First-ever Kinugasa Art Village Festival held

On Sunday, June 1, 2025, the Kinugasa Art Village Festival was held at Ritsumeikan University's Kinugasa Campus and other sites in the Kinugasa area. Around 12,000 visitors of all ages, including local residents, families with small children, and senior citizens, came out for the festival, and they enjoyed the more than 70 art events and performances held on and around the campus.

From the late Meiji to Taisho periods, the Kinugasa neighborhood of Kyoto flourished as “Kinugasa Painters' Village," and many Japanese-style painters, including Insho Domoto and Sakuraya Kijima, lived there. In cooperation with nearby shrines, temples, museums, and other organizations, Ritsumeikan has launched the Kinugasa Redesign Project to promote the appeal of Kinugasa to the rest of Japan and the world through art-based community development and to eventually lead to Kinugasa becoming more open to the world. The Kinugasa Art Village Festival, the first event of this project, was held for the first time under the theme of "See, Hear, Taste, Smell, and Feel Kinugasa." The entire Kinugasa neighborhood bustled with art-related events, which served to expose visitors to many different forms of traditional culture and the arts. The Ritsumeikan University Student Union co-sponsored the festival under the umbrella of the Academy's Co-Creation Initiative, and many students from Kinugasa Campus, including new students, student facilitators, peer supporters, and student organizations, participated.

The weather, which had been a cause for concern, fortunately held up, and the opening ceremony began with some humidity in the air. To cut the ribbon and announce the opening of the festival, Chancellor of Ritsumeikan Yoshio Nakatani and Vice Chancellor Sayaka Ogawa were joined by the Deputy Mayor of Kyoto City Yoshihiro Yoshida, Executive Director of Ninnaji Temple Jitsuon Obayashi, Senior Priest of Kitano Tenmangu Shrine Kusuhiko Higashikawa, Chair of the Ritsumeikan University Student Union’s Central Executive Committee Yuki Konishi (4th year, College of Letters), and Mizuki Murata (4th year, College of International Relations), the first-year student supervisor of the Ritsumeikan University Student Union’s Universal Student Council.

Several events were held on Kinugasa Campus including an art dialogue between Maha Harada, an author who has written many art-themed works, and Shun Takaiwa, the producer of Artists’ Fair Kyoto, art events featuring individuals active in Japan or on the international stage, an art exhibition sponsored by Heralbony, and an event associated with the College of Arts and Design and the Graduate School of Science in Arts and Design, which are scheduled to open in AY2026.

A wide range of events were held both indoors and outdoors, including stage performances put on by new students and student organizations, a hands-on art exhibits, and food and fair stalls run by new students, and they all attracted large crowds.

On the day of the festival, the Kinugasa neighborhood was transformed into an art village, where visitors could explore the surrounding shrines and temples, including Ninna-ji Temple and Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, art museums, and other facilities. In addition, as part of "using MaaS to unify the Art Village through MaaS," one of the pillars of the Kinugasa Redesign Project, demonstration tests of a seven-seat green slow mobility vehicle and small motorized scooters were conducted on Kinugasa Campus and in the precincts of Ninna-ji Temple.

Going forward, Ritsumeikan University will continue to collaborate with the residents of the Kinugasa area to turn this initiative into a community-based project that will last well into the future.