The root of the university was Yamaguchi Auditorium (山口講堂, Yamaguchi kōdō), a private school founded by Ueda Hōyō (上田鳳陽, 1769–1853) in 1815.[2] 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 (older) Yamaguchi Higher School (山口高等学校, Yamaguchi kōtō gakkō), a national institute of higher education. It served as a preparatory course for the Imperial University. In February 1905 the school was reorganized into Yamaguchi Higher School of Commerce (山口高等商業学校, Yamaguchi kōtō shōgyō gakkō), 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
Yoshida Campus (in Yamaguchi)
Faculty of Humanities
Faculty of Education
Faculty of Economics
Faculty of Science
Faculty of Agriculture
Kogushi Campus (in Ube)
School of Medicine
Tokiwa Campus (in Ube)
Faculty of Engineering
Graduate schools
Graduate School of Humanities (Master's courses only)
Graduate School of Education (Master's courses only)
Graduate School of Economics (Master's courses only)
Graduate School of Medicine
Graduate School of Science and Engineering
Graduate School of Agriculture (Master's courses only)
Graduate School of East Asian Studies (Doctoral courses only)
Graduate School of Innovation and Technology Management (professional courses)
United Graduate School of Veterinary Science, Yamaguchi University (Doctoral courses only)
United Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tottori University (Doctoral courses only)