To create new culture and hand down cultural heritage to future generations

ページ番号305718

2022年11月28日

Throughout its history of over a millennium, Kyoto has incubated and sophisticated excellent culture and art that can be viewed as the origin of present-day Japanese culture, and has accumulated this heritage in a multilayered manner. At the same time, the city has actively introduced diverse cultures through domestic and international exchanges and has continued to create new culture and art by combining innovation with tradition. In this sense, Kyoto is an unparalleled city even from a global perspective.

To make the most of the culture of Kyoto, in 1978, Kyoto City and its citizens issued the Declaration of Kyoto as a City Open to the Free Exchange of World Culture, which expresses our aspiration by stating, “We must communicate widely with the world, and through international exchanges Kyoto must be always renewed culturally and continue to create her own unique culture”.

Declaration of Kyoto as a City Open to the Free Exchange of World Cultures

The culture and art of Kyoto today is the fruit of repeated cycles of creation, sophistication, maturing and inheritance of pioneering culture and art. Deeply rooted in citizens’ lives, Kyoto’s culture and art have been nurtured through artists’ efforts to take up new challenges, citizens’ deep attachment to and understanding of culture and art, and their great insight and pride. In addition, the aesthetic values and sense of citizens are embodied by not only temples, shrines, gardens and other cultural properties, and historic buildings represented by Kyo-machiya, but also cultural landscapes surrounding their lives. As one of the distinctive features of Kyoto, those aesthetic values and sense have continued to be a source of new discoveries and inspiration for people around the world.

Kyoto Takigi-noh（京都薪能）

The Kyoto City government conserves and develops the culture and art of Kyoto and manages the city by leveraging its cultural power in coordination with other related measures.

Today, Japan is facing drastic social changes, including population decline, the progress of declining birthrate and aging population, and changes in lifestyles and behavior, the rapid spread and development of information and communications technology, and technological innovation represented by artificial intelligence. Even amid this difficult situation, the Kyoto City government will continue to take positive steps to ensure that Kyoto will “be always renewed culturally and continue to create her own unique culture” as the home of Japanese culture and art and as the cultural capital of the world. Achieving this requires support from as many people as possible. We look forward to receiving your warm support for our initiatives to create new culture and art and develop young cultural and artistic talent while handing down the traditional culture and art of Kyoto, and cultural properties located therein to future generations.

Funds from your donations will be used for the following initiatives

Development and support of cultural and artistic talent

Long-developed Kyoto culture based on globally renowned, sophisticated aesthetic values and high-level spirituality is underpinned by the housing-, food- and clothing-related lifestyles led by citizens. The Kyoto City government not only promotes community building by leveraging deeply rooted local lifestyles but also actively creates opportunities for citizens to become more familiar with culture and art, for example, by offering culture and art programs to children.

Moreover, the Kyoto City government will adopt measures to provide prospective artists with stronger support in terms of their environment for housing, creation and exhibition and help them secure their livelihood while devoting themselves to self-development as artists. One example is offering them opportunities to display and sell their works. Through such measures, the Kyoto City government will establish an art ecosystem to increase the social and economic value of artworks and provide them with a more solid foundation for their creative activities.

Preservation and handing down of tangible and intangible cultural properties

Kyoto City embraces over 3,000 designated or registered cultural properties and 14 out of the 17 components of the World Heritage site “Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto”. The huge number of cultural properties in Kyoto has posed various challenges, including overcoming difficulties in securing human resources for their preservation and inheritance due to declining birthrate and aging population and in obtaining funds for preservation. To solve these challenges, the Kyoto City government collaborates with the owners of cultural properties, preservation and restoration experts, and local communities in preserving and handing down tangible and intangible cultural properties.

Furthermore, the Kyoto City government works to train next-generation preservation and restoration experts to ensure that techniques and skills indispensable for safeguarding cultural properties will be handed down to the next generation.