Токиодағы Риккё Университетінің тарихы

Private university in Tokyo, Japan

The Rikkyo Gakuin is an educational institution, which includes Rikkyo University and several affiliated schools. They include three all male schools, three all female schools, a junior college, St. Margaret's Junior College, and an international school, The Rikkyo School in England.

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

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 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. 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 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 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 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. 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. 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.

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 Anglican Church in Japan. With the support of former faculty such as Paul Rusch, 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 100kW research reactor at Yokosuka, Kanagawa contributing the development of neutron radiography 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.

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.

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. 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.

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

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.

Rikkyo's baseball team plays in the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League. They have won 12 league championships in their history. Rikkyo's American football 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.