On September 20, 2023, Daito Bunka University will celebrate a milestone, the centennial of the founding of its forerunner, Daito Bunka Gakuin. The university has been moving ahead under the founding philosophy of promotion of Chinese studies and fusing Eastern and Western cultures. While preserving the traditions developed by our predecessors, the university continues to move forward with the intention of carving out a path to a new era.
At this website, we introduce and explain events and people related to the university, show its chronology, introduce the Bulletin of the History of Daito Bunka University and other publications as well as newly found materials, and describe the history of the university's distinctive activities, including sports and calligraphy. Contents of this website also include columns written in rotation mainly by members of the Centennial History Compilation Committee. We also provide images, videos, and other materials to make the contents as easy to understand as possible. We hope that you will hold a dream about the future of Daito Bunka University while remembering bygone times. We have reflected this wish in the idiomatic phrase, 継往開来, or keiokairai (succeeding things from the past and building the future by developing them), as the unifying concept for this website. The four Chinese characters displayed on the top page were written by Professor Shigeyuki Takaki (Seiu Takaki), who is a professor emeritus of the university and a member of the Japan Art Academy. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to him on behalf of the Centennial History Compilation Committee and declare our resolve to make this website true to the phrase.
The university established the Daito Archives in 2006 as a facility for studying and teaching its history. In 2010, the university approved the establishment of the Centennial History Compilation Committee under the framework of the Daito Archives. It decided to compile the Centennial History of Daito Bunka University (planned to be published in three volumes) based on the achievements of past projects for compiling the university's history. The university has celebrated its milestones by compiling the 50-Year History of Daito Bunka University, Traces (Kiseki) Commemorating the 60th Anniversary, the 70-Year History of Daito Bunka University, the 80-Year History of Daito Bunka University: Setting Hearts Free in This World and Keeping an Eye on World Changes, and the 90th Anniversary Journal: The Course Taken by Daito Bunka University. For the centennial, we are making constant efforts to make the contents of the Centennial History even more substantial while giving sufficient consideration to these previous achievements.
A university is a place of research and education, and is also an intersection of diverse sets of values that are rooted in various cultures. We will shape the next 100 years by learning from history what new cultures and new values Daito Bunka University must propose to the world. We hope that we can count on your understanding and cooperation.
