Seinan Gakuin was founded in 1916 by Rev. C. K. Dozier, a Southern Baptist missionary from the United States. Seinan Gakuin started as a private junior high school with 104 boys and a faculty of nine. In 1921 a school for higher education was begun, which was the predecessor of the present university.

 During World War II, Christian schools in Japan were put under intense pressure, and Seinan Gakuin underwent many hardships, including the closing of the Division of English Literature. After the War, the new-system junior and senior high schools were opened in 1947 and 1948, and the university was established in 1949. Seinan Gakuin has now grown into a large, comprehensive educational institution with approximately 10,000 students, including the children in its kindergarten and day nursery.

 With the founder's last words,“Seinan, be true to Christ,”as the school motto, Seinan Gakuin endeavors to be faithful to its founding spirit by pursuing excellence both in academic affairs and in character development, thus equipping and nurturing students to serve as creative and constructive leaders in local communities and in the expanding global society.

 Seinan literally means southwest. Southwest Japan is composed of the western part of Honshu, the largest island of Japan, and the islands of Shikoku and Kyushu. When the school was being established, one teacher said,“Why don't we call this school Seinan Gakuin as there is Tohoku Gakuin in Sendai [a city in northeast Honshu] and Kwansei Gakuin in Kobe [in west- central Honshu]?”Behind this suggestion lay the grand idea of dividing up the responsibility for Christian education in Japan.

 The insignia, made up of the intertwined S and W from southwest, was originally proposed by the founder, Rev. Dozier.