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Kyoto Daigaku Shinbun article from June 20th 1936 on the planned complex, in which the Seibu Kodō was a part. The building is inside the H shape modern structure.
Like many mythologised spaces, the origins of Seibu Kōdō are shrouded in mystery and legend. An enduring tale is that it was built as an annex of the Imperial Palace for the purposes of the coronation of the Showa emperor (Hirohito) in 1928. Given its eventual history as a center of radical art, such an origin story would have been ironically fitting. As of 2025, Seibu Kōdō’s Wikipedia page contains a variant of this narrative in which the hall was built at Kyoto Imperial University to celebrate the birth of Crown Prince Akihito (the Heisei emperor). Unfortunately, as appealing as they are, any imperial connections are simply urban legends.
The building was constructed in 1937 as part of Kyoto University’s martial arts facilities. It is doubtful whether the young nationalist students practicing kendo in the building could imagine what would become of the place just a few decades later. Kyoto University, known as Kyoto Imperial University before the war, and Japanese higher education as a whole, promoted patriotism and participated wholeheartedly in Japan’s war effort.
Nevertheless, important acts of resistance or questioning of state ideology did take place on prewar university campuses. Kyoto students from across the city were the first Japanese to be put on trial for violating the 1925 Peace Preservation Law (often referred to as the Thought Crime Law). Student activists such as Saitō Raitarō (斉藤 雷太郎), who we will meet again below, were arrested in 1937 for organizing an anti-fascist movement, which operated in the spaces of Kyoto’s Jazz Kissa and theaters. This connection between music, radicalism, and Kyoto student and activist culture continued after the war.
A Note on Jazz kissa
Jazz kissa (ジャズ喫茶), or "jazz cafes," are a distinctive feature of Japanese cafe culture, originating in the late 1920s as part of a broader enthusiasm for Western music. These establishments provided a venue for patrons to listen to imported jazz records, often unavailable for personal purchase, on high-fidelity sound systems. As one interviewee informed us, as records in the 1950s cost 2000 yen, to purchase a desired piece of music would mean sacrificing 3-4 days worth of meals. Jazz Kissa, therefore, were an economical alternative.
Cafe Tiger at Ginza, Tokyo. 1939. Source: wikicommons
Jazz & Coffee Masako, Tokyo. 2009. Source: wikicommons
The ambiance of Jazz Kissa typically consisted of dim lighting, antique furnishings, and shelves stocked with vinyl records, creating an environment conducive to focused listening. In the Kansai region, particularly in Kyoto, Jazz Kissa became centres for countercultural movements, blending music appreciation with political discourse and artistic expression. In addition to the Jazz Kissa there were, from the 1960s onward, also Go Go Kissa (ゴーゴー喫茶). While the phrase "Go Go" has certain sexual implications, it was not erotic dancing but live music performances alone that these cafes featured. While traditionally male-dominated spaces, with a clear hierarchy (of the owner choosing records and his listeners, well, listening) these cafes played a significant role in shaping Japan's modern cultural landscape, offering a space for both passive listening and active cultural production. Despite a decline in numbers due to the rise of personal audio equipment (especially, the personal cassette player), jazz kissa continue to operate, preserving an important aspect of Japan's musical heritage.
Political activist connections become more explicit in Seibu Kōdō’s postwar history. After the war, the building underwent a substantial transformation. Repurposed first as a movie theater, it later became a space for jazz, folk, and experimental music, as student cultural clubs and independent groups appropriated it for free expression. In this way, Seibu Kōdō exemplifies the tight connection between music and political movements in postwar Japan.
Kyoto Daigaku Shinbun (15 May 1950)
Music and Political Movements in Postwar Japan
Music and Political Movements in Postwar Japan
In 1950s–60s Kyoto and Japan as a whole, student movements, labour activism, and music were intertwined, creating dynamic spaces for political engagement, cultural experimentation, and social solidarity. Antiwar labour activists who we interviewed about their experience at university-based protests, recalled how music became an integral part of both demonstration and daily life. Guitar touting “Folk Guerrillas” (フォークゲリラ) started in Kansai but spread all over Japan. Initially, students, especially those connected to Communist circles, drew on foreign musical repertoires, singing Russian folk songs or Korean songs about the Imjin River to express solidarity with broader global peace movements and to critique Japan’s imperial past.
Flyer for the Barricade Festival (Bari-Sai), 1969. Kyoto University Clock Tower Museum
By the 1960s, however, students increasingly embraced Japanese folk music, turning to locally rooted songs (though internationally inspired, with American folk being the major influence). These included "Tomoyo" (「友よ」) or, especially in Kyoto, "Takeda no Komori Uta" (「たけだのこもりうた」), which better articulated personal and collective experiences within the context of Japanese activism.
Music served as both a practical tool for mobilization, such as in the chanting that accompanied the snake dances (jiguzagu demoジグザグデモ or zigzag demonstration) during protests, and a medium for cultural expression, energizing demonstrations and fostering communal bonds.
Musical spaces were also experiments in autonomy and self-governance, though, one should be mindful that, as with the later hardcore punk scene, these were male-dominated spaces (some of our interviewees mentioned lewd singing in male only dorms). However, open spaces, such as Honyarado cafe, brought students, political activists, zainichi Koreans, and musicians together in an overlapping countercultural network that combined protest, performance, and collective reflection, shaping the DIY character of Kyoto’s social movements, which later punks drew on.
By the late 1960s, amid the nationwide student uprisings, Seibu Kōdō emerged as a central site of protest culture and artistic experimentation, as during the Bari-Sai event of 1969 (see picture). The name "Bari-Sai" (バリ祭) combines "barricade" (バリケード) and the Japanese for festival, "sai" (祭). As this name denotes, the event was organised to entertain demonstrators who had occupied Kyoto University Yoshida campus to protest increasing tuition fees, declining quality of education and a broader dissatisfaction with government support for the United States in the Vietnam War. The festival featured a variety of discussion forums, movie viewings including hardcore pornography (suggesting, again, the extent to which the movement was male-dominated). It also featured musical groups including the radical noise performances of one of Kyoto's most celebrated groups, Les Rallizes Dénudés (裸のラーリズ). Formed of Doshisha University students, Les Rallizes Dénudés would become a mainstay of Kyoto's experimental music scene in the 1970s.
The Kumano and Yoshida Dorms
The Kumano and Yoshida Dorms
The Kumano and Yoshida dorms in Kyoto University were liberated areas (both as spaces of free expression and under autonomous control) and have been managed by the students since the 1960s. These dorms functioned as crucial hubs for student activism and countercultural exchange from the late 1960s onward, providing spaces where political organizing, music, and communal life intersected, often in rowdy and even sometimes violent ways. Students from across Japan, including those involved in Beheiren (ベ平連, the anti-Vietnam war movement), the Japanese Red Army, and various leftist groups, gathered there for national meetings, study sessions, and planning protests, often staying at the dorms during large-scale events and gatherings.
Yoshida Dorm (2025). Photograph by authors
The Kumano and Yoshida dorms were, and still are, more than residential spaces: they are spaces of collaboration, discussion, and experimentation in self-governance. They quickly became microcosms of Kyoto’s activist networks and, over the years, have cultivated political consciousness and shaped a generation of students deeply involved in antiwar, labour, and social justice movements. For this reason, they have also been the center of much controversy and are constantly at risk of being brought under direct university control. Nevertheless, uniquely in Japan, for over 50 years they have managed to survive as student-ran autonomous spaces.
The dorms exposed students to the vibrant political and cultural life of Kyoto. Music and cultural exchange were (and are) central to the dorms. It was often the students from Kumano and Yoshida dorms that ran the Seibu Kōdō.
Kyoto’s peripheral location proved crucial not only for the making of Seibu Kōdō but other hubs of radical political and cultural activity as well, like Honyaradō and Jittoku cafe/live house, which were symbols of the scene’s experimental ethos, hosting folk, butoh dance, and improvised performances. Importantly, Kyoto offered cheap rents for gig venues and plenty of space to experiment. Also, as many interviewees told us, being far from Tokyo’s entertainment industry and its scouts, local scenes could develop in Kansai without immediate commodification. Furthermore, the concentration of universities in the city means that Kyoto has a relatively young population. Indeed, the late 1960s student movement played a crucial in the shaping of Seibu Kōdō’s rebellious identity.
Nevertheless, into the 1970s, with the decline of the student movement, cultural expression started to take precedence over political engagement. As noted, events such as the Bari-Sai barricade festival of 1969 had already blurred the line between protest and performance. In 1972, the Phantom festival took this even further, featuring chaotic shows from Les Rallizes Dénudés and others. Increasingly, sexual and artistic freedoms were emphasized over political ones, and a gap opened up between performers and audiences, and more openly committed activists. A central space where these tensions were playing out was the student council that managed Seibu Kōdō, the Seirenkyō (Seibu Kōdō Renraku Kyō Shikikai, 西部講堂連絡協議会), which organized all events in Seibu Kōdō independently of the university.
Entrance to Honyaradō (n.d.). Courtesy of Kai Fusayoshi
A Note on Honyaradō
A Note on Honyaradō
Cafe Honyaradō, founded in 1972 near Doshisha University in Kyoto’s Teramachi-Imadegawa area, was a renowned hub of intellectual and countercultural activity, attracting scholars, writers, artists, anti-war activists, and international visitors. Founded by figures like photographer Kai Fusayoshi (甲斐 扶佐義), singer Okabayashi Nobuyasu (岡林信康), and academic Hajime Nakao (中尾ハジメ), the cafe became a base for campaigns supporting political prisoners in South Vietnam and South Korea, opposing nuclear power, and revitalizing local shopping arcades. It also hosted language classes, folk music sessions, and diverse cultural events.
Over the years, Honyaradō welcomed numerous intellectuals and artists, including philosophers Tsurumi Shunsuke (鶴見俊輔) and poets Tanikawa Shuntarō (谷川 俊太郎) and Shiraishi Kazuko (白石かずこ). International visitors such as poets Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder, and translator William Johnston, also frequented the cafe. Despite efforts to preserve its legacy, Honyaradō tragically burned down in January 2015, resulting in the loss of decades of cultural history, including photographs, manuscripts, and personal diaries. The fire marked the end of an era for Kyoto's countercultural scene.
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