The 7 best museums in Kyoto

Acquiring served as the money of Japan and the home of the imperial family members from 794 till 1868, Kyoto has a rich cultural heritage that’s still incredibly considerably evident as you discover its atmospheric streets and serene temples.

Specified its background, it is no shock that the city is also property to a good deal of distinguished museums that are packed with inventive treasures and reliable nearby crafts. Here are 7 of the finest museums in Kyoto.

Kyoto’s scenic Fushimi district is one of the prime sake brewing places in the state, with additional than 40 sake breweries in operation many thanks to its strategic location and the pure water of the close by Hori River. The Gekkeikan Ōkura Sake Museum is housed in a superbly preserved developing owned by field huge Gekkeikan, which dates back again to 1637. Inside, you can take a look at exhibits and artifacts relating to the brewery’s record and the system of sake building. 

For an extra cost, you can also tour the neighboring Uchigura Sake Brewery, where they even now make rice wine and other tipples applying standard solutions. Both way, your museum pay a visit to finishes with a chance to sample some of the finished merchandise, and you even get a small bottle to acquire dwelling with you as a reward, generating the tiny entrance rate a serious deal. 

Given that opening its doorways to its to start with exhibition in 1897, the Kyoto Nationwide Museum has developed to turn into a person of the most prestigious museums in Japan. The lasting collection includes a wide wide range of paintings, textiles, ceramics, lacquerware, metalwork, calligraphy and archaeological relics, which are shown in rotating exhibitions in the Heisei Chishinkan wing.

Opened in 2014, this spacious setting up was made by renowned architect Taniguchi Yoshio. It stands in wonderful contrast to Katayama Tokuma’s initial purple-brick Meiji Kotokan corridor, which still functions as a image of the museum. 

The largest attracts are typically the momentary exclusive exhibitions, so it is a good idea to stay clear of people on weekends because they can get fast paced. Even the grounds them selves have a lot to check out, like a common teahouse, sculpture gardens and a enjoyable water fountain disregarded by a reproduction of Rodin’s legendary Thinker.

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Also recognized as Fureai-Kan, the Kyoto Museum of Crafts and Design is a superb put to pay a visit to if you want to discover out more about the city’s several classic arts and crafts. The lasting exhibition provides together all 74 (indeed, 74!) categories of Kyoto’s standard creative industries, from folding lovers and pottery to bamboo flutes, paper umbrellas and lanterns. The displays function some of the elements, instruments and processes employed, as properly as showcasing the completed performs by themselves. 

Occasional particular exhibitions aim on a unique style of craft, and throughout workshops and normal craft demonstrations, you have the unusual prospect to view expert artisans at get the job done. Kyoto is a town which is rightly very pleased of its creative heritage, and immediately after a wander close to this little museum, you’ll be captivated by it too.

Housed in a previous elementary school, the Kyoto Intercontinental Manga Museum is very well really worth examining out if you’re a admirer of Japanese comic books or graphic novels. Explore a number of everlasting and short term exhibitions on the art kind, as very well as a mesmerizing “Wall of Manga” lined with some 50,000 textbooks that you can search inside of or acquire out into the courtyard to browse. Though the the vast majority of volumes are in Japanese, the Manga Expo section has an ever-increasing variety of translated and global functions.

If you pay a visit to on a weekend, you can look at artists at work in the Manga Studio. Head to Portrait Corner to have an anime-type image of oneself drawn by just one of the resident manga artists. The museum also puts on manga drawing workshops and occasional performances of kamishibai, a traditional form of Japanese street theater that works by using pics to convey to tales.

Formerly named the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Artwork, the Kyoto Town Kyocera Museum of Artwork is situated in a photogenic classical setting up close to Heian-jingū shrine. Not too long ago renovated by some of Japan’s most renowned architects, the gallery has a amazing everlasting selection of all around 3800 pieces by Kyoto artists. These include things like paintings in both of those Japanese and western kinds, as well as ukiyo-e woodblock prints, sculptures, calligraphy and other crafts. The museum hosts a range of special exhibitions that concentration on unique artists, time intervals or themes, as perfectly as pop tradition favorites such as Doraemon and Rurouni Kenshin. Halt by the cafe for some classic regional Kyoto sweets, or decide on up a single of their picnic sets if the weather’s superior and enjoy lunch in the picturesque grounds.

Opened in 2016 with the goal of showcasing Japan’s history of railway innovation, the fun and interactive Kyoto Railway Museum is a fantastic selection for people as nicely as practice enthusiasts. The three flooring of shows and displays cover all the things from railway uniforms and equipment to the mysterious interior workings of ticket machines. The 30,000-sq-m (322,920 sq ft) web-site properties 53 retired trains to explore, such as pristine vintage steam locomotives and modern modern shinkansen (bullet trains). For a tiny additional rate, you can acquire a 10-moment experience in a passenger vehicle pulled by an authentic steam practice. 

Back again inside of, never overlook the driving simulator and intricate diorama exactly where miniature trains whizz all over an impressively in depth landscape. All those fascinated in the golden era of practice travel must also look at out the Nijo Station Creating on the way out, a charming picket home that dates back again to 1904 and now hosts the museum’s gift shop.

Kyoto’s National Museum of Fashionable Artwork sits proper beside the towering red torii gate of Heian-jingū shrine. Housed in a hanging cubic developing created by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Maki Fumihiko, the gallery’s selection generally focuses on works by artists or artistic actions from Kyoto and the wider Kansai area. In addition to Japanese-design and style paintings, the rotating exhibitions function watercolors, prints, oil paintings and photography, as effectively as crafts this sort of as ceramics, lacquerware, metalwork and textiles. 

The museum also hosts typical special exhibitions and occasional workshops, furthermore has a nice cafe with a terrace that overlooks the attractive Lake Biwa Canal. If you go to MoMAK just after 5pm on a Friday or Saturday, you can delight in a discounted evening charge, and if you have frequented the Kyoto Town Kyocera Museum of Art on the identical day, then you can advantage from a more cost-effective amount for the special exhibitions by exhibiting your ticket stub.