Otani University

Otani University (大谷大学, Ōtani Daigaku) is a private Buddhist university in Kita-ku, Kyoto, founded in 1665 as the seminary of Higashi Hongan-ji, the head temple of the Ōtani-ha branch of Jōdo Shinshū, and it remains the denominational university of that branch.大谷大学（Ōtani Daigaku）是京都北区的私立佛教大学，1665 年作为净土真宗大谷派本山东本愿寺的学寮创立，至今仍是大谷派的宗立大学。

It teaches about 4,000 students in four faculties, Letters, Sociology, Education and International Studies, alongside a graduate school of humanities and a two-year junior college.该校在文学、社会学、教育学与国际学四个学部以及人文学研究科和两年制短期大学部中，共培养约 4000 名学生。

QS placed it in the 1201-1400 band for 2027, while the 2027 Times Higher Education table, the 2026-27 U.S. News list and the 2026 ARWU main table do not include it, a gap typical of small Japanese private universities with a humanities focus.QS 把该校列入 2027 年 1201-1400 区间，而 2027 年泰晤士高等教育排名、2026-2027 年度 U.S. News 榜单与 2026 年软科主榜均未收录它，这种落差是日本人文学科小型私立大学的常见情形。

History

• In 1602 the shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered the Shin Buddhist complex in Kyoto split into Nishi Hongan-ji and Higashi Hongan-ji, a division intended to weaken the political weight of the Jōdo Shinshū organisation, with the eastern branch taking the name Ōtani-ha and the western branch becoming Honpa Honganji.1602 年，德川家康下令把京都的真宗寺院群拆分为西本愿寺与东本愿寺，这一分割意在削弱净土真宗组织的政治分量，东派称大谷派，西派称本派本愿寺派。

• The new eastern temple needed trained priests, and in 1665 its fifteenth abbot, Jōnyo, opened a seminary inside the Shōseien garden of the temple compound, the institution from which the university descends, and the Shōseien garden still belongs to Higashi Hongan-ji and is open to visitors.新立的东本愿寺需要受过训练的僧侣，1665 年第十五世法主常如在寺院别邸涉成园内开设学寮，这就是大学的前身，涉成园至今仍属东本愿寺并对访客开放。

• Teaching at first took place only during the summer retreat from April to June, when priests from the provinces gathered in Kyoto for study and ordination.最初的授课只在四月至六月的夏安居期间进行，各地僧侣此时聚集京都，学习并受戒。

• In 1755 the seminary moved to Takakura-dōri Yanaginobanba and became known as the Takakura Gakuryō, acquiring lecture halls and a library that allowed a broader curriculum, and Takakura-dōri remains a street of temples and schools in central Kyoto.1755 年学寮迁至高仓通柳马场，通称“高仓学寮”，陆续拥有讲堂与书库，得以开设更广的课程，高仓通至今仍是京都中心寺院与学校聚集的街道。

• By the nineteenth century the school taught Shin doctrine alongside Buddhist studies, Chinese classics and history, and its buildings had grown into a small academic quarter in central Kyoto.到十九世纪，学校除真宗教义外还教授佛教学、汉籍与历史，建筑已扩展成京都中心的一小片学术街区。

• In 1873 the Meiji government's religious policy forced a reorganisation, and the seminary was renamed Kanrenjō, beginning a series of name changes that tracked Japanese educational reform.1873 年明治政府的宗教政策促成改组，学寮改称“贯练场”，自此开始一连串随日本教育改革而变的更名。

• It then passed through the names Kanren Kyōkō, Daigakuryō, Shinshū Takakura Daigakuryō and Shinshū University, each marking a step from temple school toward modern college.此后它先后改称贯练教校、大学寮、真宗高仓大学寮与真宗大学，每一步都是从寺院学堂迈向近代学院的印记。

• In 1901 the reformer Kiyozawa Manshi moved the school to Sugamo in Tokyo and reorganised it as Shinshū University, a deliberate break with the Kyoto temple establishment.1901 年，改革者清泽满之把学校迁往东京巢鸭，改组为真宗大学，这是对京都寺院体制的一次有意突破。

• Kiyozawa, born in 1863 into a low-ranking samurai family, studied at Tokyo Imperial University under the American philosopher Ernest Fenollosa and became the first dean of the new university.清泽满之 1863 年生于下级武士家庭，在东京帝国大学师从美国哲学家芬诺洛萨，后出任新大学的首任学长。

• Kiyozawa died in 1903 at the age of forty, but his insistence on personal faith and independent inquiry became the intellectual foundation of the modern university.清泽满之于 1903 年去世，年仅四十，但他对个人信仰与独立探究的坚持，成为现代大学的思想根基。

• In 1904 Shinshū University obtained the legal status of senmon gakkō, the vocational-school category through which Meiji Japan channelled specialised higher education.1904 年真宗大学取得“专门学校”法定地位，这是明治日本用来管理专门高等教育的学校类别。

• The school returned to Kyoto in 1911, and in 1912 it moved into new buildings at Koyama-higashifusa-chō in Kita-ku, the site it still occupies.学校于 1911 年迁回京都，1912 年搬入北区小山上总町的新校舍，此后一直在该址办学。

• Under the University Ordinance of 1918 the government permitted private universities, and in 1922 the school attained university status and took the name Otani University, with an attached specialised department, the name coming from the Ōtani-ha, the branch that had sponsored the school since 1665.依 1918 年《大学令》，政府允许设立私立大学，1922 年该校升格为大学并定名大谷大学，同时附设专门部，校名取自 1665 年以来主办该校的大谷派。

• The Education Law of 1947 recast Japanese higher education on the American model, and Otani prepared for the transition from a denominational college to a new-system university.1947 年《教育基本法》按美国模式重塑日本高等教育，大谷大学着手从宗派学院过渡为新制大学。

• In 1949 the new system opened with a Faculty of Letters, a graduate school and a junior college, the three-part structure that still defines the institution.1949 年新制大学开学，设文学部、大学院与短期大学部，这一三部分结构至今仍是学校的基本框架。

• The postwar decades brought a Faculty of Sociology, a Faculty of Education and a Faculty of International Studies, turning a clerical college into a small comprehensive university with a lay majority.战后数十年间，社会学部、教育学部和国际学部相继设立，一所僧侣学院由此变成以世俗学生为主的小型综合大学。

• In 2002 the Shinshū Comprehensive Academic Centre opened in the Kōryū-kan, a building whose name means "hall of flowing sound" and which houses research offices and lecture rooms.2002 年，真宗综合学术中心在“响流馆”启用，馆名意为“声响流布之馆”，内设研究室与讲堂。

• The Otani University Museum opened in 2003 to display the manuscripts, paintings, ritual objects and archaeological finds accumulated by the temple and the university over three centuries.大谷大学博物馆于 2003 年开馆，展出寺院与大学三百年间积累的写本、绘画、法具与考古资料。

• The university marked its 350th anniversary in 2015 and its 360th in 2025, anniversaries that framed a decade of curriculum reform and international recruitment.该校于 2015 年迎来建校 350 周年、2025 年迎来 360 周年，这两个节点框定了其课程改革与国际招生的十年。

• Its 2027 QS band of 1201-1400 reflects a small, specialised institution whose research output is measured in hundreds rather than thousands of papers.其 2027 年 QS 1201-1400 区间反映出一所小型专门学校的体量——科研产出以数百篇而非数千篇计。

Academics

• The Faculty of Letters contains departments of Shinshū studies, Buddhist studies, philosophy, history and literature, the core inherited from the temple seminary, and its graduates include priests, teachers, curators and writers.文学部下设真宗学科、佛教学科、哲学科、史学科与文学科，构成承自寺院学寮的核心，毕业生中有僧侣、教师、博物馆策展人与作家。

• The Department of Shinshū Studies reads Shinran's Kyōgyōshinshō and Tannishō, the history of the Ōtani-ha, and the pastoral practice of the denomination's temples.真宗学科研读亲鸾的《教行信证》与《叹异抄》、大谷派的历史，以及宗派寺院的教务实践。

• The Department of Buddhist Studies covers Indian, Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, with philological training in Sanskrit, Pali, classical Chinese and Tibetan.佛教学科涵盖印度、中国与日本佛教，并训练梵文、巴利文、汉文与藏文的文献学能力。

• Philosophy at Otani is taught in dialogue with Buddhist thought, and the department carries the Kyoto school's interest in religion, nothingness and the modern self.哲学学科以佛教思想为对话对象，延续京都学派对宗教、无与现代自我的关切。

• The history and literature departments focus on Japanese and East Asian materials, including the temple archives of Higashi Hongan-ji and the manuscript collections of Kyoto's monasteries.史学科与文学科以日本及东亚材料为主，包括东本愿寺的寺院档案与京都诸寺的写本收藏。

• The Faculty of Sociology trains students in community design, modern society and social research, fields added to serve lay students who do not seek temple careers.社会学部培养社区设计、现代社会与社会调查方向的人才，这些领域是为不打算从事寺院职业的世俗学生而设。

• The Faculty of Education prepares teachers for primary and secondary schools and includes an early-childhood course, with teaching certificates recognised by the Kyoto prefectural board.教育学部培养中小学教师并设幼儿教育课程，其教师资格证书获京都府教育委员会认可。

• The Faculty of International Studies teaches international culture, languages and area studies, and sends students abroad through exchange agreements with universities in Asia, Europe and North America.国际学部教授国际文化、语言与区域研究，并通过与亚洲、欧洲及北美高校的交换协议派学生出国。

• The Graduate School of Humanities offers master's and doctoral programmes in Shinshū studies, Buddhist studies, philosophy, Buddhist culture, international culture and education-psychology, and its doctoral students work closely with the Shinshū Comprehensive Academic Centre and the museum.人文学研究科设硕士与博士课程，方向包括真宗学、佛教学、哲学、佛教文化、国际文化与教育心理学，博士生与真宗综合学术中心及博物馆密切合作。

• The junior college offers two-year courses that feed into the four-year faculties, a route that has long served students from the denomination's regional temples and shares teachers and library facilities with the four-year faculties.短期大学部开设两年制课程，可衔接四年制学部，长期服务于宗派地方寺院的子弟，并与四年制学部共用教师与图书馆设施。

• Otani University Junior College grants associate degrees in Shinshū studies and early-childhood education, and its graduates may transfer into the third year of the corresponding faculty.大谷大学短期大学部授予真宗学与幼儿教育副学士学位，毕业生可插班进入对应学部的三年级。

• Total enrolment is about 4,000, small enough that seminars of a dozen students remain the standard teaching unit in the humanities.全校在校生约 4000 人，规模小到人文学科仍以十余人一班的研究讨论课为标准教学单位。

• The university library holds the denomination's printed canon, Western Buddhist studies journals and a rare-book collection that supports philological research.大学图书馆收藏宗派刊印的大藏经、西方佛学研究期刊与善本，支撑文献学研究。

• The museum's collection includes National Treasure-class Buddhist manuscripts and portraits, and its exhibitions are open to the public as well as to classes.博物馆藏品包括国宝级佛教写本与肖像，其展览既面向课堂也向社会公众开放。

• The Shinshū Comprehensive Academic Centre coordinates research on the denomination's history and publishes documentary editions of premodern Shin texts.真宗综合学术中心统筹宗派历史研究，并出版前近代真宗文献的校订本。

• Bibliometric databases record 1,079 works and 4,750 citations under the university's name, a profile typical of a small humanities institution.文献计量数据库在该校名下记录作品 1079 篇、被引 4750 次，这是小型人文学府常见的体量。

• Admission is by entrance examination in Japanese, English and essay writing, with a recommendation route for applicants from affiliated high schools and temples.入学选拔以日语、英语与小论文考试为主，并为附属高中与寺院推荐生设推荐通道。

• Because the Ōtani-ha maintains overseas districts in Hawaii, Brazil and North America, the university receives international students from those Shin communities each year.大谷派在夏威夷、巴西与北美设有海外教区，大学每年接收来自这些真宗社群的国际学生。

Campus

• The campus occupies a compact site at Koyama-higashifusa-chō in Kita-ku, northern Kyoto, in a residential district of temples, hospitals and old machiya houses.校区位于京都北区小山上总町，地处寺庙、医院与老町屋混杂的住宅区，占地紧凑。

• Its buildings are grouped around a central courtyard, so that classrooms, the library, the museum and the administration are all within a few minutes' walk, and the site is small enough to cross between classes without a bicycle.校舍围绕中央庭院布置，教室、图书馆、博物馆与行政楼彼此步行数分钟可达，校区小到课间无需骑车即可穿行。

• The Kōryū-kan, opened in 2002, is the newest academic building and houses the Shinshū Comprehensive Academic Centre, seminar rooms and a lecture hall.2002 年启用的响流馆是最新的学术建筑，内设真宗综合学术中心、研讨室与讲堂。

• The Otani University Museum, opened in 2003, stands on campus and displays the university's Buddhist art and manuscript collections in rotating exhibitions.2003 年开馆的大谷大学博物馆位于校内，以轮展方式陈列学校的佛教艺术与写本收藏。

• The library faces the courtyard and provides reading rooms, a Buddhist studies reference collection and access to digital archives of the Taishō canon.图书馆面向庭院，设阅览室、佛学参考书区，并提供大正藏的数字化档案。

• Daitoku-ji, one of Kyoto's great Zen temple complexes, lies a short walk to the west, and the Kamo River is within cycling distance of the campus, while the Zen complex opens its sub-temple gardens to visitors in spring and autumn.京都著名禅宗寺院群大德寺在西侧步行可达处，鸭川也在骑车可到的范围内，寺院群在春秋两季开放塔头庭园。

• The campus is within cycling distance of Kyoto University and Doshisha University, and the three institutions share the northern Kyoto student rental market.校区到京都大学与同志社大学均在骑车范围内，三校共享京都北部的学生租房市场。

• The campus is reached by city bus from Kitaōji station on the Karasuma subway line and by the Kyoto municipal bus network that serves the northern wards, with the ride from Kyoto Station taking about half an hour.从地铁乌丸线北大路站乘市营巴士可到校区，京都北部各区的市营巴士网络也经过此处，从京都站乘车约需半小时。

• Higashi Hongan-ji, the head temple whose seminary became the university, stands near Kyoto Station, and its ceremonies still bring students and faculty into the city centre.东本愿寺——其学寮演变为这所大学——位于京都站附近，寺院的法会仍把师生带往市中心。

Reputation

• QS placed Otani University in the 1201-1400 band for 2027, its only appearance in the four major global tables that year.QS 把大谷大学列入 2027 年 1201-1400 区间，这是该校当年四大全球主榜中唯一的露面。

• The 2027 Times Higher Education world ranking does not include the university, and neither the 2026-27 U.S. News list nor the 2026 ARWU main table carries it.2027 年泰晤士高等教育世界排名未收录该校，2026-2027 年度 U.S. News 榜单与 2026 年软科主榜同样没有它。

• OpenAlex records 1,079 works and 4,750 citations, figures that place it among the smallest research profiles in the QS 1201-1400 band.OpenAlex 记录 1079 篇作品与 4750 次被引，这使它处于 QS 1201-1400 区间内科研体量最小的一档。

• Within Japanese Buddhist higher education, Otani is the denominational counterpart of Ryukoku University, which serves the Nishi Hongan-ji branch of the same tradition, and the two share the 1602 split as a common origin and cooperate on Shin studies.在日本佛教高教体系中，大谷大学是龙谷大学的宗派对位者——后者服务同一传统中的西本愿寺派，两校以 1602 年的分裂为共同起源，并在真宗研究上合作。

• Kyoto's Buddhist university cluster also includes Bukkyo University and Hanazono University, and the four institutions share the city's manuscript collections and museum facilities.京都的佛教大学群还包括佛教大学与花园大学，四校共享这座城市的写本收藏与博物馆设施。

• Its reputation rests on Shinshū and Buddhist studies rather than on broad research output, and its graduates supply the priesthood, temple schools and Buddhist museums of the Ōtani-ha.该校声誉建立在真宗学与佛教学之上而非广泛科研产出，毕业生充实大谷派的僧侣队伍、寺院学校与佛教博物馆。

• The university counts no Nobel laureate, Turing Award winner or Fields medallist among its alumni or faculty, a normal position for a small denominational college whose output is concentrated in the humanities, where citation counts are structurally low.该校校友与教师中没有诺贝尔奖、图灵奖或菲尔兹奖得主，这对一所产出集中于人文领域的小型宗派学院而言并不意外，人文学科的引用数天然偏低。

• Kyoto's concentration of universities, temples and archives gives Otani advantages in manuscripts and fieldwork that larger universities elsewhere cannot easily match.京都密集的大学、寺院与档案馆，使大谷在写本与田野研究上拥有外地大型大学难以企及的条件。

• Its graduates are employed in education, publishing, museums and the denominational bureaucracy, and the university reports a stable placement rate in those fields.毕业生就职于教育、出版、博物馆与宗派行政机构，校方称这些领域的就业率保持稳定。

• For international students the attraction is specialised, since Otani offers Shin Buddhist studies in English at a scale few other institutions can provide.对国际学生而言，该校的吸引力是专门化的——它提供的英语真宗研究规模在别处少见。

• The opening of the museum in 2003 and the Kōryū-kan in 2002 raised its public profile in Kyoto beyond the denomination's own circles, and both buildings now host public lectures listed in the city's cultural calendar.2003 年博物馆与 2002 年响流馆的启用，使它在京都的公众能见度超出宗派内部，两座建筑如今还举办列入城市文化日历的公开讲座。

Student life

• The university states its purpose in the words of Shinran rather than in a motto: to base education on the Buddhist spirit and to cultivate men and women who stand on their own convictions.该校不以格言式校训表述宗旨，而是借亲鸾的话说明办学理念：以佛教精神为基础，培养具有独立信念的人。

• There is therefore no official Latin or Japanese motto, and the founding spirit is repeated in the university's admissions literature and entrance ceremonies.因此学校没有正式的拉丁文或日文校训，建学精神在招生材料与入学仪式上反复申说。

• The annual Hōonkō, the memorial service for Shinran held in late November, is the central religious event of the year and draws students into the temple calendar, with classes giving way to the service and the campus filling with visitors from affiliated temples.每年十一月下旬纪念亲鸾的“报恩讲”是全校最重要的宗教活动，把学生带入寺院的年度法会节奏，届时课程暂停，校园里挤满附属寺院的来访者。

• Seminars remain the social unit of the campus, and each department runs small reading groups that meet in the Kōryū-kan and the library.研讨班仍是校园的社交单位，各学科在响流馆与图书馆组织小型读书会。

• Student clubs cover Buddhist study, tea ceremony, calligraphy, music and sports, and the campus festival gives them an annual showcase.学生社团涵盖佛学研究、茶道、书法、音乐与体育，校园文化节为它们提供年度展示。

• Because the campus sits in residential north Kyoto, student life spills into the cheap restaurants and second-hand bookshops around Kitaōji and the temple streets of Murasakino.校区位于京都北部住宅区，学生生活延伸到北大路一带的平价餐馆、旧书店与紫野的寺院街巷。

• Many students are the children of temple families, and their formation includes ritual practice and parish work alongside academic courses.不少学生出身寺院家庭，其培养除课堂学习外还包括法事实践与教区事务。

• International students usually live in private apartments in Kita-ku, since the university's dormitory capacity is small and priority goes to new entrants from outside Kyoto.国际学生多租住北区民宅，因为学校宿舍容量有限，优先分配给来自京都以外的新生。

Notable people

• Shinran (1173-1263), the founder of Jōdo Shinshū, is not an alumnus but the spiritual author of the institution, and every department teaches his writings.亲鸾（1173-1263）是净土真宗开山，并非校友，却是这所机构的精神作者，各学科都要研读其著作。

• Jōnyo, the fifteenth abbot of Higashi Hongan-ji, founded the seminary in 1665 and gave the future university its first site and its denominational charter.东本愿寺第十五世法主常如于 1665 年创办学寮，为后来的大学提供了最初的校址与宗派章程。

• Kiyozawa Manshi (1863-1903), the first dean of Shinshū University, is the intellectual founder of modern Otani and the author of its ideal of independent faith.清泽满之（1863-1903）是真宗大学首任学长，也是现代大谷大学的思想奠基者，“独立信仰”理念的提出者。

• Nanjō Bun'yū (1849-1927), a Shin priest and Sanskrit scholar who studied at Oxford under Max Müller, taught at Otani and helped establish its Buddhist philology.南条文雄（1849-1927）是真宗僧侣与梵文学者，曾在牛津师从马克斯·缪勒，后在大谷任教并奠定其佛教文献学。

• Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki (1870-1966), the Zen scholar who introduced Japanese Buddhism to the West, taught at Otani in the early twentieth century.铃木大拙（1870-1966）是把日本佛教引介到西方的禅学大家，二十世纪初曾在大谷大学任教。

• Kaneko Daiei (1881-1976), a Shin thinker and professor at Otani, wrote influential studies of Shinran's thought and trained a generation of priests.金子大荣（1881-1976）是真宗思想家、大谷大学教授，其亲鸾研究影响深远，培养了一代僧侣。

• Soga Ryōjin (1875-1971), another Otani professor, developed a philosophical reading of Shin Buddhism that shaped the Kyoto school's engagement with religion.曾我量深（1875-1971）同为该校教授，其对真宗思想的哲学解读影响了京都学派对宗教的思考。

• Nishida Kitarō (1870-1945), the founder of the Kyoto school of philosophy, is counted among the scholars who taught at Otani in the university's own account.西田几多郎（1870-1945）是京都学派哲学的创立者，校方记载把他列为曾在大谷任教的学者之一。

• Nishitani Keiji (1900-1990), Nishida's successor in the Kyoto school, is likewise listed by the university among its former teachers.西谷启治（1900-1990）是西田在京都学派的后继者，校方同样把他列入曾任教者名单。

• Keido Fukushima (1933-2011), abbot of Tōfuku-ji and a Zen master known in the West, studied at Otani University before his monastic training.福岛庆道（1933-2011）是东福寺住持、在西方颇具知名度的禅师，出家前曾就读于大谷大学。

• Zenkei Shibayama (1894-1974), abbot of Nanzen-ji and author of Zen commentaries, was an Otani graduate who carried the university's name into Zen scholarship.柴山全庆（1894-1974）是南禅寺住持、禅学著述家，为大谷大学校友，把母校之名带入禅学研究。

• Volker Zotz, an Austrian Buddhologist born in 1956, has taught at Otani and written on Buddhism and European philosophy, one of the university's few European faculty members.福尔克·佐茨 1956 年生于奥地利，是佛教学者，曾在大谷任教并撰写佛教与欧洲哲学研究，是该校少数欧洲籍教师之一。