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The story
The university was chartered by the Showa government on May 31, 1949, under a new Japanese education system reforming older system, merging five institutions of higher education in the city of Kumamoto which includes Kumamoto Teachers College (熊本師範学校 Kumamoto shihan gakkō) established in 1887, Kumamoto Pharmaceutical College (熊本薬学専門学校 Kumamoto yakugaku semmon gakkō) established in 1885, the Fifth High School (第五高等学校 Dai-go kōtō gakkō) established in 1887, Kumamoto Medical College (熊本医科大学 Kumamoto ika daigaku) established in 1896 and Kumamoto Technical College (熊本高等工業学校 Kumamoto kōtō kōgyō gakkō) established in 1897 though the precursor of the university was founded in 1925 as a prefectural university of Kumamoto and subsequently it was reorganized as a national university in 1929.
The hub of the university at the time of foundation was the Fifth High School, which was a center for higher learning in western Japan during the Meiji period and the university began with six departments, with an enrollment of about 1,100 students. In 1955 the Graduate School of Medicine was established at the university and other graduate schools were subsequently founded.
In 2004 Kumamoto University became a National University Corporation under the National University Corporation Law.
Although the university was founded during the Taishō period (1912–1926), it has earlier roots in Saishunkan (再春館) established on September in 1756 as Han school of Kumamoto Domain and Banjien (藩滋園) established on July in 1756 by Shigekata Hosokawa, who was a Japanese samurai daimyō of the Edo period.
From Wikipedia’s article on Kumamoto University, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4