Kyoto International Manga Museum (former Tatsuike Elementary School)

Kyoto International Manga Museum (former Tatsuike Elementary School)

The Kyoto International Manga Museum (京都国際マンガミュージアム) in Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto City, is a museum and library of manga housed in the 1928 to 1937 buildings of the former Tatsuike Elementary School (旧京都市立龍池小学校), and four of its structures were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on July 8, 2008 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). They are the former main building, auditorium and north school building, and the former main gate and wall of the early Showa era.

The museum opened on November 25, 2006 as a joint project of Kyoto City and Kyoto Seika University (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism). It says it kept the look of the early Showa school on purpose, as a way of carrying on the role the school had played for generations as a landmark of the neighbourhood.

A School That Ran for 126 Years

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Tatsuike school opened in 1869 as Kamigyo District No. 28 Elementary School. Local residents founded it before the national school system was laid down in 1872. It closed in 1995 after a merger, 126 years later.

Nakagyo Ward explains that the district name Tatsuike, "dragon pond", comes from the Ryuyaku pond in the grounds of the Nijo Oike mansion, a pond that also appears on the folding screens of Scenes in and around Kyoto. The district association still holds its summer festival and other events at the museum.

The conversion cost 1.2 billion yen (900 million for construction and 300 million for equipment), paid by Kyoto Seika University (600 million), Kyoto City (100 million) and a national subsidy (500 million), according to the same ministry. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the three school buildings as renovated in 2006.

Layout and Dates of the Four Structures

Following the Agency's descriptions, the former main building stands on the west side of the site facing Ryogaemachi-dori, and the former auditorium continues to its north. The former north school building runs along the north edge of the site, east of the auditorium, and the former main gate and wall open onto Ryogaemachi-dori. All three school buildings are of reinforced concrete.

The auditorium came first, in 1928, followed by the main building in 1929 and the north school building in 1937; the gate and wall are dated only to the early Showa era. All four were registered as structures that contribute to the historic landscape of the country (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

In short: an H-shaped plan with Art Deco window frames for the main building, a gymnasium below and an assembly hall above in the auditorium, rows of tall windows in threes across the three-storey north school building, and square stone gateposts with a low wall carrying a metal fence for the gate. Each structure has its own page.

Visiting the Kyoto International Manga Museum

The Kyoto International Manga Museum opens from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with last entry at 4:30 p.m. It closes on Wednesdays (or the following day when Wednesday is a public holiday), over the New Year and during maintenance periods. Admission is 1,200 yen for adults, 400 yen for junior high and high school students and 200 yen for elementary school children, who must come with someone of junior high age or older (checked November 5, 2026).

Photography is allowed inside with conditions: no flash, rules for special exhibitions are posted at each venue, and commercial photography is not accepted. Eating and drinking are not allowed indoors but are permitted on the school ground.

From Karasuma-Oike Station on the Karasuma and Tozai subway lines, take Exit 2 and walk north along Karasuma-dori for 2 minutes; city buses 15, 51 and 65 stop at Karasuma-Oike right by the museum. There is no car park, but about 80 bicycles can be left on the north side of the building (Kyoto International Manga Museum).