Kuroda-seitaro Kakiba at Dotonbori, Osaka

Atelier and gallery of illustrator Seitaro Kuroda in Shinsaibashi Big Step, hosting rotating art exhibitions.

KAKIBA (描場, meaning "drawing place") is the working atelier and gallery of Seitaro Kuroda, the Osaka-born illustrator and painter, located in the basement of Shinsaibashi Big Step at 1-6-14 Nishi-Shinsaibashi. Kuroda, who continues to paint well into his eighties, established the space with the ambition of turning the America-mura district into a fresh hub for art, using it both as his own studio and as a venue for exhibitions, live painting and collaborative projects with children and young artists. The gallery hosts rotating shows, including regular exhibitions of Nosaka Akio's War Fairy Tales original illustrations and the touring MY HOME exhibition of pictures by children affected by conflict and disaster around the world, organised with the Hiroshima-based NPO ANT-Hiroshima. Kuroda's own work is also on display and available, spanning sculpture and painting, and the space often functions as a meeting point for cross-generational creative exchange. For visitors wanting a quieter, more reflective cultural stop in the heart of Shinsaibashi's youth district, KAKIBA offers a genuine artist's studio rather than a polished commercial gallery. It is a small, characterful window into the working life of one of Osaka's most enduring illustrators.