The academic traditions of the university reach back to the Hakuensyoin (泊園書院), an Tokugawa shogunate (徳川幕府; 1603–1867) school for local citizens founded by Tōgai Fujisawa (藤沢東畡) in 1825.

Western legal concepts, including that of human rights, were introduced into Japan by distinguished foreign scholars engaged by the Ministry.

They saw it as their duty to popularize jurisprudence to spread throughout the nation two notions: that of an independent judiciary and that of human rights.

They then sought and received the assistance and cooperation of Kojima Korekata,[3] their superior (and later Chief Justice of Japan's Supreme Court), and Doi Michio, president of the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

This became the origin of the university's academic tradition of nurturing a love of justice and a concern for the protection of the freedom of the individual.

Also in 1922 its main campus was moved to its present more extensive site in Suita City (a suburb of Osaka), thus paving the way for later growth.

In consequence of the educational reforms carried out soon after the end of the Second World War, Kansai University was able to avail itself of the new system to expand its scope for tuition so as to comprise four faculties: those of Law, Letters, Economics and Commerce.

In 1994 in response to the requirements of modern technology and communication, the Informatics faculty was instituted on another campus, created just outside the dormitory-town of Takatsuki City.

The university, with its attached senior and junior high schools and kindergarten, has a total student body of 27,000.

Today, the campus includes 50 buildings and sculpture gardens, fountains, museums, and a mix of architectural styles.

The museum has three gallery floors and approximately 15,000 objects of archaeological, historical, ethnological, and art-craft contexts, as well as some important cultural property.

Notable items in museum include funerary objects that were excavated in Nara and date back thousands of years from the graves of royals of the Warring States period.

The five-story museum building was designed by the acclaimed architect Togo Murano (1891–1984, who also designed Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa and the main residence of Masahito, Prince Hitachi), the building was listed in the Registration tangible cultural property in 2007.

This campus is a base for information gathering and provision, the furthering of lifelong learning, and job placement support in the Tokyo metropolitan area.