Outline of the University and Departments

The history of the university dates back to two specialist schools, Tokyo Fine Arts School and Tokyo Music School, both founded in 1887. Tokyo University of the Arts was founded in May 1949 under the National School Establishment Law (Act No.150 of 1949) through a merger of Tokyo Fine Arts School (currently the Faculty of Fine Arts) and Tokyo Music School (currently the Faculty of Music). At the time of its establishment, the university comprised ten departments in two faculties, namely the Faculty of Fine Arts (Departments of Painting, Sculpture, Crafts, Architecture, and Aesthetics and Art History) and the Faculty of Music (Departments of Composition, Vocal Music, Instrumental Music, Conducting, and Musicology), as well as the University Library.

The faculties have been expanded and reorganized through the years, resulting in the current organization of: 14 departments in two faculties, which are the Faculty of Fine Arts (Departments of Painting, Sculpture, Crafts, Design, Architecture, Intermedia Art, and Aesthetics and Art History) and the Faculty of Music (Departments of Composition, Vocal Music, Instrumental Music, Conducting, Traditional Japanese Music, Musicology, and Musical Creativity and the Environment), as well as facilities such as the University Library, the University Art Museum, and the Performing Arts Center.

The Graduate School comprises four schools: the Graduate School of Fine Arts, the Graduate School of Music, the Graduate School of Film and New Media, and the Graduate School of Global Arts. The university also includes the Practical Music Course and the Music High School as an education and research facility attached to the Faculty of Music.

Tokyo University of the Arts is spread across the four campuses of Ueno Park in Taito-ku, Toride City in Ibaraki Prefecture, Yokohama City in Kanagawa Prefecture and Senju in Adachi-ku, with the majority of departments and facilities concentrated within Ueno Park. Second through fourth-year courses in the Department of Intermedia Art in the Faculty of Fine Arts and part of the Graduate School of Fine Arts are located at the Toride Campus. The Graduate School of Film and New Media is situated at the Yokohama Campus, and the Department of Musical Creativity and the Environment in the Faculty of Music, various research fields of the Department of Musicology and Music Studies in the Graduate School of Music, and the Graduate School of Global Arts are at the Senju Campus.