Graduate School of Arts – Master’s Course

In this course, students find their own subjects and create their art through observation and subjectivity, while adding depth to their creative visions. In supplementary classes, students hone in on their themes and learn to see their work more broadly. Students who complete this course go on to play important roles in the fields of art and education.

The course centers on personal vision and creativity. Concentrating on their current work, students continue to reevaluate both content and technical aspects while searching for new directions and possibilities of expression. An understanding of the position and importance of art in society is emphasized. These concepts are further studied in supplementary classes.

Throughout mankind’s long history, people in different regions and cultures have cherished the many values of art. This is because art as a rich creative activity has always given people freedom, stimulation, healing and a vibrant joy, as well as providing opportunities to sense and think deeply. Our mission as an art university is to continually question and reappraise our legacy, the meaning of art in the present era, and the means by which artists who will create the next generation of art can best be educated.

Having its roots in the Kyoto Prefectural School of Painting, which was established in the year Meiji 13 (1880), Kyoto City University of Arts has the longest history in Japan as a public art university. Fifty years have passed since it merged with Kyoto City Junior College of Music, (which had been established following World War II, in order to found the Faculty of Music), and became a truly comprehensive art university. In recent years, the university has successively established two research centers, the Research Center for Japanese Traditional Music, and the Archival Research Center, and also the Kyoto City University of Arts Art Gallery (@KCUA) as an off-campus city central satellite facility. Currently, the university is once again undergoing various exciting changes in preparation for the planned relocation of its campus in 2023.