Kyoto Central · Karasuma OikeNo.320★★Open in map →
Kyoto International Manga Museum
The Kyoto International Manga Museum, run jointly by Kyoto City and Kyoto Seika University, holds roughly 300,000 items from historical material to translated foreign editions, in a converted prewar elementary school in central Kyoto.
The building came first. It is a prewar elementary school in central Kyoto, closed when the neighbourhood's children thinned out, and the museum kept its bones — wooden floors, wide corridors, a school hall, a lawn out front. The city and Kyoto Seika University run it jointly, and the holding is roughly 300,000 items: historical materials, postwar magazines, complete runs of popular series, and translated editions from abroad. What makes it unusual is that a large part of the shelving is open. You take a volume, sit on the stairs or out on the grass, and read. On a warm afternoon the lawn fills with people doing exactly that, which is not a scene you get anywhere else in Kyoto.
Why it stays quiet
Kyoto's visitor traffic runs on a temple circuit — Kiyomizu, Arashiyama, Fushimi Inari — and this sits in the business district in between, four minutes from a subway station most people only change trains at. It is a major institution that is structurally off the sightseeing route.
Background & history
The museum opened in 2006 in the buildings of a former elementary school that had served this central Kyoto neighbourhood since before the war and closed as the local child population declined. Rather than demolish it, the city partnered with Kyoto Seika University — which had established Japan's first university faculty of manga studies — to create a combined museum, research archive and open reading library. The school's structure, corridors and hall were retained.
What to look for — in walking order
- The Wall of Manga
- open shelving running the length of the corridors; anything on it can be taken down and read on site
- The former school hall and classrooms
- retained interiors now used for exhibitions on manga history and technique
- The lawn
- the old schoolyard, where visitors sit and read in fine weather — the museum's defining image
- Translated editions from abroad
- a section showing how Japanese manga is published in other languages, useful if you cannot read Japanese
How to enjoy it
Do not treat it as a walk-through museum — the point is to sit down. Pick something off the corridor shelves, take it out to the lawn, and give it an hour; that is what the building is for. Almost all the open shelving is Japanese-language, so if you cannot read it, head for the translated-editions section and the exhibition rooms, which are captioned in English. Check the calendar for the Wednesday closure. It fits well into a day that continues east on the Tozai line to Higashiyama.
How to actually get there
- Kyoto Stn → Karasuma Oike Stn (Karasuma subway line, 3 stops, ~7 min).
- Exit 2, walk north about 3 minutes on Karasuma street.
- Enter through the old school gate; buy a ticket at the desk in the former entrance hall.
- Karasuma subway line from Kyoto Station
- Kyoto Stn →(Karasuma subway line toward Kokusaikaikan, 3 stops, ~7 min)→ Karasuma Oike Stn. Leave by exit 2 and walk about 3 minutes north; the museum's lawn and brick gateposts are on the corner. Total about 15 minutes. Subway trains run every few minutes.
- Back on the Karasuma line, or east on the Tozai line
- Karasuma Oike returns you to Kyoto Station in about 7 minutes. The Tozai line from the same station runs east toward Higashiyama and Gion, so the museum slots easily into a day that ends on the east side.
Before you go
- Cash
- There is an admission charge, with separate pricing for adults, students and children; special exhibitions may cost extra. Cards are accepted. There is a café in the grounds, and the lawn is open to ticket holders for reading.
- Closing days
- Closed on Wednesdays (or the following day when Wednesday is a public holiday), over the New Year period, and for maintenance — check the calendar before you go. Almost all of the open-shelf material is in Japanese; the translated editions are a separate, smaller section.
- Another way
- Karasuma Oike is on both the Karasuma and Tozai subway lines, so you can reach it without transferring from most parts of central Kyoto. Kyoto City Bus stops at Karasuma Oike as well.
- After you get off
- From Karasuma Oike Station exit 2, walk north on Karasuma street about 3 minutes; the museum occupies the old school block on the east side, with its lawn visible from the pavement.