Learn from History, Think about the Future | Kikuko Ota (Dean, Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care)

2015.09.29

This year, various initiatives are being held to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

In the summer, the exhibition "Keio University and the War III—Keio University in 1945" was held at the Mita Campus. It is said that Keio University was the university that suffered the most extensive damage from air raids in the entire country, with 50 to 80 percent of its school buildings at the Mita, Yotsuya, and Hiyoshi campuses destroyed by fire. The exhibits vividly conveyed the conditions of the time, including a duty log written by a faculty member who heard the roar of naval bombardment for 20 minutes and felt vibrations like an earthquake, and a photograph of the Great Hall at Mita tragically burned to the ground. According to research by Professor Emeritus Shirai, the number of war dead affiliated with Keio University exceeded 2,200, with 385 of them being students who died after being mobilized. There was also a diary entry written just before a kamikaze attack. Also on display were postcards exchanged between Yochisha (elementary school) students who had been evacuated as a group and their families. It was deeply moving to see how they tried not to worry each other by adding drawings to convey that they were well. The university hospital was destroyed by fire in an air raid in May, and at that time, thanks to the efforts of the staff and with the help of students, all of the more than 200 inpatients were safely rescued.

I was strongly reminded that we must not forget that such unimaginable circumstances as war resulted in far too many irreversible sacrifices. At the same time, I learned that people overcame these difficulties and achieved recovery with an indomitable spirit, and I felt a deep sense of respect.

SFC has reached its 25th anniversary, and I believe it is important to vividly pass on the bold spirit of its founding to a generation that did not experience that era. I recall that when the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care was established in 2001, there were passionate discussions during SFC's 10th anniversary.

As for the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care, 2018 will mark 100 years of nursing education at Keio University, and the faculty's 20th anniversary is also just around the corner.

It is important to look back on the past at these milestones in time. This is because we are here now precisely because of the history that has come before us. Some things are continuous with the past, while others are not. To learn history, including all of these aspects, is to know the foundation on which one's own life is built. And I believe it is only by standing on that foundation that we can begin to envision the shape of the future.

Let us take this milestone year as an opportunity to learn from history and think about what the future should hold.

(This article references the exhibition booklet from the "Keio University and the War" Archive Project by the Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies, Keio University.)