oh! KOKUHŌ
Resplendent Treasures of Devotion and Heritage

Apr 19 (Sat) – Jun 15 (Sun), 2025

Nara National Museum
(Nara city)

*See outline below for details

*Kokuho (government-designated national treasures)

Legally, the notion to designate national treasures in Japan started with the enactment of the Law for the Preservation of Ancient Shrines and Temples in 1897, but what we call kokuho today are designated by the Japanese government based on the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties, which was enacted in postwar 1950. According to this law, paintings, sculptures, calligraphy, historical documents, archaeological artifacts, buildings and other tangible cultural properties deemed historically, artistically or academically important to the nation are designated by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as juyo bunkazai (important cultural properties). Juyo bunkazai deemed as having universal value are subsequently designated as kokuho.

**According to the “Outline of the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, 2023,” the Nara National Museum holds 13 designated national treasures as of March 31, 2023. It also stores 89 national treasures on long-term loans from other institutions.

Entitled “Oh! KOKUHŌ — Resplendent Treasures of Devotion and Heritage,” the exhibition will open on Apr. 19, 2025 — about a week into Expo 2025, Osaka, Kansai — and run through June 15, 2025, at the museum in Nara city in conjuntion with “Japan: An Artistic Melting Pot,” an exhibition to be held at the Kyoto National Museum for the same duration.

National museums of Japan were established in response to the loss and dissipation of cultural properties such as Buddhist sculptures that occurred as one of the consequences of rapid modernization during the Meiji era (1868-1912). In Nara, a series of expositions were held at Todai-ji temple starting in 1875 to exhibit cultural properties and to demonstrate the need to recognize them as irreplaceable assets. The Nara National Museum was founded in the wake of these events.

“Oh! KOKUHŌ” is intended to bring visitors back to the time of the museum’s inauguration and trace its 130-year history thereafter by exhibiting some of the most remarkable national treasures associated with the ancient capital of Nara such as the “Bodhisattva in Pensive Pose” (7th century) of Chugu-ji temple, “The Bodhisattva Kannon (Kudara Kannon)” (7th century) of Horyu-ji temple and “The Buddha Dainichi Nyorai” (dated 1176) of Enjo-ji temple by historic Buddhist sculptor Unkei.