Daito Bunka Gakuin, the forerunner of Daito Bunka University, opened at 6-16 Fujimicho, Kojimachi-ku, Tokyo, on September 20, 1923, following government approval of its establishment. Already at the time when Daito Bunk Gakuin opened, the rented school building from the Meiji period was dilapidated and too small. Despite its shortcomings, students and others called the building, which had previously belonged to Hosei University, the Kudan Campus with a strong feeling of attachment. A monument to the birthplace of Daito Bunka Gakuin stands at the site of the original campus. Chinese parasol trees (aogiri) surrounded the school building when Daito Bunka Gakuin opened. Therefore, Chinese parasol trees continue to be used as a motif for the school emblem.

In 1938, when wartime sentiment began to strengthen, Daito Bunka Gakuin reacted to the changing zeitgeist by deviding its regular course of study into three separate courses: ethics and Chinese classics, Japanese and Chinese classics, and East Asian politics and economics. The school simultaneously increased the student quota and changed to a new internal administration organization. In line with those changes, Daito Bunka Gakuin moved its campus to 3-1385 Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, in February 1941. The new school building in Ikebukuro was a two-storied wooden structure. Daito Bunka Gakuin upgraded its student life by increasing the number of classrooms and furnishing the building with halls for kendo (Japanese fencing), judo, and kyudo (Japanese archery). However, many students were enlisted in the armed forces following the outbreak of the Pacific War. Those who remained at the school were mobilized for wartime labor services. The Ikebukuro building was razed in an air raid carried out from midnight until dawn on April 13, 1945.

After the Ikebukuro Campus burned down, President Tadamasa Sakai offered a section of his house near Takadanobaba to be used in May 1945, allowing Daito Bunka Gakuin to continue classes. However, the school was unable to accommodate all students, including those who returned from the front, after Japan’s defeat in August 1945. Open-air classes continued for some time. In February 1946, Daito Bunka Gakuin finally moved its campus to 4 Aotocho, Katsushika-ku, adopting a former dormitory for factory workers as a temporary school building. The Aoto Campus was located along the banks of the Naka River near Aoto Station. The classrooms were simple and few. However, Daito Bunka Gakuin built a student dormitory called Shido-ryo, which supported the lives of students during the harsh economic conditions of the post-war period.

Daito Bunka Gakuin, a vocational school under the pre-war educational system, became Tokyo Bunsei University in April 1949, after obtaining approval as a university organized under the new post-war educational system. (The new university changed its name to Bunsei University (without "Tokyo") in 1951.) The school moved its campus to the former Ikebukuro site in October 1949. The construction of a new campus with complete facilities had been a precondition for the school’s promotion to a university. However, immediately after the relocation, the new Ikebukuro Campus comprised only a single two-storied wooden building. During the subsequent post-war reconstruction period, Tokyo Bunsei University worked on promptly developing and upgrading its facilities. As Japan’s economic growth accelerated, the university established a new teaching and research organization. As a result, the number of students at the university increased rapidly. The school name change to Daito Bunka University was approved in 1953, partly in response to strong requests from students and alumni.

Because of its rapid expansion and development, Daito Bunka University needed a more spacious campus and more school buildings. The university decided to move to Shimura Nisidaicho, Itabashi-ku (currently known as 1-9-1 Takashimadaira), the current site of the Itabashi Campus, in August 1961. Daito Bunka University wanted to expand its campus and school buildings following the addition of more departments and faculties and thus started to build the Higashi Matsuyama Campus on former national woodland at 560 Iwadono, Higashi Matsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, in April 1967. The Faculty of Liberal Arts was transferred to the new campus. In addition, the university began developing the Higashi Matsuyama campus in 1983, through a project for commemorating the 60th anniversary of its founding. It completed the vast Higashi Matsuyama Campus about six years later. Today, undergraduate and graduate students at Daito Bunka University enjoy university life at two campuses, the Itabashi Campus, near the heart of Tokyo, and the Higashi Matsuyama Campus, boasting extensive grounds in natural surroundings.

Itabashi

▼The Itabashi Campus

Higashi Matsuyama

▼The Higashimatsuyama Campus