Three Festivals a Year every Year： Celebrating Ritsumeikan University
January 18, 2019
Many universities around the world hold college festivals – some as part of a long tradition, some as a relatively new introduction to their yearly schedule. What is perhaps not so well known in the wider world, however, is that universities in Japan also have a long history of such festivals, with some even dating back as a tradition more than 100 years.
Established in Kyoto, the home of the world famous Gion Matsuri, an annual festival with well over a thousand years of history, Ritsumeikan University, is, of course, no exception.
Each of its three main campuses, Kinugasa (Kyoto), OIC (Osaka), and BKC (Biwako-Kusatsu, Shiga), hold their own unique festivals without fail every fall. Organized and led by the student community, for just one day, the campuses are abuzz with students, faculty, staff, and members of the general public indulging in live music, performances of all kinds, and stalls offering handmade goods or delicious homemade snacks and much, much more.
Since ‘a picture speaks a thousand words’, check out some of the visual highlights of 2018’s festivals above and below:
