Kyoto International Manga Museum

The Kyoto International Manga Museum, located in Nakagyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan, is the largest manga-dedicated museum in Japan. Opened on 25 November 2006, it functions as a hybrid cultural institution that combines museum, library, and research functions. The museum is a public-private partnership between Kyoto Seika University and the city of Kyoto, with the city providing the building and land while the university operates the facility under a joint committee. Its collection of approximately 300,000 items makes it a central resource for manga preservation, exhibition, and scholarly research, serving both the public and the university's International Manga Research Center.

The museum's creation was proposed by Kyoto Seika University in April 2003. The Mayor of Kyoto City announced the project launch at a press conference in December 2004. In October 2005, the Committee on the Use of Former Primary School Sites approved the use of the former Tatsuike Primary School site for the museum. The museum's name and logo were determined in October 2006, and it opened on 25 November 2006. The museum has received multiple awards: the Kansai Genki Bunkaken New Power Prize 2007 from the Agency for Cultural Affairs in January 2008, an art and culture prize at Kyoto Souzousha Taisho 2009 in September 2009, the 41st special prize for the Japan Cartoonists Association Award in May 2012, and a special prize at the 20th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in May 2016. By 2010, the museum celebrated its one millionth visitor, and it welcomed its four millionth visitor in 2023.

The museum's collection encompasses approximately 300,000 items spanning from the Edo period to the present. Materials include Edo period woodblock prints, pre-war magazines from the Meiji, Taishō, and early Shōwa eras, post-war rental books, and popular modern series from around the world. The collection's oldest manga date from the 1970s. Approximately 50,000 volumes are accessible to visitors in open-stack shelving, while roughly 250,000 items are held in closed-stack storage accessible through a dedicated research room with reference facilities. The museum actively collects international manga and translations, involving non-Japanese artists in its events and exhibiting works by international mangaka. A children's library contains approximately 3,000 picture books. The museum's founding mission, pursued jointly by the city and university, is to collect, preserve, research, and exhibit manga.

The Wall of Manga serves as the main feature of the public collection, consisting of approximately 200 meters of shelving containing 50,000 publications from the 1970s to 2005, most donated from the rental bookstore Okubo Negishi Books. It is organized by floor: first floor for shōnen manga, second floor for shōjo manga, and third floor for seinen manga. Among historically significant items is the Japan Punch, published by the Englishman Charles Wirgman in Yokohama between 1862 and 1887. Permanent exhibits include plaster casts of the hands of visiting manga and anime artists, each holding a thin pen with examples of their work; honored artists include Miyako Maki, Kazuo Koike, Moyoco Anno, Hayao Miyazaki, Nicolas de Crécy, and Eiko Hanamura. Over 100 maiko illustrations by various artists, compiled with support from the Japan Cartoonists Association, are on display. A hanging sculpture of Tezuka Osamu's Hi no Tori (Phoenix) character, measuring 11 meters wide and 4.5 meters high, has hung in the atrium since 2009. A dedicated kamishibai room preserves the traditional Japanese storytelling format using hand-drawn paper cards.

The museum occupies the former Tatsuike Primary School, which opened on 1 November 1869 as the 25th district elementary school of Kamigyō, three years before Japan's modern educational system was established. The school was built with 2,000 ryō donated by local residents without government aid. Due to urban decline and falling enrollment, it was merged with four other schools in April 1995 to form Gosho Minami Primary School. The museum complex comprises three structures: the main building (1929), the north building (1937), and the auditorium/gymnasium (1928). These were renovated into a connected form while largely preserving original features including creaky corridors and tiled staircases, allowing visitors to experience the architectural atmosphere of the Modernist era. The building spans three above-ground floors and one basement level. The facility includes a Tatsuike Memorial Room preserving school artifacts, a gift shop, a tea room, and a café with walls decorated by manga artists.

The museum is located near Karasuma Oike intersection in Nakagyō Ward, central Kyoto. The nearest station is Karasuma Oike on the Karasuma and Tōzai Lines of the Kyoto Municipal Subway; Karasuma Oike is also the closest bus stop. The museum has bicycle parking for approximately 80 bikes or small motorcycles. It operates from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., with last entry at 5:30 p.m. It is closed Wednesdays, or Thursday if Wednesday is a holiday, and closes for year-end and New Year holidays. Admission is 900 yen for adults, 400 yen for high school and junior high school students, and 200 yen for elementary students and younger, with group discounts available. Special exhibitions may carry additional fees. As a public-private partnership, the museum continues to serve as both a public manga library and history resource and a research facility supporting Kyoto Seika University's International Manga Research Center. Regular events include kamishibai performances, a manga studio where visitors can observe artists at work and receive drawing consultation, and a portrait corner where manga artists draw visitors in their own style or in anime style.