Kyoto Kaleidoscope Museum:Kyoto

About the Kyoto Kaleidoscope Museum

This is a museum that specializes in collecting and exhibiting kaleidoscopes. It opened in June 2004 and is run by the NPO “Kyoto Kaleidoscope Museum” using the exhibition space of the educational facility “Children’s Counseling Center Patna” with the cooperation of various parties and the help of volunteers.

We hope to promote Kyoto culture and lifelong learning by providing a relaxing space for both children and adults and cultivating imagination and creativity, and to have many visitors to Kyoto enjoy looking at kaleidoscopes.

The Patna Child Advice Center is an educational institution established by the Kyoto City Board of Education in April 2003 on the former site of Hatsune Junior High School as a specialized facility to receive various anxieties and worries about education from children and parents. The exhibition space is rented from the center and operated by the NPO Kyoto Kaleidoscope Museum.

One of the features of the museum is that you can touch and look at all the kaleidoscopes. However, even kaleidoscopes that look sturdy are very delicate. For example, even a slight impact when returning them to the stand after viewing can distort the mirror inside, so we ask visitors to treat them gently.

In addition to the kaleidoscope exhibits, we will also have a gallery where we can hold original exhibitions and display various works by local residents, promoting lifelong learning. We will also hold kaleidoscope classes where parents and children can make their own original kaleidoscopes. We will also have a space where you can relax, including a museum shop and a cafe.

Located in the heart of Kyoto, on Aneyakoji Street, where tradition lives on, we hope to create a relaxing space where smiles naturally come and the heart is soothed by fusing kaleidoscopes with the wonders of Kyoto.

Kaleidoscope DIY Class

Why not try making your very own one-of-a-kind kaleidoscope?
The Kyoto Kaleidoscope Museum offers hands-on kaleidoscope-making classes. There are three types of classes: “Anytime Experience Classes” which you can try out whenever you like in the museum; “Special Experience Classes” where kaleidoscope artists are invited as special lecturers to give direct lectures; and “Mobile Museum” classes which are held irregularly outside the museum at facilities such as department stores and galleries.

Anytime Experience Classes

The hands-on workshop is a hands-on workshop that you can join at any time during your visit. Purchase a hands-on kit at the museum shop and speak to a nearby staff member. The staff member will give you a lesson on how to make the item.

*Kits are available in both dry and oil types.

You can make your own kaleidoscope anytime when the museum is open (reservations required for groups of 5 or more)
Notice of price revision of handmade kit
Currently, raw material prices and transportation costs are rising due to the global situation, and domestic purchase prices are rising due to fluctuations in exchange rates. Although we have been trying to maintain our prices, it has become very difficult to maintain the previous prices through self-help alone. Therefore, although we are very reluctant to do so, we will be revising the price of handmade kits from Friday, January 27, 2023.
We will continue to work on further improving our services and do our best to ensure your satisfaction. We appreciate your understanding.

We will teach you carefully. (It will take about 30 minutes to complete.)
(Reservations required for groups of 5 or more)

Dry type kaleidoscope: 950 yen
Time required: 30 minutes

Oil type kaleidoscope: from 2,800 yen
Time required: 30 minutes

Special Experience Classes

Once or twice a month, we invite a kaleidoscope artist as a special instructor and create a kaleidoscope based on a different theme each time.
Reservations are required to participate, so please contact us in advance by phone.

Mobile Museum

These are handmade kaleidoscope classes held in facilities such as department stores and galleries. A part of the museum’s collection will be on display, so you can enjoy making your own kaleidoscope as well as looking at other artists’ works.
Schedules for the traveling museum will be announced in the announcements section as soon as they are decided.
Please contact us if you are interested or a group.

the kaleidoscope exhibition space

From the collection of about 400 pieces by artists from Japan and abroad, about 50 pieces are always on display, with seasonal themes. You are free to touch and look at all the kaleidoscopes on display.
In addition, in the kaleidoscope exhibition space, you can view a projection kaleidoscope for about 5 minutes every hour. Kaleidoscopes are projected onto the ceiling and walls of the exhibition room, creating a fantastical world that you can enjoy.

Link:https://k-kaleido.org/

Tour Link:https://k-kaleido.org/experience/