History

1908 Women in the Lutheran Church in America (United Synod of the South) began raising funds for the establishment of a girls' school in Japan to foster education for women and to share with them the love of Christ.
1921 Land was purchased on a beautiful hill at the foot of Mt. Tatsuda in Kumamoto City. It was decided to name the school "Janice James School" in memory of an eight year-old girl whose parents gave a large gift toward the school fund.
1924 Ms. Martha B. Akard, a Lutheran missionary in Japan, was appointed to be the first principal.
1925 Construction of the first, and present, main building began.
1926 The name was changed to "Kyushu Jogakuin" (Kyushu Women's School). It was founded as a five-year girls' school. There were 70 students in each class for a total enrollment of 350.
1947 The high school became a three-year school and enlarged to 1000 when a junior high school of 240 was added. After the war, numerous other buildings were constructed for the junior and senior high school.
1948 A kindergarten was established on the campus.
1975 Kyushu Jogakuin Junior College was founded.
1997 Kyushu Junior College was reestablished as a four-year institution called Kyushu Lutheran College.
2001 Kyushu Jogakuin Junior & Senior High School changed its name to Luther Junior & Senior High School, and became coeducational.
2006 Luther celebrated its 80th anniversary and finished a major reinforcement project on its buildings.
2015 A center for early childhood education and care with children from 0 to 6 years old was added to the kindergarten.
April 2016 Kumamoto earthquake. Luther’s main building sustained considerable damage, but the junior high school buildings were quickly opened as an evacuation center for the neighborhood. Food and supplies were distributed. Buildings were repaired an fully usable by the fall.
2026 Luther will celebrate its 100th anniversary. Luther High School will strive to maintain its purpose and tradition of providing a Christian learning environment and supporting students in serving others.