Marking 80 Years Since the End of World War II: Keio University and the War at Mita and Shinanomachi Campuses

During air raids by U.S. bombers on May 24–25 and again on the 26th, 1945, most of the wooden school buildings on Mita Campus burned down. Although the Keio Corporate Administration and Mita Public Speaking Hall survived, Keio’s iconic red-brick library lost its main reading room, administrative office, and stained glass windows to the bombing. Due to the valiant firefighting efforts of students, faculty, and staff members, as well as the prior demolition of the surrounding wooden structures in preparation for disaster, the archives were spared from fire, and many valuable documents had already been safely removed and stored elsewhere. Nonetheless, the air raids left deep scars on campus.

After the war, during Keio’s 90th anniversary celebrations in 1947, Keio announced a ten-year reconstruction plan ahead of its centennial. The first initiative undertaken was the restoration of the Old University Library, which was completed in May 1949. At that point, the broken stained glass had been refitted with plain clear glass, but that, too, was restored in 1974.

The Old University Library, which came to symbolize Keio's postwar recovery, has since undergone multiple expansions and renovations and is now preserved as an Important Cultural Property of Japan.

The Student Hall was completed in 1949. Murals titled Democracy by Genichiro Inokuma adorned the east and west walls of the old student cafeteria within the hall, depicting young men and women singing and speaking freely—an image of postwar democratic liberation. After the hall’s demolition, the murals were relocated to the Co-op Cafeteria in the West School Building, where they continue to keep a watchful eye over students today. The triangular shape at the top of the mural is a remnant of the original roof from the Student Hall era.

Shinanomachi Campus was hit during air raids beginning in the early hours of May 24, 1945, and suffered catastrophic damage. Approximately 60% of its structures were destroyed in the resulting fires. Even today, hexagonal scars left by incendiary bombs remain on the site of the Building for Preventive Medicine and Public Health, which was also burned but survived the war.

Amid a barrage of incendiary bombs, a special emergency team of faculty, staff, and students worked tirelessly to protect the campus. Their efforts spared the reinforced concrete buildings, and approximately 180 hospitalized patients were safely evacuated without any injuries. Their courageous actions were reported in the Asahi Shimbun the next day, on May 25: “Eighty members of the volunteer corps and 270 nurses hurled incendiary bombs off the rooftops with their bare hands and splashed them with water from any containers they could find. Young people fought fearlessly to extinguish the flames.” Despite the scale of the destruction, the clinical departments were quickly relocated to the remaining buildings, and medical services resumed shortly after the attacks.

A monument commemorating the former site of the Institute of Diet and Nutrition is located in a corner of the Keio University Hospital grounds. The Institute of Diet and Nutrition, which survived the air raids, became home to several clinical departments and was used as a research facility. Amid the severe conditions of the postwar period, the site served as a shared research space and was long cherished by members of the School of Medicine. When the building was demolished in 1990, a portion of the outer wall was preserved, and a commemorative monument was erected.

The Keio University Hospital once had a 23-meter-long underground passage that connected the hospital wards, known as the “West Ward Underpass.” During the air raids, this tunnel was used to evacuate patients from the main hospital building to the annex. Today, the tunnel serves as a conduit for electrical wiring within the hospital.

Eighty years have passed since the end of the war in which so much was lost. We wish to turn our gaze to the efforts of those who strove to protect the light of education, research, and medicine on campus, and reflect on the memory of war and the yearning for peace as we strive to build a future guided by hope and harmony.