Hitotsubashi University (一橋大学, Hitotsubashi daigaku), formerly known as Tokyo University of Commerce (東京商科大学, Tokyo shōka daigaku), is a public research university in Tokyo, Japan. The university has campuses in Kunitachi, Kodaira, and Chiyoda.
In 1920, Hitotsubashi was granted university status as Tokyo University of Commerce, becoming Japan’s first national college specialising in commercial studies. It underwent another name change in 1949, adopting its modern name, Hitotsubashi. In 1962, the legal name was formally changed to Hitotsubashi University.
The university specialises in the study of the social sciences, particularly commerce, economics, law, political science, sociology, social data science, and the humanities. The university has produced numerous senior bureaucrats and politicians for the Japanese government, including Masayoshi Ōhira, who served as the prime minister of Japan.
Contents
History
Founded by Arinori Mori in 1875, Hitotsubashi was initially called the Institute for Business Training (商法講習所, Shōhō Kōshujo). Eiichi Shibusawa was sent to Europe in the 1860s with a scholarship from the Tokugawa shogunate, which was then led by the 15th shogun, Yoshinobu Tokugawa. During his time in Europe, Shibusawa studied European banking and economic systems, which he later brought back to Japan. The school's growth was supported by Shibusawa, Takashi Masuda, and other prominent business figures. The renaming of the school to Hitotsubashi University in 1949 may be linked to its historical ties with the Hitotsubashi branch of the Tokugawa family, headed by Yoshinobu. There were plans to merge the institute into the University of Tokyo as part of the economics department in the 1900s, but alumni and students objected—the merger was not fulfilled. This is known as the "Shinyu Incident".
1875: Arinori Mori established Institute for Business Training (商法講習所, Shōhō Kōshūjo) at Ginza-owarichō, Tokyo
1884: became a national school under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce of Japan, and changed its name to the Tokyo Commercial School (東京商業学校, Tokyo Shōgyō Gakkō)
1885: came under the control of the Ministry of Education, and absorbed the Tokyo Foreign Language School. The school then relocated to the site of the latter institution in Hitotsubashi, Tokyo in the vicinity of the Imperial Palace
1887: the status of the Tokyo Commercial School was raised to that of the Higher Commercial School (高等商業学校, Kōtō Shōgyō Gakkō)
1897: established affiliated institutions for foreign-language education
1899: separated affiliated institutions for foreign-language education as Tokyo School of Foreign Languages (now Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)
1902: changed its name to the Tokyo Higher Commercial School (東京高等商業学校, Tōkyō Kōtō Shōgyō Gakkō) due to the establishment of another such school in Kansai district (now Kobe University)
Organisation
Faculties and graduate schools
Hitotsubashi University has about 4,500 undergraduate and 2,100 postgraduate students with some 630 faculty members.
Commerce (275)
Economics (275)
Law (175)
Social Sciences (235)
Commerce (Master Program: 108, Doctor Program: 30)
Economics (Master Program: 70, Doctor Program: 30)
Law (Master Program: 15, Doctor Program: 26 Juris Doctor Program: 100)
Social Sciences (Master Program: 87, Doctor Program: 44)
Language and Society (Master Program: 49, Doctor Program: 21)
International Corporate Strategy (ICS) (including MBA Program)
International and Public Policy (55)
Parentheses show the numbers of admitted students per year.
Research institutes and centers
Institute of Economic Research
Research Center for Information and Statistics of Social Science
Center for Economic Institutions
Center for Intergenerational Studies
Research and Development Center for Higher Education
Information and Communication Technology Center
Center for Student Exchange
International Joint Research Center
Institute of Innovation Research
Center for Historical Social Science Literature
Academic exchange agreements overseas
As of 2007, Hitotsubashi University had academic exchange agreements with 84 overseas universities and research institutions, including those between departments and departments, as follows:
Academic rankings and reputation
Hitotsubashi University is considered one of the most prestigious universities in Japan, consistently ranking amongst the top universities in Japanese university rankings. It is one of the highest ranked national universities that is not one of the National Seven Universities.
General rankings
The THE World University Rankings ranked the university in the 1201st-1500th tier worldwide in 2024. The university is ranked 539th worldwide in the QS World University Rankings 2025, with particularly high evaluations in economics and business management.
Research performance
The economics department especially has a high research standard. According to the Asahi Shimbun, Hitotsubashi was ranked 4th in Japan in economic research during 2005–2009. More recently, Repec in January 2011 ranked Hitotsubashi's Economic Department as Japan's 5th best economic research university. Currently three researchers in Hitotsubashi are listed as top 10% economists in its world economist rankings. Hitotsubashi has provided seven presidents of the Japanese Economic Association in its 42-year history; this number is the second largest.
Graduate school rankings
In 2019, Hitotsubashi Law School became 2nd out of all the 72 law schools in Japan according to the ratio, 59.82%, of the successful graduates who passed the bar examination.
Hitotsubashi Business School is ranked 2nd in Japan by Nikkei Shimbun.
Eduniversal ranked Japanese business schools and Hitotsubashi was ranked 3rd in Japan (100th in the world). In this ranking, Hitotsubashi is one of three Japanese business schools categorized in "Universal business schools with major international influence". It is one of the few Japanese business schools teaching in English.
Alumni rankings
Mines ParisTech : Professional Ranking World Universities ranks Hitotsubashi University as 25th in the world in 2011 in the number of alumni listed among CEOs in the 500 largest worldwide companies, although Hitotsubashi is small compared to other Japanese universities in the ranks.
Popularity and selectivity
Hitotsubashi is one of the most selective universities in Japan. Its entrance difficulty is usually considered one of the most difficult, alongside University of Tokyo, Kyoto University and Tokyo Institute of Technology among 180 national and public universities.
Notable faculty
Tsuru Shigeto: ex-president of Hitotsubashi University
Haruhiko Kuroda: former governor of the Bank of Japan and ex-professor of Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Economics
J. Mark Ramseyer: ex-adjunct instructor, Mitsubishi professor of Japanese Legal Studies of Harvard Law School
Ikujiro Nonaka: professor emeritus, a member of Japan Academy, director of Seven & I Holdings Co., director of Mitsui & Co.
Kotaro Suzumura: professor emeritus, Person of Cultural Merit
Fumio Hayashi: professor, foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Takeshi Mizubayashi: professor of Graduate School of Law
Irmela Hijiya-Kirschnereit: ex-professor, Faculty of Social Sciences
Hirotaka Takeuchi: professor emeritus
Joseph Schumpeter: visiting professor in 1931
Hideo Kiyama, sinologist
Notable alumni
The university's alumni association is called Josuikai (如水会) and its main building (Josui Kaikan) is next to the building where Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy (ICS) is in Kanda, Tokyo.
World leaders
The 68th and 69th prime minister of Japan Masayoshi Ōhira (1978–1980)
The 4th prime minister of South Korea Baek Du-jin (1952–1953)
The 20th prime minister of Mongolia Rinchinnyamyn Amarjargal (1999–2000)
Other politicians
Shōzō Murata: ex-minister of Japanese Government Railways, ex-minister of communications of Japan, president of Osaka Shosen Kaisha (now Mitsui O.S.K. Lines)
Mitsujirō Ishii: ex-Speaker of the House of Representatives (Japan), ex-deputy prime minister of Japan
Paek Nam-un: ex-chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly, ex-minister of education (North Korea)
Togmidyn Dorjkhand: current deputy prime minister of Mongolia
Aziz Abduhakimov:current deputy prime minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Michio Watanabe: ex-Deputy Prime Minister of Japan, ex-Ministry of Finance (Japan), ex-foreign minister of Japan
Shinzō Ōya: ex-Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Japan), ex-minister of finance (Japan)
Zentaro Kosaka: ex-minister for foreign affairs (Japan)
Kumakichi Nakajima: ex-Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Japan)
Koji Omi: ex-minister of finance (Japan)
Tetsuo Kondo: ex-minister of labour
Saburō Eda: ex-chairman of Japan Socialist Party
Shintarō Ishihara: author, ex-governor of Tokyo, ex-minister of transportation
Tsunei Kusunose: former governor of Hiroshima Prefecture
Diplomats
Kōichirō Asakai: Japan's ex-ambassador to the United States
Sadao Iguchi: Japan's ex- ambassador to the United States
Katsuji Debuchi: Japan's ex- ambassador to the United States
Saburō Kurusu: Imperial Japan's ambassador to Germany
Naotake Satō: ex-president of House of Councillors of Japan, ex-foreign minister of Japan
Toshikazu Kase: Japan's first ambassador to the United Nations
Mami Mizutori: Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction in the UNDRR
Ichiro Komatsu: ex-director-general of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau, Japan's ex- ambassador to France
Kenichi Itō: ex-CEO of The Japan Forum on International Relations
Akira Ariyoshi: Japan's ex-ambassador to Republic of China (1912–1949)
Kenji Kanasugi: Current Japanese ambassador to the People Republic of China
Makoto Taniguchi: Japan's ex-ambassador to the United Nations, ex-chairman of UNICEF
Lee Dong-hwan: South Korea's ex-ambassador to the Australia
Yukio Okamoto: Diplomatic advisor and analyst
Maria Zeneida Collinson: the president of the 61st International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference
Judges, bureaucrats
Harumi Takahashi: current governor of Hokkaidō Prefecture
Kei Komuro: lawyer, husband of former Japanese princess Mako Komuro
Yoshihiro Yasuda: lawyer
Saburo Tokura: the 20th chief justice of Japan
Industry
Fusanosuke Kuhara: entrepreneur, politician and cabinet minister in the pre-war Empire of Japan, founder of Kuhara Zaibatsu
Masaru Hayami: ex-governor of the Bank of Japan, ex-CEO of Nissho Iwai Corp.
Kenkichi Kagami: ex-chairman of Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co., Ltd., ex-president of Mitsubishi Bank, Ltd.
Rizaburo Toyoda: first president of Toyota Motor
Kizo Yasui: former chairman of Toray Industries, Inc., former vice-chairman of Nihon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation)
Hiroshi Okuda: ex-chairman of Toyota Motor and chairman of Nihon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation)
Otogo Kataoka: first president of Nomura Securities Co., Ltd.
Kunio Egashira: ex-chairman of Ajinomoto Co., Inc.
Taikichiro Mori: founder of Mori Building (Forbes ranked him as the richest man in the world in 1991 and 1992.)
Masaaki Tsuya: CEO of Bridgestone Co., Inc.
Hiroshi Mikitani: founder and CEO of Rakuten Group, Inc.
Shuji Utsumi: current president of Sega
Tatsumi Kimishima: current president of Nintendo, former CEO and chairman of Nintendo of America
Hidesaburō Shōda: ex-CEO of Nisshin Seifun Group, father of the Empress Michiko
Academia
Tokuzō Fukuda: economist, professor emeritus at Tokyo College of Commerce
Eiichi Sugimoto: economist
Ichiro Nakayama: economist, president of the Tokyo College of Commerce, the first chairman of The Tax Commission of Japan
Heizō Takenaka: economist, former Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy of Japan, professor at Keio University
Hiroko Ōta: economist, professor of National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, ex-minister of state for special missions of Japan
Hiroshi Mizuta:economist, professor emeritus at Nagoya University and a member of the Japan Academy
Hiroshi Shimizu: economist, professor at Waseda University, Winner of 2020 Schumpeter Prize
Ryuzo Sato: economist, C.V. Starr professor of Economics at New York University
Thomas T. Sekine: economist, professor at York University
Takatoshi Ito: economist, professor of School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, ex-deputy vice minister of finance for international affairs
Kotaro Suzumura: economist, Person of Cultural Merit, professor emeritus at School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University, professor emeritus at Hitotsubashi University
Jinkichi Tsukui: economist, professor at Osaka University
Seiichiro Yonekura: economist, professor at Hitotsubashi University and Hosei University, Director of Nippon Genki Juku
Others
Stephen Fumio Hamao: Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church
Adebayo Alonge: Nigerian pharmacist
Takeshi Ito: activist, ex-representative committee member of Nihon Hidankyo
Aya Domenig: filmmaker (Als die Sonne vom Himmel fiel) of Japanese–Swiss origin.
Kiyoshi Nishimura: filmmaker
Sumio Kobayashi: composer
Akira Kume: actor
Hiroshi Koike: playwright
Tamotsu Nakamura: explorer, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
Seiichiro Kashio: athlete, Silver Medalist of men's tennis doubles in 1920 Summer Olympics
Masaji Kiyokawa: athlete, Gold Medalist of backstroke in 1936 Summer Olympics, ex-vice chairman of International Olympic Committee, ex-CEO of Kanematsu Corp.
Shinpei Mykawa: rice farmer who introduced rice farming to an area of Texas; he came from a college that became Hitotsubashi University
Zenzo Shimizu: athlete, tennis player
Hiroshi Nakano: rower
Ryuta Arakawa: rower
Masabumi Hosono: the only Japanese passenger on the RMS Titanic's disastrous maiden voyage
Hyozo Omori: physical education specialist