Pigments used in Japanese tombs from the fifth to the seventh centuries are exemplified by those found in the Otsuka and the Torazuka tombs. Notable paintings from the seventh eighth centuries are those in the Takamatsuzuka tombs and the Horyuji Temple. Some forty architectural interior paintings and decorations from the Nara period (643-693) through the Muromachi period (1393-1573) have been studied for pigment occurrences and the results are presented here. The chief changes in use were the replacement of white clay by powdered oyster shell in the fifteenth-sixteenth centuries and the temporary replacement of azurite by indigo around the ninth-eleventh centuries. In the Shosoin repository are various handicrafts and paintings from the 8th century; pigment occurrences on some of these are presented. Also in the Shosoin are pigment samples of red lead, powdered silver and lead white, and some results are available from studies on these. Results from early handscrolls and from 17th century paintings are given briefly.