gyobutsu 御物

Also read gomotsu. The emperor's property. The Imperial Collection of art objects, books, etc., which are either of aesthetic or historic value to Japan or to the Imperial family. The whole collection is registered in the register book of the Imperial Collection Gomotsu daichō 御物台帳 which is supervised by the Imperial Household Agency. The most famous collections are the Shōsōin gyobutsu 正倉院御物 (see *Shōsōin 正倉院) in Nara and Higashiyama gobunko gyobutsu 東山御文庫御物 in Kyoto. From the Muromachi period onward, the shoguns followed a similar system such that objects once in the collection of shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa 足利義政 (1436-90) are called Higashiyama gyobutsu 東山御物. The term Ryūei gyobutsu 柳営御物 refers to the collections of the Tokugawa 徳川 shoguns.