Kyoto National Museum

The Kyoto National Museum, founded in 1897, houses one of Japan's most comprehensive collections of pre-modern Japanese and Asian art, spanning ceramics, textiles, sculpture, and painting from across centuries. The museum campus features both the elegant Meiji-era red brick Main Building, designed by Katayama Tokuma, and the sleek Heisei Chishinkan Wing by Taniguchi Yoshio that opened in 2014. Rotating exhibitions draw from a permanent collection of over 12,000 works, including National Treasures such as illustrated handscrolls and Buddhist statuary. Located along Shichijo-dori between Sanjusangendo and Tofukuji, it fits naturally into a walking itinerary through eastern Kyoto.