Yamagata University - History

History

The Imperial Japan (Meiji) Government decided to merge the "old" Yamagata, Okitama and Tsuruoka Prefectures into one new Yamagata Prefecture in August 1876. Each of the former three prefectures had their own normal schools but these were closed with the discontinuance of their administrative bodies. The direct institutional history dates back to 1877 when the Congress of new Yamagata Prefecture authorized an establishment of a new public teacher-training institution, Yamagata Prefectural Normal School which was founded in September 1878 in Hatago-machi, Yamagata City.

Meanwhile, Yonezawa Higher Technical School, the first national school of higher education in the prefecture, was founded in 1910. The institute was the seventh National Higher Technical School in Japan following the establishment of Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Kumamoto and Sendai Higher Technical Schools. It was renamed the Yonezawa Engineering College under reformation of the law in 1944

Ten years after the establishment of the Yonezawa Higher Technical School, another national school of higher education was founded (1920) in Yamagata Prefecture, Yamagata Higher School, located in Yamagata City and the 14th National Higher School in Japan. During World War II, the United States' bombers destroyed the Komagome laboratories of the Japanese science research institute RIKEN and it was evacuated to several local cities (Kanazawa, Osaka and Yamagata) as the situation worsened. One of the evacuations sites was Yamagata Higher School.

The National Yonezawa Higher Technical School and Yamagata Higher School were both prestigious schools at the time and played a central role when Yamagata University was established after World War II. The two schools produced a number of exceptional graduates and alumni numbered about 5,500 and 5,000 respectively.

To meet the growing needs of primary and secondary education, Yamagata Prefecture founded one more public teacher-training institution, the Yamagata Prefectural Teacher's School for Vocational Supplementary Education, in 1922. The school developed and was renamed the Yamagata Youth Teachers School when control was transferred to the Japanese Ministry of Education (文部省, Monbushō?) in 1944. Yamagata Prefectural Agriculture and Forestry School, founded in 1947 in Tsuruoka City, was also the predecessors of current Yamagata University.

Yamagata University was established on 31 May 1949 following the National School Establishment Law. Five old institutions of higher education in Yamagata Prefecture were integrated to form the new University: Yamagata Normal School founded in 1878, Yonezawa Engineering College founded in 1910, Yamagata Higher School founded in 1920, Yamagata Youth Teachers School founded in 1922, and Yamagata Prefectural Agriculture and Forestry School founded in 1947. The new university had a Faculty of Literature and Sciences, a Faculty of Education, a Faculty of Engineering, and a Faculty of Agriculture.

In 2006, Yuki Akio became the new university president in an election that caused much acrimony and hit the national press. Although he did not win the popular vote, a cabal of non-university Election Committee members forced through his nomination. Yuki was a civil servant at the Japanese Ministry of Education at the time and his appointment attracted much criticism for being a case of amakudari, a corrupt practice the government had vowed to stamp out.