Shirayuri University

is a Catholic Japanese women's university in Chōfu, Tokyo. The university comprises four Departments of Literature and a graduate school. This all-female institution is well known as Shirayuri Women's University, although its official name is Shirayuri College. It is a research and liberal arts college. It was formed by three nuns and a priest from France. History Shirayuri University traces its origin to the Convent of Saint Paul Chartre, which was founded in a small village in France at the end of the 17th century. Ever since its founding the sisterhood, with its headquarters in Rome, has taken service and education as its mission and has devoted itself to education and welfare activities all over the world. Activities in Japan began with the arrival of three French nuns in Hakodate, in 1878, with an ardent mission to establish a convent. Three years later, a school was founded in Kanda, Tokyo, beginning the groundwork for Shirayuri Gakuen. In 1965, the present Shirayuri College, a four-year institution, was established. Since then, the college has been lauded for expanding and enhancing the curricula and facilities to include a graduate school for each the four departments, enriching the program and providing an education based on the spirit of Catholicism.