The root of the university was , a private school founded by Ueda Hōyō (, 1769–1853) in 1815. In 1863 the school became a
han school of
Chōshū Domain and was renamed Yamaguchi
Meirinkan. After the
Meiji Restoration it became a prefectural secondary school, and in 1894 it developed into , a national institute of higher education. It served as a preparatory course for the
Imperial University. In February 1905 the school was reorganized into , the third national commercial college in Japan, after
Tokyo (1887) and
Kobe (1902). In 1944 the school was renamed
Yamaguchi College of Economics. In 1949 Yamaguchi University was established by integrating six public (national and prefectural) schools in Yamaguchi Prefecture, namely, (Revived)
Yamaguchi Higher School,
Yamaguchi College of Economics,
Ube Technical College,
Yamaguchi Normal School,
Yamaguchi Youth Normal School and (Prefectural)
Yamaguchi College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry. In 1964 Yamaguchi Prefectural Medical College was merged into the university to constitute the School of Medicine. In 1966 Yoshida Campus (the main campus) was opened, and the faculties (except Engineering and Medicine) moved to the campus in the following years. == Undergraduate schools ==