80th Anniversary of the End of the War: Keio University and the War (Mita and Shinanomachi Campuses)
2025/06/11
The year 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War. During this war, the campuses of Keio University suffered the most extensive air raid damage of any university in Japan. Furthermore, approximately 3,500 Keio students were sent to the battlefield as student soldiers, and more than 2,200 individuals affiliated with Keio University died in the war. In this issue, we will trace the damage caused by the war and the subsequent postwar reconstruction at the Mita and Shinanomachi campuses.
The Old University Library after being burned down in an air raid (Photo by Toho-sha, collection of the Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage)
The Reconstruction of Mita CampusBegan with the Old University Library, a Symbol of Keio
In two air raids by US bombers from the early morning of May 24 to May 25, and again on May 26, 1945 (Showa 20), most of the wooden school buildings on the Mita Campus were destroyed by fire. The Jukukan-kyoku (Keio Corporate Administration) and the Mita Enzetsukan (Public Speaking Hall) survived the fires, but the brick-built Old University Library, a symbol of Keio University, lost its main reading room, offices, and stained glass windows. Although the library stacks were saved from the spreading fire thanks to the prior removal of surrounding wooden buildings in preparation for a disaster and the desperate firefighting efforts of faculty, staff, and students, and while many valuable documents had been evacuated and were safe, the scars of the air raids were deep.
After the war, at the 90th-anniversary ceremony in 1947 (Showa 22), a commitment to a ten-year reconstruction plan leading up to the 100th anniversary was declared, and the first project undertaken was the restoration of the Old University Library. The work was completed in May 1949 (Showa 24). The stained glass windows, which at that point had been fitted with clear glass, were restored in 1974 (Showa 49).
The Old University Library, which became a symbol of Keio University's postwar reconstruction, has since undergone further extensions and renovations, and its form is preserved today as an Important Cultural Property.
Works of Art within Keio ConveyMemories of War Damage and the Will to Rebuild
On the Mita Campus, numerous works of art have been erected to pass down the records of the war as historical facts to future generations, to console the souls of the war dead, and to express a desire for peace. "Tekona," located on the first floor of the Old University Library, is a marble sculpture (c. 1909) by the sculptor Shikai Kitamura, based on the tragic woman from the "Manyoshu." It was severely damaged in the air raids, losing both arms, but was unveiled to the public in 2009 (Heisei 21) for the first time in over 60 years. During the restoration work, a method was chosen to not completely wash away the soot from incendiary bombs, so as not to let the historical fact of the war fade away.
"Heiwa Kitaru" (Peace Has Come) (1952, by Fumio Asakura), erected in the front garden of the Jukukan-kyoku, was donated by the "Showa 7 Mita-kai" to commemorate the 25th anniversary of their graduation and to mourn the war dead associated with Keio University. The pedestal is inscribed with the words by Shinzo Koizumi, who was the President during the war: "On peaceful days on the hill, we remember those who went to war and never returned." In 1998 (Heisei 10), the "Monument for the Schoolmates Who Never Returned" was erected. In 2014 (Heisei 26), a list of names of the war dead affiliated with Keio University was placed in its pedestal. Additionally, on the first basement floor of the Media Center is the "Wadatsumi no Koe" (Voices from the Sea God) statue (1950, by Shin Hongo), a memorial to the student soldiers who died in the war.
The "Student Hall" was completed in 1949 (Showa 24). On the east and west walls of the student cafeteria inside, a mural by Genichiro Inokuma titled "Democracy" was displayed, depicting young men and women singing and talking freely with the arrival of postwar democracy. After the hall was demolished, this work was moved to the co-op cafeteria in the West School Building, where it continues to watch over students today. The triangular shape at the top is a remnant of the roof shape from its time in the Student Hall.
War Damage at the Shinanomachi Campus andTraces of the Struggles of Those Involved
The Shinanomachi Campus suffered enormous damage in the air raids that began in the early morning of May 24, 1945 (Showa 20), with about 60% of the campus being destroyed by fire. On the grounds of the Building for Preventive Medicine and Public Health, which survived the fire, the hexagonal marks of an incendiary bomb can still be seen today.
Amidst a rain of incendiary bombs, thanks to the desperate efforts of a special defense team composed of faculty, staff, and students, the reinforced concrete buildings were spared, and approximately 180 inpatients were safely evacuated without a single injury. Their struggle was reported in the Asahi Shimbun on the 25th: "Eighty members of the volunteer corps and 270 nurses desperately extinguished the fires, some grabbing incendiary bombs from the rooftops with their bare hands and throwing them away, others using any available container to douse the flames with water." And despite such extensive damage, clinical services were resumed shortly after the disaster by moving the clinical departments to the remaining buildings.
On a corner of the University Hospital grounds stands the "Monument on the Site of the Former Shokken." The Shokuyo Kenkyujo (Dietary Research Institute), or Shokken, which withstood the air raids, was used as a laboratory, with various clinical departments relocating there. As a place where various departments conducted research together under the harsh postwar conditions, it was long cherished by those affiliated with the School of Medicine. When the building was demolished in 1990 (Heisei 2), a monument was erected, and a portion of the outer wall was preserved.
In the past, the University Hospital also had a 23-meter-long underground passage called the "Underground Passageway Connecting the West Ward and Conventional Wards." This underground passage was used to evacuate patients from the main building to the annex during the air raids. Today, this underground passage is used as a pipe space for electrical conduits within the hospital.
Eighty years have passed since the end of the war, in which so much was lost. We hope that people will turn their eyes to the efforts of those who fought to protect the light of education, research, and medicine etched into the campus, as well as to the memories of the war and prayers for peace, and carve out a future filled with hope and peace.
◆Reference Video◆
[Keio University Revived in Video: That Day, That Time] - "VIRIBUS UNITIS - Joining Forces: The Keio University Reconstruction Record 1947-1949" (10 min 44 sec)
This article was originally published in the "Stained Glass" section of "Juku" SPRING 2025 (No. 326).