Tenri University is a Japanese private university in Tenri, Nara Prefecture, an independent part of the secular mission of the new religious movement Tenrikyo. It was established in February 1925 as the coeducational Tenri Foreign Language School , enrolling 104 students, and was reorganised as a university in April 1949.

Tenri is a city located in Nara Prefecture, Japan. The modern city was founded on April 1, 1954, and is named after the Japanese new religion Tenrikyo, which has its headquarters in the city. As of April 1, 2015, the city has an estimated population of 66,866, and 29,169 households. The population density is 800.61 persons per km2, and the total area is 86.37 km2.