Hosei University


Hosei University formerly known as Tokyo University of Law is a research university in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Hosei University and four other private universities in Tokyo are collectively known as MARCH.
The university is also a member of the Tokyo Big6, which refers to six universities in Tokyo known for their historic rivalry in baseball. The Tokyo Big6 Baseball League was established in 1925. The league is known for players who go on to have careers in Japan's professional baseball leagues.
Hosei University is a member of the Top Global University Project, funded by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2014. This program supports universities aiming to enhance their global competitiveness and internationalization.

Overview

The university originated as a school of law, Tōkyō Hōgakusha, established in 1880, and the following year renamed Tōkyō Hōgakkō. This was from 1883 headed by Dr. Gustave Boissonade, and was heavily influenced by the French legal tradition. It merged in 1889 with a school of French studies, Tōkyō Futsugakkō, that had been founded three years earlier. It adopted the name Hosei University in 1903 and gained university status in 1920.

History

Hosei University traces its roots to 1880, when Tokyo Hogakusha was founded in Surugadai, Tokyo, by Tetsu Kanamaru, Osamu Ito, and Masakuni Sattva. The institution emerged during Japan's liberal civil rights movement and the establishment of a modern legal system, focusing on training legal professionals. Its guiding principle of “liberty and progress” was inspired by the influence of French law, introduced by Gustave Boissonade, a French legal scholar invited to Japan to draft key legal codes and train lawyers.
In 1881, after the government banned private law schools, Tokyo Hogakusha briefly closed, but the Koho Bureau split off and renamed itself the Tokyo Law School in 1883, with Boissonade serving as vice principal. In 1889, the school merged with the Tokyo French School, established in 1886 by the French Society, becoming the Franco-Japanese Law School. Its first principal, Rinsho Minosaku, translated the French Civil Code and introduced key legal terms such as “rights,” “duties,” and “civil rights.”
In 1899, under principal Ume Kenjirō, the school implemented significant reforms, launching advanced courses for continuing education, language programs in English, German, and French, and systems for independent study, auditing, and preferential enrollment. These reforms laid the foundation for the institution's growth.
In 1903, the school was renamed Hosei University under the, offering preparatory courses for daytime students, university and specialized courses for evening students, and a graduate school of advanced studies. The university expanded further under Ume's leadership, embodying his philosophy of “open education.”
In 1920, Hosei University gained official status as a private university under the. It initially included the Faculty of Law and Faculty of Economics, along with preparatory and professional studies. The university relocated to its current campus in Fujimi-cho, Tokyo, in 1921. By 1922, the Faculty of Letters was added, including departments such as Philosophy and Literature, and the university transitioned from night classes to full-time day programs with a dedicated faculty structure.
Today, it is a comprehensive institution with 15 faculties, 13 graduate schools, a School of Correspondence Education, and professional graduate schools.

Faculty of Law and Faculty of Economics

The Faculty of Law traces its origins back to 1880, with the establishment of Tokyo Hogakusha, a school dedicated to training legal professionals during the transformative Meiji era. This period marked the modernization of Japan, including the adoption of Western legal systems, and the Faculty of Law played a key role in that movement. Influential in its early development was Dr. Gustave Emile Boissonade, a distinguished French legal scholar who served as a legal advisor to the Japanese government.
The Faculty of Economics, established in 1920. Also, Hosei University still offers an economics program in English, which is called IGESS. It also offers opportunities for international exchange.

Campus

Hosei has three main campuses, which it calls Ichigaya, Koganei, and Tama. The Ichigaya campus is an urban campus halfway between Ichigaya and Iidabashi stations in central Tokyo; its 26-story Boissonade Tower, completed in 2000, can be seen from either station. The campus is located close to the Yasukuni Shrine. Natural sciences are studied at the Koganei campus to the west of Tokyo, and other subjects are split between Tama, and Ichigaya.

Facilities

Ichigaya

Undergraduate

  • Faculty of Law
  • Faculty of Letters
  • Faculty of Business Administration
  • Faculty of Intercultural Communication
  • Faculty of Sustainability Studies
  • Faculty of Lifelong Learning and Career Studies
  • Faculty of Engineering and Design
  • Faculty of Global and Interdisciplinary Studies
  • Sports Science Institute

    Graduate schools

  • Graduate School of Humanities
  • Graduate School of Economics
  • Graduate School of Law
  • Graduate School of Politics
  • Graduate School of Sociology
  • Graduate School of Business Administration
  • Graduate School of Policy Sciences
  • Graduate School of Environmental Management
  • Graduate School of Intercultural Communication
  • International Japan-Studies Institute
  • Law School
  • Business School of Innovation Management

    Tama

  • Faculty of Economics
  • Faculty of Social Sciences
  • Faculty of Social Policy and Administration
  • Graduate School of Social Well-Being Studies

    Koganei

  • Faculty of Engineering
  • Faculty of Science and Engineering
  • Faculty of Bioscience and Applied Chemistry
  • Faculty of Computer and Information Science
  • Graduate School of Engineering
  • Graduate School of Computer and Information Science

    Research Institutes

  • Sports

Baseball :
'''American Football :'''

Notable alumni

Academia

  • Sadayoshi Fukuda, philosopher and critic

    Politics

  • Yoshihide Suga, the 99th Prime Minister of Japan
  • Kazunori Tanaka, Diet representative, Minister of Reconstruction
  • Kosuke Ito, Diet representative
  • Hideo Jinpu, Diet representative
  • Yukio Jitsukawa, Diet representative
  • Emi Kaneko, Diet representative
  • Taku Yamamoto, Diet representative
  • Yoshio Yatsu, Diet representative
  • Shinpei Matsushita, Member of the House of Councillors
  • Hiroko Uehara, former mayor of Kunitachi City

    Athletes

  • Yukihiro Doi, racing cyclist
  • Takuya Honda, football player
  • Kairi Hojo, professional wrestler
  • Takayuki Mikami, karateka
  • Kyohei Morita, rugby player
  • Yuka Sato, figure skater
  • Tadashi Wakabayashi, baseball player
  • Nishida Hiroki, Volleyball Player
  • Keihan Takahashi, Volleyball Player

    Arts and Entertainment

  • Mizuhito Akiyama, author
  • Chiho Aoshima, artist
  • Mew Azama, model and actress
  • Satoshi Dezaki, anime director
  • Shu Fujisawa, author
  • Tomoko Hoshino, actress
  • Norihiro Inoue, actor
  • Mitsuaki Iwagō, photographer
  • Hiroh Kikai, photographer
  • Shin Kishida, actor*
  • Hiroto Kōmoto, singer*
  • Aki Maeda, actress
  • Masao Maruyama, film producer
  • Michiko Matsumoto, photographer
  • Katsuhito Nakazato, photographer
  • Kinoko Nasu, author
  • Kouhei Kadono, author
  • Midori Sawato, film narrator
  • Haruka Takachiho, author
  • Yōsuke Yamahata, photographer*
  • Shuichi Yoshida, novelist
  • Yasumi Matsuno, video game creator*
  • Shōgo Yano, voice actor

    Other

  • Kenji Goto, journalist and writer
  • Masahiro Hara, engineer
  • Hu Han Min, Chinese Kuomintang politician
  • Yoshiko Miya, journalist
* dropped out before graduation

Notable faculty

  • Sadateru Arikawa, aikido teacher
  • Faubion Bowers, American academic
  • Shu Fujisawa, writer
  • Sadayoshi Fukuda
  • Kojin Karatani, philosopher and literary critic
  • Shunji Karube, athlete
  • Kiyozō Kazama, professor of comparative linguistics
  • Ume Kenjirō, legal scholar
  • Ōmi Komaki, scholar and translator
  • Taro Kono, politician
  • Samezō Kuruma, economist
  • Ryokichi Minobe, economist, educator and politician
  • Shūmei Ōkawa, Japanese nationalist and Pan-Asianist writer
  • Mitsukuri Rinsho, statesman and legal scholar
  • Ishimoda Shō, historian
  • Fujisawa Shu, writer
  • Morita Sōhei, novelist and translator
  • Hiroshi Takahashi, architect
  • Jūji Tanabe, literature scholar, teacher, and mountain climber
  • Hyakken Uchida, author and academic
  • Tetsuro Watsuji, historian and philosopher
  • Masahiro Hara, engineer, inventor of QR code

    Partner universities


  • *Boston University
  • *Baylor University
  • *University of California, Davis
  • *University of California, San Diego
  • *Michigan State University
  • *California State University, East Bay
  • *Truman State University
  • *University of Nevada, Reno
  • *Boise State University
  • *San Jose State University
  • *Fontbonne University
  • *San Diego State University
  • *Southern California Institute of Architecture
  • *University of Illinois
  • *Gustavus Adolphus College
  • *West Chester University of Pennsylvania
  • *University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
  • *Minnesota State University, Mankato
  • *Medaille College
  • *Portland State University
  • *Westfield State University
  • *University of Utah
  • *George Mason University
  • *Peking University
  • *School of Government, Peking University
  • *School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tsinghua University
  • *School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University
  • *University of Science and Technology of China
  • *Shanghai Jiao Tong University
  • *Wuhan University
  • *Xiamen University
  • *University of Science and Technology Beijing
  • *Beijing Normal University
  • *Capital Normal University
  • *Shanghai International Studies University
  • *Northeastern University
  • *State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs
  • *Chongqing Normal University
  • *China Foreign Affairs University
  • *Xi'an Jiaotong University
  • *Beijing Jiaotong University
  • *Beijing Foreign Studies University
  • *Minzu University of China
  • *Beijing Center for Japanese Studies
  • *Shandong University of Finance and Economics
  • *Dalian Nationalities University
  • *Sichuan International Studies University
  • *Liaoning University, College of International Relations
  • *Fuzhou University
  • *Dalian University of Foreign Languages
  • *Software College of Jilin University
  • *Xidian University
  • *Huazhong University of Science & Technology
  • *School of Software, Central South University
  • *Indian Institute of Science
  • *Sanata Dharma University
  • *Bogor Agricultural University
  • *Institute of Technology Sepuluh Nopember
  • *Samarkand State University
  • *Yonsei University
  • *Duksung Women's University
  • *Sungkonghoe University
  • *Seoul National University
  • *Gachon University
  • *Korea University
  • *University of Seoul
  • *Ewha Womans University
  • *Inha University
  • *Sungshin Women's University
  • *Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
  • *Chung-Ang University
  • *Konkuk University
  • *Kyonggi University
  • *Busan University of Foreign Studies
  • *Hoseo University
  • *Thammasat University
  • *Chulalongkorn University
  • *Mekelle University
  • *Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
  • *Moscow State University
  • *Saint Petersburg State University
  • *Petersburg State Transport University
  • *National Research University – Higher School of Economics
  • *Penza State University
  • *University of Algiers

  • *Royal Holloway, University of London
  • *University of Sheffield
  • *University of Reading
  • *The University of Nottingham
  • *University of Glasgow
  • *University of Leeds
  • *Newcastle University
  • *University of Sussex
  • *University of Bradford
  • *The University of York
  • *Birkbeck, University of London
  • *University of Wolverhampton
  • *University of Sydney
  • *The University of Adelaide
  • *Monash University
  • *James Cook University
  • *Bond University
  • *Australian Catholic University
  • *Massey University
  • *The University of Auckland
  • *University of British Columbia
  • *University of Alberta
  • *University of Toronto
  • *Brock University
  • *York University
  • *Trent University
  • *University of Prince Edward Island
  • *University of Victoria
  • *University College Dublin
  • *University of Limerick
  • *Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education
  • *University of Social Sciences and Humanities - VNU
  • *National Sun Yat-sen University
  • *Tamkang University
  • *Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages
  • *Chung Yuan Christian University
  • *National Formosa University
  • *National Yunlin University of Science and Technology
  • *National Kaohsiung Normal University
  • *Shih Chien University
  • *National Taiwan Normal University
  • *National Chengchi University
  • *Cambodian Mekong University
  • *Royal University of Phnom Penh
  • *National University of Laos
  • *Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation
  • *University of Malaya
  • *University of Technology, Malaysia
  • *UCSI University
  • *Universiti Teknologi MARA
  • *Polytechnic University of Milan
  • *University Carlo Cattaneo
  • *Ca' Foscari University of Venice
  • *University of Vienna
  • *Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
  • *University of St. Gallen
  • *University of Zurich
  • *University of Barcelona
  • *Institut Ramon Llull
  • *Czech Technical University in Prague
  • *Humboldt University of Berlin
  • *University of Oldenburg
  • *Leuphana University of Lüneburg
  • *Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University
  • *University of Bremen
  • *Stuttgart Technology University of Applied Sciences
  • *Corvinus University of Budapest
  • *Pantheon-Sorbonne University
  • *Jean Moulin University Lyon 3
  • *Catholic University of the West
  • *Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University
  • *Sciences Po Saint-Germain-en-Laye
  • *Aix-Marseille University
  • *University of Strasbourg
  • *University of Toulouse II – Le Mirail
  • *Karel de Grote University of Applied Sciences and Arts
  • *National University of La Plata
  • *Universidad Anáhuac México Norte
  • *University of Guadalajara