History

1910s photo — Imperial College of Agriculture and Forestry, Morioka in early Taisho era (1910s)

This building was constructed in December 1912 as the main building of the Imperial College of Agriculture and Forestry, Morioka, which was established in 1902 as the first college of Agriculture and Forestry in Japan. It is a two-story wooden structure built of Aomori Hiba (Thujopsis dolabrata) and the European influence on the architectural style that was common in the late Meiji era in Japan can be seen. Originally, the first floor of this building held the President Room, Administration Office and a Conference Room, while the second floor held an auditorium (Dai-Kodo) used for various college events. In 1949, the College was reorganized into Iwate University as the result of drastic educational reforms, and the building was used as the university headquarters. The headquarters were moved to their present site in 1974. The building was restored in 1977 with contributions from alumni, and has since been used as the Historical Museum for Agricultural Education. The building was designated as an Important Cultural Property in 1994, followed by a large-scale restoration to its original form at the time of construction, and has been preserved to the present day. It is one of the few buildings still surviving as a central facility of a national professional college that was established in the Meiji era and a precious resource for studying the history of school architecture.

Year	Era	Major events
1912	Taisho 1	Inauguration as the main building of the Imperial College of Agriculture and Forestry, Morioka
1949	Showa 24	Used as the headquarters of Iwate University
1974	Showa 49	Used for cultural clubs due to the relocation of the headquarters
1977	Showa 52	Renovated with donations from alumni
1978	Showa 53	Managed as the Historical Museum for Agricultural Education
1980	Showa 55	First time maintenance work was done on the Historical Museum
1989	Showa 64	Second time maintenance work was done on the Historical Museum in preparation for the 90th anniversary, exhibition of bird specimens
1995	Heisei 7	Major renovation upon the designation to be an Important Cultural Property, maintenance work done on exhibition rooms
2000	Heisei 12	Maintenance work on exhibition rooms for the centennial anniversary and organizing collections
2005	Heisei 17	Launch of the Fourth Exhibition Room (former Third Exhibition Room, Kenji Miyazawa related materials)
2008	Heisei 20	Website development, launch of volunteer guides
2012	Heisei 24	Reinforced against earthquakes, cataloging of archives in preparation for the 110th anniversary
2013	Heisei 25	Reopening, integration and organization of collections
2015	Heisei 27	Repair and maintenance work on bird specimens

Former directors of the Historical Museum for Agricultural Education

Generation	Years in office	Name	Affiliation	Graduation/completion
1st	1978-1979	Tomijiro Oya	Department of Agricultural Chemistry, professor	Graduated from the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, the Imperial College of Agriculture and Forestry, Morioka in 1937
2nd	1979-1981	Eiichi Yoshida	Department of Forestry, professor	Graduated from the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, the Imperial College of Agriculture and Forestry, Morioka in 1949
3rd	1981-1987	Masaya Sawafuji	Department of Forestry, professor	Graduated from the Department of Forestry, the Imperial College of Agriculture and Forestry, Morioka in 1941
4th	1987-1996	Morihisa Kurihara	Department of Agriculture, professor	Department of Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University, graduated in 1953
5th	1996-1997	Yonekichi Sakurai	Department of Agricultural Chemistry, professor	Graduated from the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University in 1954
6th	1997-2001	Naonori Matsusaka	Department of Veterinary Medicine, professor	Graduated from the Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University in 1959
7th	2001-2006	Norio Wakao	Department of Agriculture and Life Sciences, professor	Graduated from the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University in 1964, completed graduate school in 1966
8th	2006-2010	Tomotada Ono	Department of Agriculture and Life Sciences, professor	Graduated from the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University in 1967, completed graduate school in 1969
9th	2010-2014	Jun-ichi Takeda	Department of Agro-biosciences, professor	Graduated from the Department of Agricultural Machinery, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University in 1977, completed graduate school in 1979
10th	2014-2018	Reeko Sato	Veterinary Teaching Hospital,professor	Graduated from the Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University in 1979, completed graduate school in 1981
11th	2018-	Kikukatsu Ito	Department of Biological Chemistry, professor	Completed study at the Department of Agricultural Sciences (Agricultural Chemistry), Iwate University in 1988 and completed study at the Graduate School of Medical Science, Yamagata University (3rd research group) in 1991

Generation / Years in office	Name / Affiliation / Graduation/completion
1st 1978-1979	Tomijiro Oya Department of Agricultural Chemistry, professor Graduated from the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, the Imperial College of Agriculture and Forestry, Morioka in 1937
2nd 1979-1981	Eiichi Yoshida Department of Forestry, professor Graduated from the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, the Imperial College of Agriculture and Forestry, Morioka in 1949
3rd 1981-1987	Masaya Sawafuji Department of Forestry, professor Graduated from the Department of Forestry, the Imperial College of Agriculture and Forestry, Morioka in 1941
4th 1987-1996	Morihisa Kurihara Department of Agriculture, professor Department of Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University, graduated in 1953
5th 1996-1997	Yonekichi Sakurai Department of Agricultural Chemistry, professor Graduated from the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University in 1954
6th 1997-2001	Naonori Matsusaka Department of Veterinary Medicine, professor Graduated from the Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University in 1959
7th 2001-2006	Norio Wakao Department of Agriculture and Life Sciences, professor Graduated from the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University in 1964, completed graduate school in 1966
8th 2006-2010	Tomotada Ono Department of Agriculture and Life Sciences, professor Graduated from the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University in 1967, completed graduate school in 1969
9th 2010-2014	Jun-ichi Takeda Department of Agro-biosciences, professor Graduated from the Department of Agricultural Machinery, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University in 1977, completed graduate school in 1979
10th 2014-2018	Reeko Sato Veterinary Teaching Hospital,professor Graduated from the Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University in 1979, completed graduate school in 1981
11th 2018-	Kikukatsu Ito Department of Biological Chemistry, professor Completed study at the Department of Agricultural Sciences (Agricultural Chemistry), Iwate University in 1988 and completed study at the Graduate School of Medical Science, Yamagata University (3rd research group) in 1991

Researchers

1978-	Shigeru Kamei	Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University, instructor (retired in 1996)
1981-1982	Eiichi Yoshida	2nd director (retired in 1982)
2006-	Norio Wakao	7th director (retired in 2006)
2010-	Tomotada Ono	8th director (retired in 2010)
2014-	Jun-ichi Takeda	9th director
2018-	Reeko Sato	10th director