The Institute for Research in Humanities (Jinbunken) at Kyoto University takes as its mission comprehensive studies of diverse cultures and societies around the globe.  Its history can be traced back to the 1929 establishment by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Oriental Studies Academy's Kyoto Institute, which was later renamed the Institute of Oriental Studies.  In 1949, the Institute of Oriental Studies merged with Kyoto University's Institute of Humanistic Studies and the private Institute of Occidental Studies (formerly the German Cultural Institute), creating the Institute for Research in Humanities as it exists today.

Today, the Institute for Research in Humanities comprises a Humanities Division and an Oriental Studies Division along with the Center for Informatics in East Asian Studies and the Research Center for Modern and Contemporary China.  Research staff work not only within the traditional humanities framework of philosophy, history, and literature, but also related fields like anthropology, sociology, and psychology; social sciences like legal studies and economics and even STEM fields like the history of science, bionomics, and information engineering.  Members of the institute deepen their understanding through collaborative projects with researchers and graduate students inside and outside the university, including reading groups for classical documents, fieldwork, and mutual discussion, generating and sharing insights that contribute to harmonious coexistence among diverse peoples and cultures.