Kinjo Gakuin was founded in 1889 as a women's private school by an American Presbyterian missionary named Mrs. Annie Edgar Randolph. The Japanese word "Kinjo" means "Golden Castle," and our founder, Mrs. Randolph, named our school. Golden Castle Women's School has developed over a century into an educational complex consisting of a university, a senior high school, a junior high school, and a kindergarten. It holds approximately 7,500 students and about 400 teachers and administrative staff at present.
Kinjo Gakuin University is located in Omori, a suburban area of Nagoya, which has a population of 2.2 million people. Our campus is safe, spacious, wooded, and blessed with the beauties of nature, including ponds and wetlands of over 270,000 square meters.
At the center of the campus, we have a beautiful chapel called Ela Houston Memorial Chapel. The protestant morning service occurs every day for 15 minutes just before the class begins. The service is carried out in Japanese and, occasionally, English. Participants include students, teachers, and administrative staff. Everyone enjoys worship led by pastors or chaplains and beautiful hymns played by pipe organists who are also university students and teachers.
Kinjo Gakuin University provides higher education for women based on the spirit of Protestantism. The idea that scholarship is wasted on girls persists even in modern Japanese society. However, Mrs. Randolph refused to believe this, committing herself to educate the young women of Nagoya in a way rooted in the teachings of the Bible. She taught that women's rights and responsibilities—their inherent power, in other words—must be fully expressed in the outside world and that women must also do their part to promote world peace. Kinjo Gakuin University was eventually founded in 1949, just after World War II. It began with a single department (the College of English Literature), gradually expanding its depth and reach (of note was the addition of the College of Pharmacy, Kinjo's first college of science, in 2005) to become what is today the only fully-fledged university for women in the Tokai region. Through it all, the university has always maintained a steadfast dedication to its founding principles.
Education at Kinjo Gakuin University is based on Biblical teachings and is designed to balance both sound character and profound scholarship. Our greatest wish is that our graduates will come to be seen as "the salt of the earth" and "lights in the world" for the 21st century. For this reason, we have adopted Proverbs 1:7 as our school motto: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge."
The slogan represents a simple way to understand our school's founding spirit and our overall approach to education. Underlying it is the idea of educating women based on evangelical Christian principles. Through the learning process, we can become more broadly cultured, gain highly specialized knowledge, develop precision skills, and more. These are the qualities that give us tremendous power out in the world. This is what it means to "be strong."
Simultaneously, if we do not have a sympathetic and kind heart towards others, we cannot be a part of the world. This is what it means to "be kind." A Christian education makes it possible to learn and develop in a way that combines both of these principles. Christianity teaches us to be humble in the presence of God and to rid ourselves of human pride. The motto of Kinjo Gakuin University is taken from Proverbs 1:7, which states that "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." We must kneel before God, place our faith in Him, and strive to live every stage of our lives by His will. This, the verse tells us, is a life of knowledge and wisdom.
Another defining feature of our school is its forested campus surrounded by lush greenery. Studying or talking with professors and friends in this natural environment makes students aware of the need to protect and live in harmony with the earth. Environmental concerns cannot be pushed aside in any discussion of Japan's future and the rest of the world. This makes Kinjo Gakuin University an ideal space for learning.
In 2018 we celebrated our 129th year as an educational institution and our 69th year as a university. Backed by this longstanding tradition, Kinjo Gakuin University will continue to pursue women's excellent education, rooted in a Christian spirit.
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