National Treasures are government-designated tangible cultural properties selected as peerless treasures of the Japanese people on the basis of their importance to world culture.
The National Treasure Medals comprise a series of medals on the theme of precious national treasures and their attendant cultural properties. For this series the Kiyomizu-dera Temple was chosen, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List as one of the “Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto.”
Obverse: The design depicts the Hondo (Main Hall) of Kiyomizu-dera Temple standing on the cliff of Mount Otowa, and fall foliage, which both appear in relief.
Reverse: The Otowa waterfall, which was the starting point for Kiyomizu-dera Temple’s construction and the source of its name, is shown in relief, with Japanese characters meaning “Kiyomizu-dera Temple” depicted using the frosting finish processing technique.
You can find coins from Japan Mint in our online archive Cosmos of Collectibles.
Read more about the history of the Japan Mint in Osaka here.
Here you can find further information about the UNESCO World Heritage Kiyomizu-dera.