Kyoto City University of Arts


Kyoto City University of Arts is a public, municipal university of general art and music in Kyoto, Japan. Established in 1880, it is Japan's oldest university of the arts. Among its faculty and graduates have been 16 recipients of the Order of Culture, 24 members of the Japan Art Academy, and 10 artists who have been designated Living National Treasures.
It has been associated especially closely with nihonga painters from western Japan.

History

The university was founded in 1880 as the Kyoto Prefectural School of Painting in temporary quarters in the grounds of the imperial palace in Kyoto. Kyoto had lost its status as the nation's capital in 1867, at the beginning of Meiji Period, and the city was in danger of being left behind in the wave of modernization overtaking the country. In 1878, a group of painters petitioned the city government to establish a modern school of the arts to support the traditional arts and crafts, including painting, ceramics, and weaving. The school was founded with support from the city and national government leader Sanjo Sanetomi, and contributions from 93 Kyoto merchants.
In 1969, the university merged with a Kyoto college that became its Faculty of Music. The largest and most diverse faculty is Faculty of Fine Arts, which offers courses in traditional and modern fine arts and traditional crafts such as the ceramics, urushi lacquering, and dyeing and weaving. As of 1999, the university had 307 full- and part-time faculty members and 902 students.

Faculties

;Nihonga painters
;Contemporary art
;Music
;Design