35.0134° N, 135.7647° E
KYOTO
Most Famous People Born in Kyoto, Japan
- Notable people
- 824
- Peak decade
- 1970s
- Median birth year
- 1947
- Most distinctive
- Imperial 132.4×
Imperial Japan's old capital, with the dataset to prove it. Kyoto is the only city in the world with double-digit emperors and imperial princes among its notables, and they're joined by Buddhist monks, classical novelists from the Heian court, and a long modern tail of manga artists, voice actors, and film directors. The city's earliest dated notables are from the 9th century — no other Japanese city has anything like that depth.
One face per century — the most globally famous figure born in Kyoto during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1970s with 97 notable births.
What Kyoto Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Football is Kyoto's biggest profession — 11% of all notables (88).
Kyoto over-indexes on imperial — 132.4× the global rate.
Kyoto under-produces politician — only 0.3× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Kyoto's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Film & TV
- Art & Design
- Music
- Writing
- Politics & Law
- Other
- Filtered to 1940s Clear ×
Haruki Murakami
Born 1949
Tasuku Honjo
Born 1942
Kunishige Kamamoto
Born 1944
Mineko Iwasaki
Born 1949
Gunpei Yokoi
1941 - 1997
Masahiko Tsugawa
1940 - 2018
Stomu Yamashta
Born 1947
Masakazu Tamura
Born 1943
Yoo Byung-eun
1941 - 2014
Kin'ya Kitaōji
Born 1943
Harumi Miyako
Born 1948
Masaomi Kondō
Born 1942
Taro Ishida
1944 - 2013
Ittoku Kishibe
Born 1947
Eiichi Yamamoto
Born 1940
Sachio Kinugasa
1947 - 2018
Aki Kuroda
Born 1944
Ryōsuke Ōhashi
Born 1944
Ryudo Uzaki
Born 1946
Norihiko Hashida
1945 - 2017
Kiyokazu Washida
Born 1949
Minoru Arakawa
Born 1946
Reiko Oshida
Born 1948
Hiroyuki Wakabayashi
Born 1949
Kimiko Kasai
Born 1945
Mutsuo Tahara
1943 - 2016
Kazuhiro Koizumi
Born 1949
Ippei Kuri
Born 1940
Izumi Shimada
Born 1948
Hiroshi Fushida
Born 1946
Tadao Onishi
1943 - 2006
Yoshi Wada
Born 1943
Toshisada Nishida
1941 - 2011
Akira Oze
Born 1947
Kazue Sawai
Born 1941
Shiro Kishibe
1949 - 2020
Sansei Shiomi
Born 1948
Haruhiko Jō
Born 1948
Ryō Tamura
Born 1946
Tadao Oda
Born 1940
Heiichiro Ohyama
Born 1947
Keiji Matsumoto
1949 - 2015
Bunji Kimura
Born 1944
Teruo Nimura
Born 1943
Ikuo Sekimoto
Born 1942
Tadahiko Ueda
1947 - 2015
Yumiko Nogawa
Born 1944
Miwa Takada
Born 1947
Minoru Kitamura
Born 1948
Suh Sung
Born 1945
Kōji Naka
1948 - 2015
Jirō Dan
Born 1949
Sayoko Eri
1945 - 2007
Kagemasa Kōzuki
Born 1940
Naoki Sakai (industrial designer)
Born 1947
Yuji Takeoka
Born 1946
Itsurō Terada
Born 1948
Fumon Shōju Nakagawa
Born 1947
Kim Sung-keun
Born 1942
Ippei Kojima
Born 1944
Kunihiko Muroi
Born 1947
Daimonji Kenji
Born 1940
Hajime Nishi
Born 1949
Yoshinori Shimizu (basketball)
Born 1949
Tetsuo Asano
Born 1949
Helen Nishikawa
Born 1946
Jikō Higashifushimi
Born 1942
Wakatenryū Yuzo
Born 1940
Takeo Adachi
1945 - 2009
Katsumi Yamamoto
Born 1946
Tadamasa Kato
Born 1944
Miyuki Matsuhisa
Born 1945