IkarugaHōryū-ji
法隆寺
Why it mattersBuddhist images and architecture connect artistic work to early religious patronage and the transmission of skills.
NaraTōdai-ji
東大寺
Why it mattersThe Great Buddha joins artistic production to the material resources and labor of an imperial religious project.
NaraTōshōdai-ji
唐招提寺
Why it mattersThe temple’s buildings and images situate religious art within the institutional legacy associated with Ganjin.
UjiByōdō-in
平等院
Why it mattersJōchō’s Amida image belongs to an ensemble of architecture, painting and landscape rather than an isolated masterpiece.
KyotoSanjūsangen-dō–Hōjūji-dono Historic Area
三十三間堂・法住寺殿
Why it mattersThe hall and its images connect devotional encounter to the courtly and religious setting of Hōjūji-dono.
KyotoDaitoku-ji–Jukō-in
大徳寺・聚光院
Why it mattersTemple spaces and their artistic associations bring patrons, painted interiors and cultural practice into the same reading.
KyotoShōkoku-ji
相国寺
Why it mattersThe temple provides an institutional setting for following connections between religious life and artistic patronage.
KyotoRyōan-ji
龍安寺
Why it mattersThe celebrated stones invite attention to viewing positions, buildings and the interpretations accumulated around a garden.
ObuseObuse: Hokusai Museum and Ganshō-in
小布施・北斎館と岩松院
Why it mattersHokusai’s work in Obuse connects painting commissions to local patrons and the places that preserve his later reputation.
TokyoSumida Hokusai Historic Area
墨田・北斎ゆかりの地
Why it mattersThe district situates Hokusai’s remembered life and work within an urban environment and its later museum interpretation.