Yagamidai: The Phantom Institute of Technology Project

2024/06/28

Image: 1941 Fujiwara Institute of Technology Admission Guide Cover (Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Archives Collection). The school building on Yagamidai is depicted as a proposed plan.

The Yagami Campus buildings were completed in 1971, and the Faculty of Engineering relocated there from the Koganei Campus the following year, continuing to the present day. It is Keio University's fourth campus, following Mita, Yotsuya (now Shinanomachi), and Hiyoshi.

The Faculty of Science and Technology traces its origins back to 1939, when Ginjiro Fujiwara invested his personal funds to establish the Fujiwara Institute of Technology Preparatory School on the grounds of the Hiyoshi Campus. Three years later, in 1942, the undergraduate faculty of the Fujiwara Institute of Technology was established, starting with three departments: Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Applied Chemistry. By 1943, 14 wooden buildings had been constructed within Hiyoshi, and in 1944, it was incorporated into Keio University, becoming the Keio University Faculty of Engineering.

Shortly after the founding of the Fujiwara Institute of Technology, in 1940, Ginjiro Fujiwara purchased 115,000 square meters of land on Yagamidai (currently 82,000 square meters). Fujiwara's original plan was to leave only the preparatory school buildings in Hiyoshi and build the institute itself on the Yagami side. However, due to factors such as the impact of the Second Sino-Japanese War, which made it difficult to obtain construction materials in Japan, he was forced to change the plan. The original Yagami plan was to build a major institute of technology, with plans to add departments for Aeronautics, Metallurgy, and Civil Engineering following Mechanical, Electrical, and Applied Chemistry. It is said that blueprints for the facilities had been completed at the time, and perspective drawings showing the envisioned completion were included in the admission brochures.

Known as a "phantom paper plan," the blueprints unfortunately no longer exist, but the layout plan remains. While the Fujiwara Institute of Technology buildings in Hiyoshi were all wooden, the Yagami buildings shown in the perspective drawings suggest a massive project, with a cluster of four- to six-story reinforced concrete buildings standing "Oka no Ue". However, because the original plan was changed, the Yagami site was left untouched.

In 1945, 70% of the Faculty of Engineering buildings in Hiyoshi were destroyed by war damage, and the Hiyoshi Campus was requisitioned by the GHQ, dealing a devastating blow. After the war, the Faculty of Engineering secured temporary school buildings in Noborito, Meguro, Mizonokuchi, and elsewhere, managing to maintain its form despite being scattered. In 1949, after much effort, the faculty acquired the land and buildings of a former Yokogawa Electric factory in Koganei (partially leased). That year marked the 10th anniversary of the faculty's founding, and at the commemorative ceremony, the dean at the time, Shigeteru Niwa, stated, "If the Keio Faculty of Engineering remains in Koganei in this state ten years from now, it would be better to shut it down." This remark is said to have expressed his concern about the faculty stagnating in isolation, but perhaps he was also conscious that the land on Yagamidai was the rightful home for the Faculty of Engineering.

The history of the Faculty of Science and Technology followed a checkered fate, tossed about by war, and the Yagami Campus was finally realized 30 years after Ginjiro Fujiwara purchased the land.

(Hiroshi Watanabe, Office of Facilities and Property Management)