Ikeda Bunko, Private library in Sakae-Honmachi, Japan

Ikeda Bunko is a corporate library in Sakae-Honmachi, Ikeda, Osaka, run by the Hankyu Culture Foundation of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. It opened at the wish of founder Ichizō Kobayashi and holds books, magazines and performance materials on Takarazuka Revue, kabuki and Hankyu Railway. Two tea rooms, Daisō-an and Kosai-an, stand on the grounds, and the Itsuō Art Museum is next door.

Ikeda Bunko opened as the library of the Hankyu group founded by Ichizō Kobayashi, who envisioned it as part of an ideal regional cultural project. It grew from the former Takarazuka literary library, whose kabuki materials, collected from the mid-Edo period onward, passed into its holdings. It is the only corporate library among Kansai's major private railways.

The library's collections centre on Hankyu Railway corporate records, Takarazuka Revue performance programmes, posters and scripts, and kabuki actor prints and playbills gathered in its predecessor, the Takarazuka Literary Library. A research group founded within the revue in 1958 recorded folk performing arts and festivals across Japan in film, audiotape and negatives.

Advance appointments are required to access the collections, as the facility maintains strict protocols for manuscript conservation. It is best to contact the library in advance to confirm access and understand any specific requirements.

The library is the only corporate library among Kansai's major private railways, and it grew from Ichizō Kobayashi's plan to create an ideal regional cultural institution. Its grounds hold two tea houses, Daisō-an and Kosai-an, used for practice sessions from Thursday to Saturday and otherwise rentable for a fee.