On Monday, April 21, Ritsumeikan University held a commemorative ceremony at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine’s Kobaiden Hall to declare the start of the KINUGASA Redesign Project. This project, a joint effort with Kyoto City, shrines and temples in the Kinugasa neighborhood, museums, and other institutions, aims to once again spread the word to the world that the Kinugasa neighborhood in northwestern Kyoto, once known as Kinugasa Painters’ Village," is a city of the arts.

At the beginning of the ceremony, in light of the upcoming 125th anniversary of the Ritsumeikan Academy and the scheduled opening of the College of Arts and Design in April 2026, Chancellor of Ritsumeikan Yoshio Nakatani expressed Ritsumeikan's commitment to play a central role in the development of Kinugasa into an art village that Kyoto can be proud of both at home and abroad based on the KINUGASA Redesign Project, which aims to create new attractions and value for Kinugasa in cooperation with the local community centered on three key initiatives (see below).

Next, Vice President Sayaka Ogawa gave a detailed presentation on the Kinugasa Art Village Festival, one of the key initiatives of the project. Designating the first Sunday of June every year as Art Day, this event, which will be held for the first time on June 1, 2025, will use Kinugasa as the stage to promote art and facilitate exchange. The Art Festival will include a collaboration with Heralbony, a conversation between Maha Harada and Shun Takaiwa, and other events featuring a variety of guests. Vice President Ogawa closed her presentation by saying, “This event will be an opportunity for people of all ages to experience the power of art, so be sure to stay tuned." The other project supporters all expressed their hopes for the revival of the neighborhood as Kinugasa Art Village, including, Deputy Mayor of Kyoto City Yoshihiro Yoshida, Executive Director of Ninnaji Temple Jitsuon Obayashi , and Senior Priest of Kitano Tenmangu Shrine Kusuhiko Higashikawa.
Calligrapher Shoko Kanazawa also gave a large brush calligraphy performance at the ceremony. She painted the kanji compound hisho (“flight”), which includes the sho from her own name, to serve as a prayer that the social co-creation initiatives to be undertaken throughout Kinugasa will fly high into the sky and spread their wings.

[List of cooperating companies and organizations] (as of April 21, 2025)

Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto City, Kyoto Community Museum Historic Corridor Project, Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, Hirano Shrine, Kinkakuji Temple, Joshoji Temple, Shinnyoji Temple, Toji-in Temple, Ninnaji Temple, Myoshinji Temple, Ryoanji Temple, Kyoto Prefectural Insho-Domoto Museum of Fine Arts, Keifuku Electric Railway Company, etc.