The Kaisei Academy (開成学園) is a preparatory private

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

for boys located in the Arakawa ward of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan. It was founded in 1871. The Kaisei Academy has since educated notable figures across many different fields and is considered one of the most prestigious schools in the country. As of 2021, the school has had the most number of entrants to the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

, which is regarded as the best university in Japan.

Overview

Founded in 1871, the Kaisei Academy has produced a large number of notable alumni. Every year three hundred students are admitted to its junior high school, and one hundred students to its high school. The school's primary policy is 質実剛健 (Shitsu-jitsu-gou-ken), which means strong, simple, or spartan. The school policy is well represented in its school events such as an athletic meeting, marathon, swimming summer school, annual boat race with Senior High School at Otsuka,

University of Tsukuba is a public university, public research university located in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Ibaraki, Japan. It is a top 10 Designated National University, and was ranked Type A by the Japanese government as part of the Top Global University Pro ...

History

The school, which has produced hundreds of notable alumni, was founded in 1871. At first, it was established as the Kyōryū Gakkō as a preparatory school. After World War II, this school was integrated into the University of Tokyo. Its motto is "

The pen is mightier than the sword "The pen is mightier than the sword" is a metonymic adage, created by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839, indicating that the written word is more effective than violence as a means of social or political change. Under some interpretati ...

", and is often known by the Japanese abbreviation "pen-ken" (pen-sword).

Notable alumni

Okada Keisuke was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy, politician and Prime Minister of Japan from 1934 to 1936. Biography Early life Okada was born on 20 January 1868, in Fukui Prefecture, the son of a samurai of the Fukui Domain. He attended the 15th ...

, (1868 – 1952) Prime Minister from 1934 to 1936 / Temporary on the register In the prepschool age * Ikeda Kikunae, (1864 – 1936) who identified the flavour

umami Umami ( from ja, 旨味 ), or savoriness, is one of the five basic tastes. It has been described as savory and is characteristic of broths and cooked meats. People taste umami through taste receptors that typically respond to glutamates and ...

/ In the prepschool age * Kogorō Takahira, (1854 - 1926) Japan's Ambassador to the United States from 1900 to 1909. * Physicist Nagaoka Hantarō, (1865 – 1950), who developed the

Saturnian model was a Japanese physicist and a pioneer of Japanese physics during the Meiji period. Life Nagaoka was born in Nagasaki, Japan on August 19, 1865 and educated at the University of Tokyo. After graduating with a degree in physics in 1887, Naga ...

of the

atom Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and a number of neutrons. Only the most common variety of hydrogen has no neutrons. Every solid, liquid, gas, and ...

/ In the prepschool age * Poet

Masaoka Shiki , pen-name of Masaoka Noboru (正岡升), was a Japanese poet, author, and literary critic in Meiji period Japan. Shiki is regarded as a major figure in the development of modern haiku poetry, credited with writing nearly 20,000 stanzas during ...

, one of the "four great masters" of the

haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...

/ In the prepschool age * Poet and author

Shimazaki Tōson Shimazaki (written: , or ) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Aki Shimazaki Aki Shimazaki (born 1966 in Gifu, Gifu, Gifu, Japan) is a Canadian novelist and Translation, translator. She moved to Canada in 1981, livin ...

(1872-1943), leading figure in the Meiji Romantic movement. / In the prepschool age * Admiral

Akiyama Saneyuki was a Meiji-period career officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy. He was famous as a planner of Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War. The Japanese general Akiyama Yoshifuru was his elder brotherDupuy, Encyclopedia of Military Biography ...

(1868-1918), planner of the Japanese strategy at the

Battle of Tsushima The Battle of Tsushima (Japanese:対馬沖海戦, Tsushimaoki''-Kaisen'', russian: Цусимское сражение, ''Tsusimskoye srazheniye''), also known as the Battle of Tsushima Strait and the Naval Battle of Sea of Japan (Japanese: 日 ...

/ In the prepschool age * Vice Admiral Yamaguchi Tamon (1892 - June 4, 1942), commander of the aircraft carrier '' Hiryū'' at the

Battle of Midway The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. The U.S. Navy under Adm ...

* Mutō Toshirō (1934- ), former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Japan. *

Fumio Kishida is a Japanese politician serving as Prime Minister of Japan and president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2021. A member of the House of Representatives, he previously served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2017 and ...

(1957-) Prime Minister from 2021-

References

External links

Kaisei AcademySchool profile
Educational institutions established in 1871 Private schools in Tokyo Boys' schools in Japan High schools in Tokyo 1871 establishments in Japan {{Japan-school-stub