Wakeijuku (和敬塾), literally meaning "a place to seek harmony and respect", is an all-male

dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...

located in the Mejirodai neighborhood in the

Bunkyō is a special ward located in Tokyo, Japan. Situated in the middle of the ward area, Bunkyō is a residential and educational center. Beginning in the Meiji period, literati like Natsume Sōseki, as well as scholars and politicians have lived th ...

ward of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Established in 1955 by

Kisaku Mayekawa was a Japanese industrialist and philanthropist who founded Mayekawa Manufacturing Company in Tokyo, Japan in 1924. A graduate of Japan's Waseda University, he also founded the all-male Dormitory Wakeijuku Wakeijuku (和敬塾), literally mean ...

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

and founder of Mayekawa Manufacturing Company, Wakeijuku has been the home of students of Japanese universities for more than sixty years, including nearby

Waseda University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the ''Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō'' by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the school was formally renamed Waseda University in 1902. The university has numerou ...

. Wakeijuku alumni include four former Japanese prime ministers and Japanese author

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been bestsellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for his ...

Location

Wakeijuku is located on the spacious grounds of a former feudal lord's

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

, at a prestigious address in central Tokyo. Residents simultaneously have convenient access to such major centers of Tokyo as

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

Ikebukuro is a commercial and entertainment district in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. Toshima ward offices, Ikebukuro station, and several shops, restaurants, and enormous department stores are located within city limits. It is considered the second largest ...

Ginza Ginza ( ; ja, 銀座 ) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi. It is a popular upscale shopping area of Tokyo, with numerous intern ...

Shibuya Shibuya ( 渋谷区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern half) and Shibuya Station. As of April 1 ...

Takadanobaba Takadanobaba (Japanese: 高田馬場 ''Takada-no-baba'') is a neighborhood in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. History Originally, the area's name was read ''Takatanobaba'' and many Tokyo residents in their 50s or older pronounce it as such. However, you ...

, and Yurakucho, while living in a secluded natural setting with gardens and trees. The Wakeijuku grounds also have tennis, basketball, and soccer facilities, and the institution is less than a five-minute walk from two public parks and the nearby

Kanda River The stretches 24.6 km from Inokashira Park in Mitaka to the Sumida River under the Ryōgoku Bridge at the boundary of Taitō, Chūō, and Sumida. Its entire length lies within Tokyo, Japan. It drains an area of 105.0 km². The go ...

. The former Foreign Minister of Japan

Makiko Tanaka is a Japanese politician. She is the daughter of former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and his official wife Hana. Early life Tanaka attended high school at Germantown Friends School in the United States and graduated from Waseda University. She s ...

lives next door in a house that belonged to her father, former Japanese Prime Minister

Kakuei Tanaka was a Japanese politician who served in the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives from 1947 Japanese general election, 1947 to 1990 Japanese general election, 1990, and was Prime Minister of Japan from 1972 to 1974. After ...

The dormitories

Wakeijuku is composed of six dormitories, namely East or Higashi (東), West or Nishi (西), North or Kita (北), South or Minami (南), Tatsumi (巽) which loosely translates as ''Southeast'', and Inui(乾) which loosely translates as ''Northwest''. Each dormitory has its own traditions, blogs and activities.

The mansion

The most notable landmark on the Wakeijuku grounds is the old Hosokawa Marquis residence called “The Mansion”, built in 1936 by the 16th generation of the Hosokawa House. It is a representative of an official noble residence at the beginning of the

Shōwa period Shōwa may refer to: * Hirohito (1901–1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan, known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa * Showa Corporation, a Japanese suspension and shock manufacturer, affiliated with the Honda keiretsu Japanese eras * Jōwa (Heian ...

. The external facade is based on a British Tudor-style architectural design and the interior is a creative mixture of

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, Tudor and

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...

designs. In 1955, the entire Hosokawa residence including the Mansion was purchased to make way for the construction of the Wakeijuku dormitories. The Mansion was kept to preserve the cultural heritage and history of the area. Currently it serves as a venue for symposia, concerts, plays, wedding banquets and art exhibits and serves also as a residence for guests of Wakeijuku. The mansion is also a tourist attraction and has been used as a location for Japanese film and television productions that require Shōwa era or European themed residences.

Wakeijuku in fiction

In the novel '' Norwegian Wood'', written by

, the main character resides in a dormitory modeled after Wakeijuku and also attends a university modeled similarly to nearby

. It also appears in the TV dramas

Fugo Keiji is a 2005 Japanese drama broadcast by TV Asahi based on a novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui. Synopsis Miwako Kanbe, the granddaughter of a millionaire, becomes a detective and starts working at a police station where there are few women. Her style, ele ...

Full Throttle Girl is a 2011 Japanese television series that aired on Fuji Television from July 11 to September 19, 2011. It starred Yui Aragaki and Ryo Nishikido. Plot Wakaba (Yui Aragaki) dreams of becoming an international lawyer making 10 billion Yen annual ...

Engine Sentai Go-onger is Toei Company's thirty-second installment in the Super Sentai metaseries of Japanese tokusatsu television series. It premiered on February 17, 2008, a week following the finale of '' Juken Sentai Gekiranger'', and ended on February 8, 2009. It ...

Kamen Rider Kabuto is a Japanese tokusatsu superhero television series. It is the sixteenth installment in the popular Kamen Rider Series of tokusatsu programs. It is a joint collaboration between Ishimori Productions and Toei. The series was broadcast on TV Asahi ...

Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger is the twenty-eighth production of the ''Super Sentai'' metaseries produced by Toei Company, Toei. It aired as a part of TV Asahi's 2004 Super Hero Time block with ''Kamen Rider Blade''. The action footage from the show was used for the American ...

Kamen Rider Agito , is the eleventh installment in the popular Kamen Rider tokusatsu franchise. The series represented the 30th anniversary of the Kamen Rider Series. The series was also a joint collaboration between Ishimori Productions and Toei and was shown o ...

GARO (TV series) , sometimes referred to as , is a Japanese tokusatsu television series broadcast on TV Tokyo and its affiliates from October 7, 2005, to March 31, 2006, lasting 25 episodes (with one additional "Overview" special, summarizing the events of epis ...

, and in the mangas

Zeni Geba is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by George Akiyama. The series was originally serialized in Shogakukan's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from 1970 to 1971, with its chapters collected into two ''tankōb ...

Jin (manga) is a Japanese ''seinen'' manga written and illustrated by Motoka Murakami, which was featured on '' Super Jump'' during its original run from 2000 to 2010. It was compiled into 20 ''tankōbon'' by Shueisha and published between April 4, 2001, ...

Deka Wanko is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kozueko Morimoto. It was serialized in Japan by Shueisha in the magazine ''You'' and was collected in 12 ''tankōbon'' volumes. The series follows the adventures of Ichiko Hanamori, a yo ...

, GodHand Teru,

Aim for the Ace! ''Aim for the Ace!'', known in Japan as , is a manga series written and illustrated by Sumika Yamamoto. The series tells the story of Hiromi Oka, a high school student who wants to become a professional tennis player as she struggles ag ...

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The seri ...

and Beautiful Bones: Sakurako's Investigation. It also appears in the novel

Never Let Me Go (novel) ''Never Let Me Go'' is a 2005 dystopian science fiction novel by the British author Kazuo Ishiguro. It was shortlisted for the 2005 Man Booker Prize (an award Ishiguro had previously won in 1989 for ''The Remains of the Day''), for the 2006 Art ...

External links

(The Mansion) {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Bunkyō Tokyo Metropolitan Designated Tangible Cultural Property