Kamakura National Treasure Museum

About

When the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 shook Kamakura, the Buddhist statues, paintings, and documents kept in its temples and shrines were suddenly exposed to fire and collapse. A local civic group, the Kamakura Dojinkai, organized to gather and protect these scattered treasures, and on April 3, 1928, the Kamakura Museum of National Treasures opened its doors. The single-story reinforced-concrete building, topped with a tiled roof, styles its interior after Kamakura-period temple architecture while its exterior recalls the traditional azekura storehouse form. Stained-glass windows by the artist Ogawa Sanchi bear the emblem of Kamakura city, and the building itself is registered as a tangible cultural property. The collection holds roughly 1,000 works comprising 4,800 items, most dating from the Kamakura through Muromachi periods and many entrusted by neighboring temples. Six are designated National Treasures and more than forty are Important Cultural Properties; the museum opens 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and closes on Mondays.