Rakunan High School Rakuna Junior High School (洛南高等学校・附属中学校)
Rakunan High School and Rakunan Junior High School are private junior and senior high schools, respectively, located in Minami-ku, Kyoto City.
Summary
The organizers were Kogi Shingon Shukei 14 Honzan (Ninna-ji Temple, Hozan-ji Temple, Chogosonshi-ji Temple, Kaju-ji Temple, Daikaku-ji Temple, Daigo-ji Temple, Nakayama-dera Temple (Takarazuka City), Saidai-ji Temple (Nara City), To-ji Temple, Kiyoshikojin Seicho-ji Temple, Sennyu-ji Temple, Zentsu-ji Temple, Suma-dera Temple and Daihonzan Zuishin-in Temple); these temples run the school, and three sects (the Chisan Sect of Shingon, the Buzan Sect of Shingon, and New Shingon) cooperate with the program of educational promotion for Gakkohojin Shingon-shu Kyoto Gakuen. The school is located in To-ji Temple.
The official names are 'Rakunan High School' and 'Junior High School of Rakunan High School'
The same educational foundation runs Shuchiin University as a four-year college. They carried out various school reforms, and in the 1980s they achieved record numbers of students who went on to the university level. The school offers many activities, including a basketball club, a volleyball club, a track-and-field club and a brass band. It had been a boys' school for a long time, but in 2006 it was reorganized as a coeducational school. The plan for the future was to establish an elementary school attached to a university. Class III (candidate from Rakunan Junior High School), class III (candidate from another junior high school), class I general, class I scholarship (sports, brass band), etc., with students separated by class. Recently, class III (candidates from Rakunan junior high school) has received transferred students as a result of the high school entrance examination.
School emblem
Bishamon Kikko
School precepts
Respect yourself
Search for the truth
Contribute to society
Background
Rakunan High School was founded by Kukai in 828, during the Heian period, having started in Shugei Shuchiin for the education of citizens; however, Shugei Shuchiin was eventually disgraced and closed after Kukai's death. The origin of Rakunan High School is Soko, which was established in 1881 (Meiji 14) by SHAKU Unsho, a priest of Shingon, as an educational organization for Shingon-shu. Soko had changed several times, becoming a prewar high educational organization of Shingon-shu Kyoto Senmon Gakko (Shingon-shu Kyoto Technical School) and a junior educational organization of To-ji Chuto Gakko (To-ji Middle School). After the war, under the new educational system, To-ji Kotogakko (To-ji Senior High School), established by Shingon-shu Kyoto Gakuen, became Rakunan High School.
In 1960, Toji High School became a lower-ranked school to which poor students were sent, but Shunryo MIURA, the vice principal, took the lead in deciding to reform the school. The school was renamed as Rakunan High School, enacting strict school regulations and control measures for poor students, including withdrawal from school, but otherwise it instituted a special academic advancement course designed to attract intelligent students. After all the reforms, students began to obey the code of school discipline and Rakunan High School became a high-ranked school in terms of its educational offering and sports teams. Rakunan High School has long been known for its strict school regulations, even though it has become more lax in the twenty-first century. Though often compared with Todai-ji Gakuen, it is also known as a fast-growing school from the lower rank. Today the school is well known as a most difficult school in terms of the requirements for admission in Kyoto.
Timeline
1881: Soko was established. 1902: It was renamed as Shiritsu Kogi Shingon-shu Sogo Koto Chugakko (Private Kogi Shingon-shu Sogo Higher Middle School). 1917: It was divided into two schools and renamed Shingon-shu Kyoto University (which became Syuchiin University) and Shingon-shu Kyoto Middle School. 1926: Shingon-shu Kyoto Middle School was renamed as To-ji Middle School. 1948: It was renamed as To-ji Senior High School. 1962, June: It was renamed as Rakunan High School. 1975, April: The automobile course, a special academic advancement course, was established. 1975, April: The semi-special academic advancement course was established. 1982, April: Courses were renamed as General Course, class I; General Course (Automobile course), class II; General Course (special academic advancement course and semi-special academic advancement course), class III (special academic advancement course, class IIIA, and semi-special academic advancement course, class IIIB). 1985, April: The Junior High School of Rakunan High School (two classes) was opened. 1993, April: The II class (automobile course) stopped accepting applicants. 1996, April: The Junior High School of Rakunan High School added two more classes. 2001 April: The gym class uniform shifted from sleeveless shirts to short-sleeve shirts. 2002, April: The Junior High School of Rakunan High School became five classes (with the addition of a class). 2003, April: The school uniform was abolished for students with sensitive skin, and the shift to a blazer uniform started (each grade has a different color tie). 2005, April: It completely shifted to the use of blazer uniforms. 2006, April: It became an coeducational school.
Achievements
Results of university examinations
For 18 years consecutive years from 1991 to 2008, it had the most students pass the Kyoto University examination.
Other results
The basketball team has for more than 30 years been selected to participate as the Kyoto team in the All Inter-High School Championships, and has become one of the top-class school teams (having won the Winter Cup in two different years). The gymnastics team, a top squad, shared the title with Seifu Junior & Senior High School, of Osaka. Additionally, the first representative of Kyoto for the International Physics Olympics is from this school.
Access
It's a 15-minute walk from JR Kyoto Station (Hachijo exit). It's a 10-minute walk from the Kintetsu Kyoto Line's To-ji Station.
Kyoto City Bus
Sister school
Shuchiin University