100 Years of Medical Excellence

Keio founder Yukichi Fukuzawa born into a samurai family of the Nakatsu clan (now Oita Prefecture, Kyushu). Per his father's duties, the family lives in Osaka.

Fukuzawa enters Koan Ogata's private school Tekijuku in Osaka, which focuses on Dutch studies.

At Tekijuku, Fukuzawa reads physiology, medicine, physics and chemistry texts in their original languages.

Fukuzawa establishes a school for Dutch studies in Edo (now Tokyo).

Fukuzawa goes on his first official trip overseas, traveling to the United States on the Kanrin Maru, one of Japan's first steam-driven warships.

Fukuzawa sent to Europe as a member of the first Japanese Embassy to Europe.

Fukuzawa tirelessly visits hospitals and welfare facilities across Europe, starting with Paris, London and Berlin.

Fukuzawa's school renamed after the Keio Era.

Keio University moves to Mita.

Keio Igakusho (Institute of Medicine) established at Mita, Tokyo. (Closed 1880)

Overseen by headmaster Toan Matsuyama, Igakusho is the precursor to the School of Medicine. Teaching both British and American medicine, the institute produces around 300 doctors in seven years.

Student numbers reduce drastically as a consequence of the Satsuma Rebellion (Seinan Senso). Fukuzawa considers closing Keio amidst a management crisis, but with the cooperation of his pupils, succeeds in overcoming the crisis and announces the Keio Preservation Bill.

Keio establishes a college. Department of Literature, Department of Economics (precursor to the Faculty of Economics) and Department of Law open. The book Rangaku Kotohajime is republished to celebrate the first General Assembly of the Japan Medical Congress. Fukuzawa writes the preface.

The Institute of Infectious Diseases established with Dr. Shibasaburo Kitasato serving as director.

Dr. Kitasato establishes Tsukushigaoka Yojoen, the first hospital in Japan to specialize in the treatment of tuberculosis, and the precursor to the Kitasato Institute Hospital.

Fukuzawa rallies Kitasato, who has been unhappy since returning from Germany, and establishes the Institute for Infectious Diseases. Tsukushigaoka Yojoen founded the following year at Shiba-Shirokane in Tokyo. In 1914, Kitasato and staff resign from the Institute of Infectious Diseases upon its transfer to the Ministry of Education and establish the Kitasato Institute.

Fukuzawa passes away on February 3.

School of Medicine established. In April, premedical courses begin at Mita.

In 1916 Keio decides to establish the School of Medicine, and receives permission from the Ministry of Education after announcing the Charter for the School of Medicine and Chemistry. Dr. Kitasato, describing Fukuzawa's never-ending support as being "beyond that given to his pupils, though I was not one of them," makes great efforts as Hospital Director and first Dean of the School of Medicine.

In November, Keio purchases army land at Shinanomachi, Yotsuya ward (now Shinjuku ward).

Original Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care established.

An opening ceremony held for School of Medicine first year students in the new school building at the Yotsuya (now Shinanomachi) Campus.

Keio University accredited by the Japanese government as one of the first private universities.

University Hospital and School of Medicine opening ceremony held on November 6. The first general meeting of Keio Medical Society held November 8. Keio Igaku, the journal of the Keio Medical Society, first published in 1921.

The hospital, a two-story wooden building equipped with 196 patients rooms and about 400 beds, said to be the best in Japan.

The hospital offers comprehensive medical care by maintaining close communication between departments (internal medicine, surgery, orthopedics, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, dermatology and urology, otorhinolaryngology, psychiatry, physiotherapy and dentistry). Department consultation rooms and wards named after the classical ordering of the Japanese hiragana syllabary, such as い (i), ろ (ro) , は (ha), に (ni) , ほ (ho) and と (to).

Sanba Yoseijo, a training school for midwives, established.

The Great Kanto Earthquake occurs. Even before receiving orders to do so, doctors, staff and students step forward to begin relief work and start extinguishing fires. Taking on all diagnoses and treatments, they handle more than 324,000 patients on behalf of 9 hospitals damaged in the earthquake.

University Hospital Special Ward completed.

Institute of Diet and Nutrition established. (Closed 1990)

The Institute of Diet and Nutrition building constructed thanks to the generosity of business leaders. Clinical bacteriology labs concurrently established, fostering collaboration between the basic and clinical medicine departments. In 1933, Department of Nutrition and Diet established to implement the fruits of the institute's research and leads to the first patient meal services in Japanese hospitals.

A charnel house built at Tama Reien Cemetery to properly honor and bury each of the donors who gifted their bodies to further medical research. First memorial ceremony to honor the donors held at Zojo-ji temple in Shiba, Tokyo.

Building for Preventive Medicine & Public Health (Institute of Preventive Medicine) completed thanks to donations from the Rockefeller Foundation.

Sanshikai, the School of Medicine Alumni Association, establishes Akakura-Sanso Lodge at Shin-Akakura hot spring area in Niigata Prefecture. (Burnt down in 1960, rebuilt in 1994.)

University Hospital Annex completed. The four-story reinforced concrete building includes a basement floor and houses 219 beds.

Yukichi Fukuzawa Centennial

Hiyoshi Campus opens

Second Building at the Hiyoshi Campus completed. School of Medicine classes begin at the Hiyoshi Campus.

Kitasato Memorial Medical Library completed.

Dr. Shibasaburo Kitasato passes away on June 13, 1931. To honor his life and works, Kitasato Memorial Medical Library constructed using donations from his peers and pupils.

Pharmaceutical Institute established.

The institute focuses on the research and creation of drugs and medicines. (Abolished in 1997 and merged with the Institute for Advanced Medical Research.)

Tsukigase Hot Spring Treatment Institute established. (Closed in 1958 due to damage from Super Typhoon Ida.)

Keio Professional Medical Unit established in response to critical shortage of Army physicians, producing 463 Army medics by 1951.

About sixty percent of campus buildings lost in an air raid on May 24.

While under massive firebomb attacks, nurses, medical staff and students succeed in rescuing more than 200 inpatients. Through the efforts of the Yamagata Sanshikai, students evacuated to Oishida in Yamagata Prefecture, where coursework continues. Since most of the laboratory equipment like microscopes, samples and books were already taken to safety, Keio is among the first to resume instruction after the war.

The Pacific War ends on August 15.

Physical examinations continue at the Hospital Annex. Facilities at the Hiyoshi Campus seized by U.S. forces. Premedical courses move to Higashi-Ikuta, Kawasaki City. (Until autumn 1949)

Basic medicine classes move to the Musashino branch campus. (Until spring 1956)

Main Hospital Building completed. It is a two-story building with 153 beds, and one of the largest postwar wooden structures in Japan.

Dr. C.N.H. Long invited from Yale University, and a clinical pathological conference held.

The clinicopathological conference, or CPC, is a teaching tool that illustrates, through joint lectures, the use of differential diagnosis when evaluating a patient. Keio is the first to introduce this method in Japan.

Electron Microscope Laboratory established.

Nursing School established.

The School of Medicine approved under the new educational system. The Keio Journal of Medicine launched.

Dr. Shibasaburo Kitasato Centennial First Kitasato Prize awarded by Sanshikai.

Ha Wing, Ho Wing (now Wing 2 Wards), Ni Wing (later Wing 6 Wards) and Ni Special Wing (now Wing 7 Wards) constructed between 1952 and 1954. According to long-term construction plans, reinforced concrete wards are laid out in the shape of the kanji for ‘king’, 王.

Postwar education system established. The new system offers a 2-year premedical course and a 4-year specialized course.

Doctoral program at the Graduate School of Medicine established.

Keio University Centennial Ceremony held.

First Lecture Hall for Basic Medicine and Third Lecture Hall for Basic Medicine (now East Lecture Hall) constructed in 1956 and 1957, respectively, as part of the Keio Centennial Project. Third Lecture Hall completed thanks to donations from the Rockefeller Foundation.

Second Lecture Hall for Basic Medicine completed thanks to donations from the China Medical Board of New York.

Hospital Central Wing completed.

Hospital Wing 1 completed. Keio Cancer Center Foundation established. (Closed 2002)

For a decade from 1965, students often go on strike in protest of US Army-funded medical research, planned tuition increases and internship programs.

School of Medicine Reform Committee established. Clinical Research Hall completed. (Demolished 2015)

Keio Health Counseling Center established. (Closed 2008)

Information services at the Shinanomachi Media Center incorporated as an independent foundation, the International Medical Information Center.

Hospital volunteers first introduced. The volunteer group registers with Nihon Hospital Volunteer Association.

Keio University Ise Keio Hospital established in Ise City, Mie Prefecture. (Closed 2003)

Keio University Tsukigase Rehabilitation Center established. (Closed 2011)

Institute for Radioisotope Research completed.

Keio University 125th Anniversary Ceremony held.

Clinical training programs at American medical schools start.

5 students from the 64th class sent abroad for clinical training programs. During the 2014 school year, 24 students dispatched to a total of 16 different universities. 375 students have participated in these programs as of 2014, at a total of 32 universities.

Hospital New Ward (now Building 2) opens.

Hospital New Ward (now Building 2) constructed to commemorate Keio's 125th Anniversary. An eleven-story building with two basement floors, the building utilizes newly introduced advanced medical information systems, and allows for the number of beds to be increased from 871 to 1071.

College of Nursing established.

First results from the Laboratory and Field Studies program presented.

Keio University Hospital accredited as an Advanced Treatment Hospital by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

Master's Program established at the Graduate School of Medicine.

Education and Research Building completed.

Inaugural Award Ceremony and Commemorative Lectures for the Keio Medical Science Prize held. Keio launches the fund using a generous donation from Dr. Mitsunada Sakaguchi, a 1940 alumnus of the School of Medicine.

Keio University annually awards the Keio Medical Science Prize to recognize researchers who have made outstanding contributions to the fields of medicine or life sciences. As of 2014, 6 recipients of this prize have later won the Nobel Prize (4 in Physiology or Medicine and 2 in Chemistry).

Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care established.

Institute of Integrated Medical Research completed. Research Park established.

Clinical Research Center established. Shinanomachi Campus Innovation Project launched. (completed March 2008)

To maintain its position as a world-leading hospital and school of medicine, Keio launches the Shinanomachi Campus Innovative Reform Project. Faculty members participate in 46 different challenges aimed at advancing hospital management reforms. Those reforms result in a surplus that allows for the resolution of unpaid doctors, and the establishment of graduate scholarships.

Faculty of Pharmacy and Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences established as a result of a merger with Kyoritsu University of Pharmacy. Keio University 150th Anniversary Ceremony held. Clinical Research Building completed.

Building 3 (North Wing) completed.

Keio's Medical Rescue Team dispatched to help victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Inter-professional education (IPE) programs begin among the School of Medicine, Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care, and Faculty of Pharmacy.

EMRs (electronic medical records) introduced. Building 3 (South Wing) completed. Center for Preventive Medicine opens.

Building 3 (South Wing) constructed for Keio's 150th Anniversary, promoting "Early detection and treatment through the practice of preventative medicine and the provision of advanced comprehensive care." Building 3 houses a ward for inpatients (58 beds) and an area for comprehensive health assessments, as well as the Cancer Center and the Immunotherapy Center.

Building 1 (Phase 1 Wing) completed

School of Medicine Centennial

Keio University Medical and Chemical Innovation Center (JKiC) opens

Building 1 (Phase II Wing) completed

Building 1 opens

Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care Centennial

Keio University Hospital Centennial

Hospital Grand Opening

Center for Preventive Medicine relocated to Azabudai Hills.