The Branch | Osaka, Japan

A space for connecting art, environment, and community.

The Branch hosts resident artists from Japan and around the world who are working variously with relationships between human beings and the wider natural environment.

Artists spend time thinking, exploring, and working in The Branch and the surrounding Kitakagaya neighborhood, holding an exhibition at The Branch during their stay.

To foster interaction between artists and the local neighborhood and city, all resident artists undertake some form of community interaction during their stay.

A place in the city to re-claim our relationship with nature.

We designed, built, and manage an urban garden/park filled with herbs and vegetables, and open to the public. Inspired by the tiny “pocket parks” of Patrick Geddes, and built in the spirit of natural farmers such as Masanobu Fukuoka and Yoshikazu Kawaguchi, activities here are based in a compassion for all living beings.

The herbs grown in The Branch Pocket Farm are used for teas, herbal oils, tinctures, and all other sorts of good things that you can enjoy at our community cafe; as well, much of the harvest is given freely to our neighbors.

The Branch Herb Garden is a space to re-connect ourselves with nature amid the urban setting of Osaka, and it also serves as a central point for many of our workshops and events.

Sharing traditional and contemporary ecological knowledge and skills across cultural borders.

From gardening, yoga, and meditation, to art, craft, and media, The Branch offers time and space for sharing, learning, and growing together. Workshops and events are facilitated by Suhee and Patrick, along with a cast of local and international visiting practitioners.

All workshops are offered on a ‘pay-it-forward’ donation basis. This means your workshop experience is supported by a donation from the person who took the workshop before you. If you found the workshop valuable, you are encouraged to pay it forward for the next.