Nanzan is named after the forested mountains near Goken'ya-chō, known as Minamiyama, which literally means "southern mountain". The on reading for "南山" is Nanzan. Also, in Chinese poetry "南山" refers to Mount Lushan until the Tang Dynasty and Mount Zhong Nan thereafter. Notably, the word appears in the classical poetry collectionShi Jing and the works of famous poet Li Bai. Thus, the choice of name is a celebration of longevity, perseverance, and prosperity for both the school and its alumni. Divine Word Missionary Josef Reiners founded Nanzan Junior High School in 1932. Nanzan Foreign Language School was added to the Nanzan system in 1946 and eventually renamed Nanzan University in 1949. In 1995, Nagoya Seirei Junior College was subsumed by Nanzan when the two schools' organizations merged. In 2008, Nanzan plans to open an elementary school, officially named Nanzan University Affiliated Elementary School. In 1961, Czech architect Antonin Raymond was commissioned to design most buildings on the Nagoya campus. It was one of the largest projects that he would undertake. The campus was orientated on a north–south axis across rolling hills and the eight buildings were arranged to suit the typography and harmonise with the landscape. In-situ concrete is used throughout the scheme and each building has its own concrete form, some with pilotis, others with shells. Located to the east of the campus is the Divine Word Seminary Chapel, constructed in 1962. This is a building that exploits the plastic capacity of concrete, with two intersecting shells forming a bell tower. These are punctured with vertical slots which allow light to radiate along the curved interior walls. Nanzan Junior College opened in 1968 as a women's junior college affiliated with the University. In 2011 the junior college campus was closed and reorganized as a department on Nanzan University's Nagoya campus offering courses in English language.
Organization
Nanzan University is part of Nanzan Gakuen, an educational complex of four high schools, and the university itself. Among coeducational universities, Nanzan is the only Catholic missionary school in the Chūbu region. Nanzan has an active study abroad program with over 100 partner universities around the world. The Center for Japanese Studies opened in 1974, and is now one of the most prestigious Japanese language programs in Japan, accepting over 300 students a year into it’s fall, spring and summer programs For many years, Nanzan has held an annual competition with its Catholic sister schools Sophia University and Sapientia University, primarily focusing on athletics. Combining the first two syllables in Japanese of the respective schools, the Nanzan-Sophia event is known as the Jōnan-sen, while the Sapientia-Nanzan event is known as the Einan-sen. The humanities department offers priest training courses through its Christian studies curriculum.
