A Look into the Past
Seventh-day Adventist educational work in Japan began in January 1898, with the opening in Tokyo of a Japanese-English Bible school by William C. Grainger. The work of the school progressed steadily, but on October 31, 1899, after having been in Japan less than three years, Grainger passed away. His work, however, was continued by other missionaries, and the school kept growing.
From 1908 to 1913 Harry F. Benson directed a training course for workers, including Bible, history, biology, English, and other subjects in the curriculum. However, it was not until its reorganization in1919 that the institution added an elementary school of six years, and a secondary school of five years to its junior college program.
In 1926 the institution moved away from its location in Tokyo to Naraha, in Chiba prefecture, on the eastern side of Tokyo Bay. The students and teachers were responsible for most of the work done in building the school on 44 acres of woodland and farmland. Here the school adopted the name Nihon Saniku Gakuin ("Japan Threefold Educational School," referring to the mental, physical, and spiritual aspects of true education). The school offered a six-year secondary course and a two-year junior college course.
During World War II, Christianity was restricted and the school had to be closed by a prefectural order in December 1943. When the war ended, and as life returned to normal in Japan, the school was reopened and resumed its prewar curriculum, and later expanded its program and facilities.The junior and senior high school received government accreditation on August 31, 1948.
As urban development encroached in the area of the institution, it was decided to transfer the secondary school to a new location and make it completely independent from the college. In April 1977 the transfer to its present location in Daiwa-cho in Hiroshima Prefecture was complete, and Hiroshima Saniku Gakuin held its first opening ceremony.
