The history of Toyo Eiwa goes back to 1884. Since its establishment, the school has provided Christian education for women for 141 years. Toyo Eiwa was founded by the Woman's Missionary Society (WMS) of Methodist Church of Canada. The WMS was organized in 1881 to preach Christianity with an emphasis on Christian education for Japanese women. Miss Martha Julia Cartmell (1845-1945) was chosen as the first female missionary to Japan.

Miss Cartmell came to Japan in 1882 and lived in the foreign settlement in Tsukiji, Tokyo. She learned Japanese and taught the Bible. In 1883, two Canadian Methodist missionaries, Dr. George Cochran and Dr. Davidson Macdonald, decided to purchase land for a boys' school in Azabu, and agreed with Miss Cartmell that they would allow the WMS to run a girls' school on part of that land.

Taking them up on their proposal, Miss Cartmell resolved to establish a girls' school in Azabu. That school was Toyo Eiwa Jogakko, which later became Toyo Eiwa Jogakuin. The application for setting up the school, submitted to Tokyo on September 22, 1884, it reveals that Toyo Eiwa had a principal, four teachers, and only two students. Although the school had to overcome many challenges, the student body grew steadily, and the enrollment limit was raised to 250 students in 1886.

In the male-dominated society of that time, Toyo Eiwa was highly regarded by progressive people in leadership positions as a girls' school that could build human character based on Christianity and open the door of knowledge to new cultures and civilizations, particularly in Europe, the United States and Canada. Although the tuition fees were high for the time, the school was popular and attracted many enrollments.

For 141 years since then, Toyo Eiwa has provided higher education to women in Japan, and has helped to improve the status of women, with many of its alumni going on to succeed in a diverse range of fields.