The new Ryukoku Museum is directly opposite Nishi Honganji Temple in Kyoto and close to the Omiya campus of Ryukoku University and the famed Higurashi-mon Gate.
The Ryukoku Museum is dedicated to Buddhist art detailing the spread of Buddhist culture and belief from its birthplace in the Ganges valley in India, through South East Asia, China and Korea to Japan. The exterior of the museum features a huge blind made of ceramics.
The Ryukoku Museum has a basement level and three levels above ground in a light and airy building. The second floor concentrates on Buddhism in Asia with the third floor focusing on Buddhism in Japan.
Exhibits include sculptures from the Gandhara period of Buddhist art in what is now present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Otani collection gathered between 1902 and 1914 on three expeditions sent by a chief priest of Nishi-Honganji on the original route of Buddhism from India to Japan and Important Academic Materials held by Ryukoku University.
The Buddhism in Japan section details the development of Shin Buddhism and the history of Honganji and the life of founder, Shinran Shonin.
The Ryukoku Museum also holds special exhibitions and has a museum shop and cafe facing Nishi-Honganji Temple.
Ryukoku Museum
117 Nishinakasujidori Shomen Sagaru
Shimogyo-ku
Kyoto 600-8399
Tel: 075 351 2500
Admission: 500 yen
Hours: 10am-5pm; closed Monday
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