Faculty Background and History

Overview of the Faculty of Literature and Science（Circa 1960）

The Faculty of Humanities was established in 1987 by reorganizing and expanding the Faculty of Literature and Science’s Department of Literature. The predecessor to today’s Faculty of Humanities, the Faculty of Literature and Science’s parent organization was the Yamaguchi Senior High School, founded in 1919. The faculty itself was created in 1949 as one of the five faculties of the newly established Yamaguchi University. The Faculty was originally located in Itoyone and moved to Ushirogawara in 1954, before moving again to its present site on the new Yoshida campus in 1968. When first established, the Faculty offered general education alongside its various specialist courses, but in 1966, the Liberal Arts School was established allowing the Faculty to focus on the specialist curriculum. Classes were small, allowing the close contact between teaching staff and students which would come to characterize the institution. The number of students graduating from the Department of Literature, Faculty of Literature and Science during this period exceeded 1,745. Graduates are currently flourishing in such fields as education, government and business.

Between its first graduations in March 1982, and the end of March 2009, the Faculty of Humanities saw 5,233 students graduate and enter society. Continuing the traditions of the former Faculty of Literature and Science, these graduates have advanced into a broad range of fields.

In April 1985, the Graduate School of Humanities was established in the Faculty of Humanities, offering a master’s course. The School offers two majors: Regional Culture, and Language & Culture. In April 2001, a post-graduate doctoral course in East Asian Studies was established, creating an opportunity to take courses on comparative cultures of East Asia and a path to acquire a PhD in Humanities.

In April 2016, the Faculty and Graduate School will be reorganized with the Faculty’s two departments being combined into one, and the Graduate School’s two majors also being replaced with a single one.