Okayama University was originally founded as the in 1870 by
Okayama-Han. After the
abolition of the han system, it became the in 1880. In 1888 it was merged into a national school, to constitute the Medical Faculty. The Medical Faculty became an independent school in 1901 and was renamed , a four-year medical school for men ages 17–21 or above. In 1922, the school was chartered as , a four-year medical college for men ages 19–23 or above. In 1949, after
World War II, the college was merged with other national and public colleges in Okayama Prefecture to establish
Okayama University, under Japan's new education system. The predecessors of the university were: • Okayama Medical College, • • • The new campus (Tsushima Campus) was the former
camp of the
Imperial Japanese Army (the 17th Division). After
occupation army left the camp in 1947, the students of the Sixth Higher School (whose buildings were burnt in the war) guarded the camp, residing in the former military
barracks. Later, the camp became their campus. The faculties of Okayama University, except the Medical School, were gradually relocated to Tsushima Campus. The university at first had five faculties: Law and Letters, Education, Science, Agriculture and Medicine. The latter history of the university is as follows: • 1951: joined the university. • Later reorganized into the Institute for Agricultural and Biological Sciences (in 1953) and then the Research Institute for Bioresources (in 1988). • 1960: the Faculty of Engineering was established. • 1967: Professor Jun Kobayashi (analytic chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture) announced the cause of
Itai-itai disease as
cadmium poisoning. Itai-itai disease (meaning "ouch ouch" disease in Japanese), was a severe pain disease affecting Toyama Prefecture as a result of mining over the course of 1,500 years. • 1976: the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences was established. • 1979: the Dental School was established (in Shikata Campus). • 1980: the Faculty of Law and Letters was divided into three faculties: Letters, Law and Economics. • 1994: the Faculty of Environmental Science and Technology was established. == Academics ==