About Tokyo University

The University of Tokyo, often abbreviated to Todai from Tokyo Daigaku (東京大学), was established in 1877 by merging two existing public educational institutes. In 1886 it was renamed the Imperial University, and subsequently in 1897 the Imperial University of Tokyo. It has been the top ranking university in Japan ever since its foundation. It is also the largest public university in Japan.
Its main campus is located here at Hongo and Yayoi along with Komaba Campus in Meguro-ku, but there are many subsidiary campuses other than these.
On Hongo campus most of the university buildings built prior to the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 were destroyed by the quake since they were built with bricks. After this, school buildings were reconstructed with reinforced concrete toresist quakes andd fires. Most of them were designed in the Gothic style by Professor Uchida Yoshikazu, and a few dozens of them still exist up to now, making this campus look like a town as a result.

Notable buildings

The Hongo campus was where the main Edo residence of Maeda clan, the Daimyo (domain lord) who ruled present Ishikawa Prefecture, was located in the Edo period. Akamon, or the Red Gate, was constructed in 1827 for the daughter of a Tokugawa shogun who became the official wife of the lord. This gate is one of the symbols of Tokyo University.

Sanshiro-ike Pond was the pond of the Japanese garden created in the residence of the Maeda clan. It is said that it was well-known for its beauty in those days but now it's almost just a pond.

This brick building, constructed in 1916, is the only existing building - except for smaller ones - in Hongo campus built before the huge earthquake which took place in 1923.
There was a wooden building built in 1876 which also survived the quake, and it's now relocated next to Koishikawa Botanical Garden, which is a facility of the university.