A leading liberal arts teaching and research institution, the university is the largest AnglicanChristian 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.
The school's first classes were held in Williams' home in the foreign settlement in Tsukiji, 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.
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.[7] 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.[8] 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.[7]
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.[9]
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.[9] 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
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 Kantō earthquake 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;[10] Japanese language textbooks were made more widely available toward 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 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 in the University Chapel.[11]
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.[12] The university re-established its links with the Anglican Church in Japan. With the support of former faculty such as Paul Rusch, they began to restart classes, re-hire faculty, and rebuild.[13]
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 100kW research reactor at Yokosuka, Kanagawa contributing the development of neutron radiography and energy research in Japan.[14]
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.[15][16]
Organization
Rikkyo University, Main Building (No. 1), Ikebukuro CampusRikkyo University, Buildings 11 and 15, Ikebukuro Campus
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
Ikebukuro Campus Mather 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 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.[17]
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.[18]
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.[19]
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.
^Hobart, Margaret (1912). Institutions Connected with the Japan Mission of the American Church. New York: The Domestic and Foreign Mission Society. p. 1.
^Hemphill, Elizabeth (1969). The Road to KEEP (First ed.). New York and Tokyo: John Weatherhill Inc. p. 14.
^ abHobart, Margaret (1912). Institutions Connected with the Japan Mission of the American Episcopal Church. New York: Domestic and Foreign Missions Society.
^Hemphill, Elizabeth (1969). The Road to KEEP (First ed.). New York and Tokyo: John Weatherhill Inc. p. 13.
