Rikkyo University

Rikkyo University
立教大学
Motto Pro Deo et Patria[1]
Motto in English
 For God and Country
Established Founded 1874,
Chartered 1922
Type Private
President Tomoya Yoshioka[2]
Academic staff
 619 full-time,
1,693 part-time[3]
Undergraduates 19,341[4]
Postgraduates 1,324[5]
Location Toshima, Tokyo, Japan
Campus Urban
Endowment US$435.1 million
(JP¥50.3 billion)
Mascot None
Website rikkyo.ac.jp
Rikkyo University, Tokyo

Rikkyo University (立教大学 Rikkyō daigaku), also known as Saint Paul's University, is a private university, located in Ikebukuro, Tokyo.

A leading liberal arts teaching and research institution, Rikkyo is the largest Anglican Christian affiliated university in Japan and is a member of the "Big Six" grouping of prominent private universities in Tokyo.

The university is known for its supportive and student focused approach to academic study; encouraging all enrolled students to challenge themselves and discover their own innate potential in their chosen field of study. A philosophy symbolized by the motto "academy of freedom" (自由の学府 jiyū-no-gakufu); urging students to reject preconceived limitations and to broaden their knowledge and appreciation of the essence of all things through advanced study. [6]

History

Founding

Bishop Channing Moore Williams, Anglican Missionary and Founder of Rikkyo University

The origins of the university date from the founding of St. Paul's School for boys in 1874 by Channing Moore Williams, a missionary of the Episcopal Church and a leading figure in the establishment of the Anglican Church in Japan.

The school's first classes were held in the home of Williams in the foreign settlement in Tsukiji, Tokyo. Initially five students came to study with the resident missionaries, but by the end of the first year this number had grown to fifty-five with as many as forty-six living in a dormitory facility rented by the school.

Fire devoured the first school buildings in 1876, but with funding from the Domestic and Foreign Mission Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and, in 1880, a new Principal, James McDonald Gardiner[7] to supervise, new three-story brick facilities with an imposing 60-foot spire were constructed.

Holy Trinity Cathedral, Tsukiji, temporary home for the College after the 1894 earthquake

In 1891, Gardiner resigned from the management of the school and was succeeded by Rev. Theodosius Stevens Tyng. [8] 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 at this time 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, but less than three weeks after his return to Tokyo the earthquake in 1894 leveled much of the original school facilities, highlighting the perils of building on recalimed land next to the Sumida River.[9] The college was temporarily housed in Trinity Parish House, but by 1896 new buildings including an academic hall and student dormitory were ready for occupation. [10]

In 1897, the Rev. Arthur Lloyd became President of the University. The various 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 was successfully able to navigate the school through a turbulent six years as the Japanese Ministry of Education had sought to curtail any sort of religious instruction in the curriculum of government approved schools. As only in the dormitories at Rikkyo was any sort of religious instruction given, the school was able to retain its license.[11]

In 1903, the Rev. Henry St. George Tucker succeeded Rev. Lloyd as University President. In 1905 the school reported a male student enrollment of five hundred and seventy-three 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. [12] The Rev. Charles S. Reifsnider succeed Rev. Tucker in 1912 when the latter took up his new post as Bishop of Kyoto.

Elevation to University Status and Move to a New Campus near Ikebukuro

New Ikebukuro Campus main building, 1925

In 1909, 23 acres of land were purchased near Ikebukuro 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 Kanto Earthquake, but due to the university's more suburban location escaped the devastating fires that destroyed much of the center of the city.

Until the 1920s almost all classes at Rikkyo were held in English,[13] Japanese language textbooks being only being made more widely available towards the end of the decade.

In the late 1930s and during the Second World War Rikkyo's status as an Anglican Christian university came under severe pressure from the military authorities. In September 1942, University trustees agreed to change the wording of the university's charter to sever all ties with Christianity. The majority of Christian faculty members lost their positions and the University All Saints Chapel was closed. At the end of the War in October 1945 the US Occupation authorities moved swiftly to remove officials associated with the teaching of militarism and the violation of the university's founding charter. The university re-established its historic links with the Anglican Church in Japan and with the support of former faculty such as Paul Rusch began to restart classes, re-hire faculty and rebuild. [14]

A second suburban campus in Niiza, Saitama was established in 1990.

In September 2014, the Japanese Ministry of Education announced that Rikkyo University has been selected as a “Global Hub” University and will now receive special strategic government funding to support its global educational programs.[15] [16]

Organization

Rikkyo University, Main Building (No. 1), Ikebukuro Campus
Rikkyo University, Buildings, 11 and 15, Ikebukuro Campus

Faculties

Graduate schools

Research laboratories

Center for Interdisciplinary Research institutes

Other Research institutes

Library

Ikebukuro Campus Mather Library

The Old Main Library, or Mather Library, located in the group of historic red brick buildings at the university's main entrance, was built in 1918. The original library building was named in memory of Samuel Livingston Mather an American industrialist and long-time sponsor of Episcopal Church overseas mission work. Funds for the original building were donated by Samuel Mather in memory of his father. Further funding was also provided by Samuel Mather in 1925 to finance the cost of repairs to the building in the wake of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake.[19]

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 also house specialist collections of the Protestant Episcopal Church and Edogawa Rampo.[20]

Ikebukuro campus

Niiza Campus

Students

Rikkyo is a co-educational university. As of 2009, female students outnumber male students overall; however, male students outnumber female students at the graduate level.[21]

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 as well as the local community.

World Congress

Sports

Rikkyo's baseball team plays in the Tokyo Big Six Baseball League. They have won 12 league championships in their history.

Alumni

The following are famous alumni of St. Pauls:

Recipients of honorary degrees

International exchanges

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Message from the Dean". Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  2. ↑ Yoshioka, Tomoya. "Presidential Inaugural Speech, April 1, 2010". Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  3. ↑ "Rikkyo Data". Rikkyo University Data. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  4. ↑ "Rikkyo Data". Rikkyo University Data. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  5. ↑ "Rikkyo Data". Rikkyo University Data. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  6. ↑ "Rikkyo University Academic Philosophy". Rikkyo University. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  7. ↑ Hobart, Margaret (1912). Institutions Connected with the Japan Mission of the American Church. New York: The Domestic and Foreign Mission Society. p. 1.
  8. ↑ Hobart, Margaret (1912). Institutions Connected with the Japan Mission of the American Church. New York: The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  9. ↑ Hemphill, Elizabeth (1969). The Road to KEEP (First ed.). New York and Tokyo: John Weatherhill Inc. p. 14.
  10. ↑ Hobart, Margaret (1912). Institutions Connected with the Japan Mission of the American Church. New York: The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  11. ↑ Hobart, Margaret (1912). Institutions Connected with the Japan Mission of the American Episcopal Church. New York: Domestic and Foreign Missions Society.
  12. ↑ Hobart, Margaret (1912). Institutions Connected with the Japan Mission of the American Episcopal Church. New York: Domestic and Foreign Missions Society.
  13. ↑ Hemphill, Elizabeth (1969). The Road to KEEP (First ed.). New York and Tokyo: John Weatherhill Inc. p. 13.
  14. ↑ Hemphill, Elizabeth (1969). The Road to KEEP (First ed.). New York and Tokyo: John Weatherhill Inc. p. 97.
  15. ↑ "Rikkyo Chosen as a "Global Hub" University". Rikkyo University. MiB Program. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  16. ↑ "Selection for the FY2014 Top Global University Project" (PDF). Ministry of Education (MEXT). Government of Japan. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  17. ↑ http://cob.rikkyo.ac.jp/en/
  18. ↑ http://www.rikkyo.ac.jp/mib/
  19. ↑ "Rikkyo University Press Release". Rikkyo University. Rikkyo University. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
  20. ↑ http://english.rikkyo.ac.jp/research/library/ (accessed 10 February 2010)
  21. ↑ http://english.rikkyo.ac.jp/aboutus/profile/data/. (accessed 10 February 2010)
  22. ↑ http://www.koshienbowl.jp/2009/info/kantob.html (accessed 10 February 2010)
  23. ↑ Redmond, Chris. "Renison goes to China; hosts Japanese students on campus". Daily Bulletin - Thursday, August 12, 2010. University of Waterloo. Retrieved 14 August 2014.

External links

Coordinates: 35°43′50″N 139°42′14″E / 35.7305°N 139.7040°E