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President's Address at the Commencement and the Ceremony for Bestowing Degrees for the Fall 2025 Semester
Mar.22,2026
Convocation Address
I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to all of you who just received your bachelor’s, master’s, professional and doctoral degrees respectively on this day of celebration, and to express my profound respect to you all for your hard work in study and research until today. My heartfelt congratulations also go to your families and acquaintances who have warmly watched over and supported you throughout the years.
Till this day, you have learned many things at Doshisha University. Today’s Commencement is a good occasion for you to look back on what you have learned and acquired in university, but we would also like you to take this opportunity to think about how you will utilize the knowledge and experiences you have gained from now on.
It was certainly your tireless efforts over years to improve yourselves that earned you the abilities you have now. At the same time, however, those abilities have also been cultivated thanks to many people and environmental factors including your family, school and society. From now on, I would like you to seek ways to apply what you have learned and experienced for the benefit of others and society. If the big cycle of returning what you have received starts turning, it will surely enrich your own lives and society.
We are not only influenced by the current environment surrounding us, but also by the history up until now. Let us think of that while we look back on the history of the Doshisha. The Doshisha celebrated its 150th anniversary on November 29 last year. That day, we were joined by as many as 1,600 people at the anniversary ceremony held at Kyoto International Conference Center, celebrating our 150th anniversary together. The ceremony was an opportunity for us to feel how the present Doshisha is supported by many people and to reflect on the contributions of our predecessors who have shaped Doshisha over its 150-year history.
Over the long history of 150 years, the annual commencement has sent off numerous graduates into society. Our first ever commencement was held on June 12, 1879, three and half years after the school’s establishment in 1875, awarding graduate certificates to 15 students in the special class of Doshisha Eigakko designed for a group of transfer students from Kumamoto School for Western Studies. Having studied the Bible and Christian theology at Doshisha, they made remarkable contributions in Christian churches and educational institutions after graduation.
The first commencement clearly reflected the features of education offered at Doshisha in its early days. Attended by many missionaries, the commencement began at 10 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m. During the 7-hour-long commencement, with lunch break and music inserted in between, each graduate gave an academic speech of about 20 minutes, and two of them gave their speech in English. While it was not common for students in Japan at that time to give a speech in public, Doshisha students were regularly trained to demonstrate their opinions in front of others. They also had sufficient English proficiency, as the majority of teachers in Doshisha’s early days were missionaries who taught classes in English. Doshisha’s education already embodied “Internationalism” at its early stage, thanks to which the first graduates were capable of conveying their own views with global awareness and self-governing independent spirit.
The commencement concluded with the lecture by Principal Joseph Hardy Neesima on the process leading up to the establishment of Doshisha. His speech grew particularly passionate when he talked about the episode at the annual meeting of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions held in Rutland, Vermont before his return to Japan. It is told that both Neesima and the audience were in tears when he reminisced how the people who responded to his appeal for donation at the meeting included a farmer offering his train fare back home and a poor widow catching Neesima after the meeting to donate two dollars.
The graduates would have been reflecting on their own fruitful studies in the previous three years as they attended the ceremony. But through Neesima’s lecture, they were reminded of how their own studies at Doshisha were deeply connected to Neesima’s mindset and way of living in the past. They took to their heart that the path they have walked traces back to the life of a person who so boldly paved his way, and who never forgot the goodwill of every person he met on the way.
Neesima worked hard in his last years to establish a university as the final stage of his ideal education, but passed away in 1890 at the age of 46 years and 11 months, never seeing the opening of Doshisha University with his own eyes. The commencement that took place at Doshisha shortly after his passing was handled by Yamamoto Kakuma, the deputy chancellor, amidst the confusion and uncertainty. The commencement, lacking the school’s spiritual pillar, must have been an occasion for his successors to pledge to take over his will and restart Doshisha’s operations. The NHK historical epic drama series Yae no Sakura has been on a rerun since January this year. The second half of the series centers around Doshisha, including the episode featuring the first commencement after Neesima’s death. It moved the viewers for its portrayal of Yamamoto Kakuma, played by actor Nishijima Hidetoshi, reflecting sternly on his life and giving a passionate message to the graduates. It is very unusual for an NHK historical drama to feature the commencement ceremony of a specific existing school, but the history of Doshisha was as dramatic as deserving of being portrayed in a historical drama.
The turbulent history of modern and contemporary Japan is also etched in the history of Doshisha, in which there were times when the commencement could not be held. Learning was restricted and many students were deprived of the commencement during the war, the years of university protests, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The Doshisha has woven its history of 150 years overcoming these difficult times.
I did not talk about the past commencement ceremonies of Doshisha just to reminisce about old times. Our existence today is heavily influenced not only by the current environment but also by our history. Looking back on each era of our institution’s history of 150 years is not easy as it requires a certain level of knowledge. Still, each and every one of us here today is an entity created by and connected to the history of Doshisha for certain. I spoke about the first commencement of Doshisha to give you a hint for picturing that in your mind. You are leaving our nest as Doshisha people with the same, or more advanced, global awareness and self-governing independent spirit as the first graduates.
The commencement ceremony is an important milestone for each of the graduates and for the history of Doshisha. Graduation is not the end of our relationship, but the starting point of forming a new relationship. Since Doshisha’s first commencement until now, we are all brought together as“doshi,” comrades with shared aspirations. After graduating, you will become a member of the broader and cross-generational Doshisha community, and a new drama is about to begin in the life of each of you. I would like to conclude my address by wishing you the best in your future endeavors, and wishing the God will bless the future path of each of you.
Till this day, you have learned many things at Doshisha University. Today’s Commencement is a good occasion for you to look back on what you have learned and acquired in university, but we would also like you to take this opportunity to think about how you will utilize the knowledge and experiences you have gained from now on.
It was certainly your tireless efforts over years to improve yourselves that earned you the abilities you have now. At the same time, however, those abilities have also been cultivated thanks to many people and environmental factors including your family, school and society. From now on, I would like you to seek ways to apply what you have learned and experienced for the benefit of others and society. If the big cycle of returning what you have received starts turning, it will surely enrich your own lives and society.
We are not only influenced by the current environment surrounding us, but also by the history up until now. Let us think of that while we look back on the history of the Doshisha. The Doshisha celebrated its 150th anniversary on November 29 last year. That day, we were joined by as many as 1,600 people at the anniversary ceremony held at Kyoto International Conference Center, celebrating our 150th anniversary together. The ceremony was an opportunity for us to feel how the present Doshisha is supported by many people and to reflect on the contributions of our predecessors who have shaped Doshisha over its 150-year history.
Over the long history of 150 years, the annual commencement has sent off numerous graduates into society. Our first ever commencement was held on June 12, 1879, three and half years after the school’s establishment in 1875, awarding graduate certificates to 15 students in the special class of Doshisha Eigakko designed for a group of transfer students from Kumamoto School for Western Studies. Having studied the Bible and Christian theology at Doshisha, they made remarkable contributions in Christian churches and educational institutions after graduation.
The first commencement clearly reflected the features of education offered at Doshisha in its early days. Attended by many missionaries, the commencement began at 10 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m. During the 7-hour-long commencement, with lunch break and music inserted in between, each graduate gave an academic speech of about 20 minutes, and two of them gave their speech in English. While it was not common for students in Japan at that time to give a speech in public, Doshisha students were regularly trained to demonstrate their opinions in front of others. They also had sufficient English proficiency, as the majority of teachers in Doshisha’s early days were missionaries who taught classes in English. Doshisha’s education already embodied “Internationalism” at its early stage, thanks to which the first graduates were capable of conveying their own views with global awareness and self-governing independent spirit.
The commencement concluded with the lecture by Principal Joseph Hardy Neesima on the process leading up to the establishment of Doshisha. His speech grew particularly passionate when he talked about the episode at the annual meeting of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions held in Rutland, Vermont before his return to Japan. It is told that both Neesima and the audience were in tears when he reminisced how the people who responded to his appeal for donation at the meeting included a farmer offering his train fare back home and a poor widow catching Neesima after the meeting to donate two dollars.
The graduates would have been reflecting on their own fruitful studies in the previous three years as they attended the ceremony. But through Neesima’s lecture, they were reminded of how their own studies at Doshisha were deeply connected to Neesima’s mindset and way of living in the past. They took to their heart that the path they have walked traces back to the life of a person who so boldly paved his way, and who never forgot the goodwill of every person he met on the way.
Neesima worked hard in his last years to establish a university as the final stage of his ideal education, but passed away in 1890 at the age of 46 years and 11 months, never seeing the opening of Doshisha University with his own eyes. The commencement that took place at Doshisha shortly after his passing was handled by Yamamoto Kakuma, the deputy chancellor, amidst the confusion and uncertainty. The commencement, lacking the school’s spiritual pillar, must have been an occasion for his successors to pledge to take over his will and restart Doshisha’s operations. The NHK historical epic drama series Yae no Sakura has been on a rerun since January this year. The second half of the series centers around Doshisha, including the episode featuring the first commencement after Neesima’s death. It moved the viewers for its portrayal of Yamamoto Kakuma, played by actor Nishijima Hidetoshi, reflecting sternly on his life and giving a passionate message to the graduates. It is very unusual for an NHK historical drama to feature the commencement ceremony of a specific existing school, but the history of Doshisha was as dramatic as deserving of being portrayed in a historical drama.
The turbulent history of modern and contemporary Japan is also etched in the history of Doshisha, in which there were times when the commencement could not be held. Learning was restricted and many students were deprived of the commencement during the war, the years of university protests, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The Doshisha has woven its history of 150 years overcoming these difficult times.
I did not talk about the past commencement ceremonies of Doshisha just to reminisce about old times. Our existence today is heavily influenced not only by the current environment but also by our history. Looking back on each era of our institution’s history of 150 years is not easy as it requires a certain level of knowledge. Still, each and every one of us here today is an entity created by and connected to the history of Doshisha for certain. I spoke about the first commencement of Doshisha to give you a hint for picturing that in your mind. You are leaving our nest as Doshisha people with the same, or more advanced, global awareness and self-governing independent spirit as the first graduates.
The commencement ceremony is an important milestone for each of the graduates and for the history of Doshisha. Graduation is not the end of our relationship, but the starting point of forming a new relationship. Since Doshisha’s first commencement until now, we are all brought together as“doshi,” comrades with shared aspirations. After graduating, you will become a member of the broader and cross-generational Doshisha community, and a new drama is about to begin in the life of each of you. I would like to conclude my address by wishing you the best in your future endeavors, and wishing the God will bless the future path of each of you.