Ashikaga Gakko, the oldest university in Japan

The historical heritage Ashikaga Gakko (Ashikaga school) is located in Ashikaga city, Tochigi.

The school had old traditional buildings, library, traditional Japanese-style garden and even vegetable gardens in the school grounds.

There are various theories about the origin of Ashikaga Gakko.

The theories say it was founded in Heian, Kamakura or Muromachi period. 

So the time the school build is still not confirmed, but it was sure that Uesugi Norizane rebuilt the school at the Muromachi period.

Uesugi Norizane (1410-1466) was on the position of "Kanto Kanrei (a deputy for Kanto region)" at the time.

He contributed texts of the Chinese classics to the school and invited the Zen monk Kaigen from Kamakura as the head of the school.

Like Kaigen most of teachers were monks, but Uesugi Norizane set the rule that the school didn't teach any Buddhism texts to students.

There had been Buddhism schools that was run by temples such as Enryaku-ji or Kongobu-ji in Japan, but as a school which didn't teach any Buddhism, Ashikaga Gakko was the first one.

The people came to study Confucianism, the art of divination, military science or other studies from all over Japan.

Ashikaga Gakko got a great reputation.

Also in 1549, the Catholic missionary Francis Xavier who came to Japan, called the school "The greatest, largest and most famous university of Kanto region".

Some of Graduates from the school hired by daimyo or warlords as strategists.

To become strategists, to enroll to Ashikaga Gakko was the most certain way.

Today Ashikaga Gakko is managed as a historical site and not a public school, but still they have some classes about Chinese classics for applicants.

If you learn the studies at the school, maybe you can have same experience as former strategists at the medieval period.