The Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art
The Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art (京都市美術館) is a public art museum opened in 1933 in Okazaki, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture; on August 17, 2020, seven of its structures, the main building, the north and south main gates, the north gate, the east gate and two information boards, were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Since its reopening in 2020 it has been run under the name Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art.
It was built to mark the enthronement ceremonies of Emperor Showa, held in Kyoto in 1928, with donations from Kansai business, the art world and the public, and opened as the Enthronement Commemorative Kyoto Museum of Art (Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art). The city ran a design competition that required a style based on Japanese taste; the building was worked up by the municipal works section from the winning scheme by the architect Maeda Kenjiro (Kyoto City). The museum describes it as the oldest surviving public art museum building in Japan.
After the war the occupation forces requisitioned the whole site from 1946, and the great exhibition hall served as a basketball court. When it was returned in 1952 the museum reopened under the name Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art (Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art).
How the Seven Structures Fit Together
The main building faces west onto Jingu-michi, the avenue leading to Heian Shrine, with an exterior in the Imperial Crown style that pairs a Western-style body with Japanese roof forms (Agency for Cultural Affairs; Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art). On the forecourt in front of that west facade stand the Main Gate (North) and Main Gate (South), each a pair of gateposts, and beside each a small roofed information board carried on posts tiled like the main building.
The north side of the site has the North Gate and the east side the East Gate. The two main gates and the north gate share one design, two octagonal gateposts set 18 metres apart, and are dated to about 1933, the same time as the main building (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
The East Gate is the odd one out. The Agency dates it to the late Meiji era (1898 to 1912): a pair of stone posts put up as the gate of the Kyoto Commercial Exhibition Hall, the forerunner of the museum. It is the oldest of the seven and was standing here before the museum existed. Each structure is described on its own page.
Renovation and the Museum Today
In 2017 Kyoto City signed a 50-year naming-rights agreement with Kyocera Corporation for the name Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, and the museum closed the same year for renovation and extension (Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art). The design, chosen by open proposal, was by Aoki Jun and Nishizawa Tezzo; work was completed at the end of October 2019 and the museum reopened on May 26, 2020.
To keep the view of the main building from Jingu-michi unchanged, the forecourt was lowered into a gentle slope and the entrance moved below the west porch. The cut between building and plaza was glazed to form the Glass Ribbon, and the line running from the west entrance through the Central Hall (the former great exhibition hall) and the east entrance to the Japanese garden was strengthened (Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art). The 1971 storage wing to the northeast was rebuilt as a new wing housing the Higashiyama Cube, a gallery for contemporary art.
Kyoto City carried out the renovation with registration of the main building as a national cultural property in view, preserving its design and submitting its case to the Agency for Cultural Affairs (Kyoto City). The registration of the seven structures followed from that work.
Visiting
The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and closed on Mondays (open when Monday is a public holiday) and over the New Year, from December 28 to January 2 (Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art; last entry varies by exhibition). Admission to the galleries depends on the exhibition, so check the official website before you go.
From Higashiyama Station on the Tozai subway line it is about an 8-minute walk: take Exit 1, head east along Sanjo-dori, turn left onto Jingu-michi and walk north; past the great torii, the main entrance is on your right (Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art). From Kyoto Station, city bus route 5 stops right outside at Okazaki Koen Bijutsukan Heian Jingu-mae. Drivers can use the paid car park on the north side of the main building, which cannot be reserved.
The main gates and information boards sit on the forecourt facing Jingu-michi and can be seen from the pavement. Standing at the front of the plaza and taking in the west facade first is the easiest way to see how the seven structures relate.
References
- Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art Main Building (Database of National Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00013411
- Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art East Gate (Database of National Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00013415
- Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art Main Gate (North) (Database of National Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00013412
- Registration of the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art Main Building and Related Structures (Kyoto City press release, March 19, 2020, Japanese)
- https://kyotocity-kyocera.museum/wp-content/uploads/%EF%BC%88%E5%BA%83%E5%A0%B1%E8%B3%87%E6%96%99%EF%BC%89%E5%9B%BD%E7%99%BB%E9%8C%B2%E6%9C%89%E5%BD%A2%E6%96%87%E5%8C%96%E8%B2%A1%E3%81%B8%E3%81%AE%E7%99%BB%E9%8C%B2.pdf
- Greeting and History (Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, Japanese)
- https://kyotocity-kyocera.museum/greeting/
- Architecture (Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, Japanese)
- https://kyotocity-kyocera.museum/architecture/
- Access (Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, Japanese)
- https://kyotocity-kyocera.museum/access
Last verified: 2026.10.20
Basic Information
| Name | Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art |
|---|---|
| Location | 124 Okazaki Enshojicho, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, and other locations |
| Owner | Kyoto City |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (7) |
| Coordinates | 35.01286, 135.78358 |
