, also known as Saint Paul's University, is a private

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, in

Ikebukuro is a commercial and entertainment district in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. Toshima ward offices, Ikebukuro Station, and several shops, restaurants, and department stores are located within city limits. Transportation At the center of Ikebukuro is ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Rikkyo is one of the five

MARCH March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...

universities, the group of private universities in the

Kanto region Japanese Kanto is a simplified spelling of , a Japanese word, only omitting the diacritics. In Japan Kantō may refer to: *Kantō Plain *Kantō region * Kantō-kai, organized crime group * Kanto (Pokémon), a geographical region in the ''Pokém ...

, together with

Meiji Meiji, the romanization of the Japanese characters 明治, may refer to: Japanese history * Emperor Meiji, Emperor of Japan between 1867 and 1912 ** Meiji era, the name given to that period in Japanese history *** Meiji Restoration, the revolution ...

Aoyama Gakuin is an educational institute in Tokyo, Japan, which comprises Aoyama Gakuin University, Aoyama Gakuin Senior High School, Aoyama Gakuin Junior High School, Aoyama Gakuin Elementary School, and Aoyama Gakuin Kindergarten. The institute was fou ...

, Chuo, and Hosei. Rikkyo is known as one of the six leading universities in the field of sports in Tokyo ( "Big Six" — Rikkyo University,

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

Keio University , abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Rangaku, Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becomi ...

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

Meiji University is a Private university, private research university in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Originally founded as Meiji Law School () by three lawyers in 1881, it became a university in April 1920. As of May 2023, Meiji has 32,261 undergradu ...

, and

Hosei University formerly known as Tokyo University of Law (東京法学社, Tokyo Hogakusha) is a top research university in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Hosei University and four other private universities in Tokyo are collectively known as "MARCH (Japanese univers ...

). A leading liberal arts teaching and research institution, the university is the largest

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

affiliated university in Japan. The university is internationally oriented and involved in numerous international programmes and projects. Rikkyo maintains contact with more than 140 educational institutions abroad for the purpose of exchanging lecturers, students and projects. With more than 700 students from outside Japan, the institution has 20,000 students, and 2,700 teachers and staff members.

Rikkyo Gakuin

The Rikkyo Gakuin is an educational institution, which includes Rikkyo University and several affiliated schools. They include three all-male schools and an international school, The

Rikkyo School in England is a Japanese boarding primary and secondary school in Rudgwick, Horsham District, West Sussex. The school uses the Japanese curriculum,junior college A junior college is a type of post-secondary institution that offers vocational and academic training that is designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations or support roles in professions such as engineering, a ...

( St. Margaret's Junior College).

Boys' schools

* Rikkyo Primary School *

Rikkyo Ikebukuro Junior and Senior High School is private boys' junior and senior high school in Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo. History Bishop Channing Moore Williams established Rikkyo Junior High School in Tsukiji, Tokyo in 1896. The original building was destroyed by the Great Kantō earthqua ...

* Rikkyo Niiza Junior and Senior High School

Girls' schools

Rikkyo Jogakuin

* St. Margaret's Elementary School, AKA Rikkyo Girls' Elementary School * St. Margaret's Junior & Senior High School, AKA Rikkyo Girls' Junior & Senior High School

Kouran Jogakuin

* St. Hilda's Junior & Senior High School, AKA Kouran Girls' Junior & Senior High School

History

Founding

The origins of the university date from the founding of St. Paul's School for boys in 1874 by

Channing Moore Williams Channing Moore Williams (July 17, 1829 – December 2, 1910) was an Episcopal Church missionary, later bishop, in China and Japan. Williams was a leading figure in the establishment of the Anglican Church in Japan. His commemoration in some Angl ...

, a missionary of the Episcopal Church and a leading figure in the establishment of the

Anglican Church in Japan The ''Nippon Sei Ko Kai'' (), abbreviated as NSKK, sometimes referred to in English as the Anglican Episcopal Church in Japan, is the national Christianity, Christian church representing the Province of Japan (, ) within the Anglican Communion. ...

. The school's first classes were held in Williams' home in the

foreign settlement A foreign settlement (, pronounced "Gaikokujin kyoryūchi") was a special area in a Treaty ports, treaty port, designated by the Japanese government in the second half of the nineteenth century, to allow foreigners to live and work. After the visi ...

Tsukiji Tsukiji (築地) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan. Literally meaning "reclaimed land", it lies near the Sumida River on land reclaimed from Tokyo Bay in the 18th century during the Edo period. The eponymous Tsukiji fish market opened in 193 ...

, Tokyo. Initially five students came to study with the resident missionaries. By the end of the first year this number had grown to 55 with as many as 46 living in a dormitory rented by the school. Fire devoured the first school buildings in 1876. With funding from the Domestic and Foreign Mission Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church and, in 1880, a new principal,

James McDonald Gardiner James McDonald Gardiner (May 22, 1857 – November 25, 1925) was an American architect, lay Anglican church missionary and educator who lived and worked in Japan during the Meiji period. Early life and education Gardiner was born May 22, 1857 in ...

to supervise, new three-story brick facilities with an imposing 60-foot spire were constructed. In 1891, Gardiner resigned from the management of the school and was succeeded by Rev. Theodosius Stevens Tyng. Simultaneous with the appointment of Rev. Tyng, the school's name was changed from St. Paul's School to St. Paul's College; curriculum changes were introduced; and a formal application was made for a government license. Enrollment jumped, but the school buildings were in a poor state of repair and were condemned as unsafe by government inspectors. As president of the school Tyng immediately set off to the United States on a fundraising tour. Less than three weeks after his return to Tokyo an earthquake in 1894 leveled much of the original school facilities, highlighting the perils of building on reclaimed land next to the

Sumida River The is a river that flows through central Tokyo, Japan. It branches from the Arakawa River at Iwabuchi (in Kita-ku) and flows into Tokyo Bay. Its tributaries include the Kanda and Shakujii rivers. It passes through the Kita, Adachi, Arak ...

. The college was temporarily housed in Trinity Parish House, and by 1896 new buildings including an academic hall and student dormitory were ready for occupation. In 1897, the Rev. Arthur Lloyd became president of the university. The Rikkyo schools experienced a rapid rise in student enrollment by virtue of the granting of a government license exempting students from military service and granting them access to all government established schools of higher education. Lloyd navigated the school through a turbulent six years as the Japanese Ministry of Education sought to curtail any religious instruction in the curriculum of government-approved schools. As only in the dormitories at Rikkyo was any religious instruction given, the school was able to retain its license. In 1903, the Rev. Henry St. George Tucker succeeded Rev. Lloyd as president. In 1905 the school reported a male student enrollment of 573 and the need for larger school classroom facilities was acute. After another successful fundraising appeal new classrooms, an assembly hall and an office building were opened in 1907. The Rev. Charles S. Reifsnider succeed Rev. Tucker in 1912 when the latter took up his new post as Bishop of Kyoto.

New campus and elevation to university status

In 1909, 23 acres of land were purchased near

for the construction of a larger dedicated campus and the university moved into new buildings at this site in 1919. The University Chapel was consecrated in 1920, and the university was officially chartered by the Ministry of Education in 1922. The original, red-brick, campus buildings, designed by Murphy & Dana Architects of New York, suffered structural damage in the

1923 Great Kantō earthquake The 1923 Great Kantō earthquake (, or ) was a major earthquake that struck the Kantō Plain on the main Japanese island of Honshu at 11:58:32 JST (02:58:32 UTC) on Saturday, 1 September 1923. It had an approximate magnitude of 8.0 on the mom ...

but, due to the university's more suburban location, escaped the fires that destroyed much of the center of the city. Until the 1920s almost all classes at Rikkyo were held in English; Japanese language textbooks were made more widely available toward the end of the decade. In the late 1930s and during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Rikkyo's status as an

Christian university came under severe pressure from the military authorities. In 1936, the president of the university, Shigeharu Kimura, was forced to resign over allegations of disrespect during a required public reading of the

Imperial Rescript on Education The , or IRE for short, was signed by Emperor Meiji of Japan on 30 October 1890 to articulate government policy on the guiding principles of education on the Empire of Japan. The 315 kanji, character document was read aloud at all important school ...

in the University Chapel. In September 1942, university trustees agreed to change the wording of the charter to sever all ties with Christianity. The majority of Christian faculty members lost their positions and the University All Saints Chapel was closed.

Post-war period

At the end of World War II in October 1945 the U.S. Occupation authorities moved swiftly to remove head officials associated with the teaching of militarism and the violation of the university's founding charter. The university re-established its links with the

. With the support of former faculty such as

Paul Rusch Paul Frederick Rusch (1897 – 1979) was a lay missionary of the Anglican Church in Japan. Rusch is remembered in Japan for his role as an educator and for pioneering activities in development of American football, rural agriculture and post Secon ...

, they began to restart classes, re-hire faculty, and rebuild. Women were admitted to degree programs in 1946. A new library extension, designed by renowned Japanese architect Kenzo Tange, was completed in 1960. With contributions from private donors, the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Japanese Ministry of Education, between 1961 and 2001 the university owned and operated a

TRIGA TRIGA (Training, Research, Isotopes, General Atomics) is a class of nuclear research reactor designed and manufactured by General Atomics. The design team for TRIGA, which included Edward Teller, was led by the physicist Freeman Dyson. Design ...

100kW research reactor at

Yokosuka, Kanagawa is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has a population of 373,797, and a population density of . The total area is . Yokosuka is the 11th-most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, and the 12th in the Kantō region. The city is ...

contributing the development of

neutron radiography Neutron imaging is the process of making an image with neutrons. The resulting image is based on the neutron attenuation properties of the imaged object. The resulting images have much in common with industrial X-ray images, but since the image i ...

and energy research in Japan. A second suburban campus in Niiza, Saitama for first- and second-year students was established in 1990. Building on existing undergraduate study programs, new graduate schools for Business Administration, Social Design Studies, and Intercultural Communication were opened in 2002.

Recent developments

In September 2014, the Japanese Ministry of Education announced that Rikkyo University had been selected as a “Global Hub” university and will now receive special strategic government funding to support its global education programs.

Organization

Undergraduate colleges

* College of Arts * College of Intercultural Communications * College of Economics * College of Business * College of Science * College of Sociology * College of Law and Politics * College of Tourism * College of Community and Human Service * College of Contemporary Psychology * College of Sports and Wellness * Global Liberal Arts Program

Graduate schools

* Graduate School of Christian Studies * Graduate School of Arts * Graduate School of Intercultural Communication * Graduate School of Economics * Graduate School of Business * Graduate School of Science * Graduate School of Sociology * Graduate School of Law and Politics * Graduate School of Tourism * Graduate School of Community and Human Service * Graduate School of Contemporary Psychology * Graduate School of Sport and Wellness * Graduate School of Business Administration * Graduate School of Social Design Studies * Graduate School of Artificial Intelligence and Science

Research laboratories

Center for Interdisciplinary Research institutes

* Institute for American Studies * Institute for Leadership Studies * Centre for Asian Area Studies * Japan Institute of Christian Education (JICE) * Institute for Latin American Studies * Institute of Social Welfare * Institute of Tourism * St. Paul's Institute of English Language Education * Rikkyo Institute of Church Music * Rikkyo Economics Research Institute * Institute for Japanese Studies * Rikkyo Wellness Institute * Rikkyo Institute for Business Law Studies * Rikkyo Institute for Legal Practice Studies * Rikkyo Institute for Global Urban Studies

Other research institutes

* Rikkyo Institute for Peace and Community Studies * Education for Sustainable Development Research institutes

Library

The Old Main Library, or Mather Library, in the group of historic red brick buildings at the university's main entrance, was built in 1918. The original building was named in memory of

Samuel Mather Samuel Livingston Mather (July 13, 1851 – October 18, 1931) was an American industrialist and philanthropist from Cleveland, Ohio. He co-founded Pickands Mather and Company, a shipping and iron mining company which dominated these two Grea ...

an American industrialist and long-time sponsor of Episcopal Church overseas mission work. Funds for the original building were donated by Mather in memory of his father. Further funding was also provided by him in 1925 to finance the repairs to the building in the wake of the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake. The university library buildings have been expanded over succeeding decades to include landmark buildings by Kenzo Tange and more modern structures to house collections containing over 1.7 million volumes of print and non-print materials. The university libraries house specialist collections of the Protestant Episcopal Church and

Edogawa Rampo , better known by the pen name , was a Japanese author and critic who played a major role in the development of Japanese mystery and thriller fiction. Many of his novels involve the detective hero Kogoro Akechi, who in later books was the ...

Ikebukuro campus

* Main Library * Social Sciences Library * Humanities Library * Natural Sciences Library * Media Library

Niiza Campus

* Niiza Library * Niiza Repository

Students

Rikkyo is a co-educational university. As of 2009, female students outnumber male students overall; male students outnumber female students at the graduate level.

Events

In common with most universities in Tokyo, Rikkyo holds an annual student-organized festival each autumn. Known as the St. Paul's festival, student clubs and societies provide entertainment, prepare food, organize sporting events and showcase academic work for the benefit of other students, prospective students, alumni, and the local community.

World Congress

* 2014

International Ornithological Congress International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

Sports

Rikkyo's baseball team plays in the

Tokyo Big6 Baseball League The is an College baseball, intercollegiate baseball conference that features six prominent university, universities in the Tokyo area. It is the oldest collegiate baseball conference in Japan and the oldest baseball league overall in Japan. Be ...

. They have won 12 league championships in their history. Rikkyo's

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

team plays in Japan's division one in the Kanto B conference. Their record was 3–4 in 2009. Rikkyo fields a strong program in women's

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

Alumni

* Jiro Akama: member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

(

Liberal Democratic Party Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

) *

Shinji Aoyama was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, composer, film critic, and novelist. He graduated from Rikkyo University. He won two awards at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival for his film '' Eureka''. Biography Shinji Aoyama was born in Kitakyushu, ...

- Film director * Tetsuma Esaki: member of House of Representatives (Liberal Democratic Party) *

Mineyuki Fukuda is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). Overviews A native of Yokohama, Kanagawa and graduate of Rikkyo University , also known as Saint Paul's ...

: member of the House of Representatives (the Liberal Democratic Party) * Toshio Gotō - Film director *

Isuna Hasekura is a Japanese novelist. In 2005, Hasekura won the Silver Prize in the twelfth Dengeki Novel Prize with his debut novel '' Spice and Wolf''. He published the first volume of the manga the following year. Early life Hasekura studied at Rikkyo Un ...

- Author *Tomoko Honda - Television announcer *Haruomi Hosono - musician, member of the Yellow Magic Orchestra *Ryō Ikebe - Actor *Tadashi Inuzuka: member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (Democratic Party of Japan) *Fukuzo Iwasaki: real estate entrepreneur *Tsutomu Kawabuchi: member of the IIHF Hall of Fame *Kiyoshi Kurosawa - Film director *Monta Mino - Radio and television announcer *Shinkichi Mitsumune - Composer *Tatsuya Mori - Documentary filmmaker *Yuka Murayama - Author *Shigeo Nagashima - Baseball player and manager of the Yomiuri Giants *Rei Nakanishi - Japanese novelist *Yōko Nogiwa - Actress *Toshio Ogawa: former Senior Vice-Minister of Justice (Japan), member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (Democratic Party of Japan) *Akira Sakuma - Game producer *Motoharu Sano - SongWriter, Musician *Makoto Shinozaki - Film director *Akihiko Shiota - Film director *Hiroshi Sugimoto - Photographer *Masayuki Suo - Film director *Kazuhito Tadano - Baseball player of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters *Taichi Takami - Professional shogi player, former Eiō title holder. *Masami Tanabu: former Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan) *Ryosei Tanaka: member of the House of Representatives (Liberal Democratic Party) *Yun Dong-ju - Poet *Osamu Uno: member of the House of Representatives (Liberal Democratic Party) *Asako Yuzuki - Author *Zhou Zuoren - Chinese writer, the younger brother of Lu Xun (Zhou Shuren) * Mafumafu - Singer-Songwriter

Recipients of honorary degrees

*Henry St. George Tucker (bishop) - the 19th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church (1958) *Arthur C. Lichtenberger - bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States (1959) *Milton Friedman - American economist (1963) *Friedrich Hayek - economist and philosopher (1963) *

- Anglican lay missionary to Japan, founder of Camp Seisen Ryo (1965) *Arthur Frank Burns - American economist (1965) *Edwin O. Reischauer - United States ambassador to Japan (1965) *Joseph Kitagawa - dean of University of Chicago Divinity School(1977) *Hanna Holborn Gray - president of the University of Chicago (1979) *Robert Runcie - Archbishop of Canterbury (1987) *Tom Foley - United States Ambassador to Japan (2000) *Bill Gates - American business magnate (2000) *Bob Hawke - Prime Minister of Australia (2003) *Frank Griswold - 25th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church (2005) *Muhammad Yunus - founder of the Grameen Bank (2007) *Rowan Williams - Archbishop of Canterbury (2009) *Fazle Hasan Abed - Founder and Chairman of BRAC (NGO) (2009)

International exchanges

* **The Australian National University **Monash University **University of New South Wales **Murdoch University *: **BRAC University **University of Dhaka *: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven * **Saint Mary's University (Halifax), Saint Mary's University **Université du Québec à Montréal **Université de Sherbrooke **University of Toronto, Faculty of Arts and Science **University of Waterloo * **Nankai University **Shanxi University **Chinese Academy of Social Sciences **East China Normal University **Jilin University *: University of Turku * **Jean Moulin University Lyon 3 **Panthéon-Assas University **Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales * **Humboldt University **University of Tübingen **University of Bonn **University of Wuppertal **University of Marburg *: The Chinese University of Hong Kong *: Universitas Padjadjaran *: Dublin City University *: Cuttington University *: Tribhuvan University * **Leiden University **Radboud University Nijmegen * **BI Norwegian Business School **Norwegian School of Economics **Volda University College * **Ateneo de Manila University **Trinity University of Asia *: Warsaw University *: National University of Singapore, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences * **Korea University **Yonsei University **Sungkonghoe University **Ewha Womans University **Sogang University *: **University of León **University of Seville * **Fu Jen Catholic University **National Chengchi University *: Chulalongkorn University * **University of Essex **University of Liverpool **University of Sheffield * **Augustana College (Illinois) **The University of Chicago **Cornell University **Kent State University **Linfield College **University of Maryland **University of Missouri-St. Louis **San Diego State University **Vanderbilt University **University of Virginia **The University of the South **Western Michigan University

References

External links

Rikkyo University
{{authority control Rikkyo University, Christian universities and colleges in Japan Private universities and colleges in Japan Universities and colleges established in 1874 Anglican schools in Japan Anglican universities and colleges Ikebukuro Anglican Church in Japan American football in Japan 1874 establishments in Japan Universities and colleges in Tokyo