Kodokan

The Kodokan was the largest han school during the Bakumatsu period, the final years of the Edo period. It was established in 1841 by Tokugawa Nariaki, the ninth daimyo of Mito Domain, who was a prominent figure in the late Tokugawa shogunate and a strong advocate of Neo-Confucianism and Japanese nativism. The school's curriculum included a wide range of subjects such as medicine, mathematics, astronomy, Confucianism, history, music, and military arts. In the latter half of the 19th century, it became a centre of rebellion against the central power of the Shogunate. The school closed down in 1872 after the Meiji Restoration and the site was later designated as a public park. Some of the buildings were damaged in the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. The school is now designated as a Special Historic Site.