Chidokan is the Shonai domain's academy founded in 1805 by the ninth lord Sakai Tadaari. The only surviving domain school building in Tohoku, it is a National Historic Site. Its curriculum, based on Ogyu Sorai's classical school, emphasized self-study, a pedagogy that influenced Japanese education into the Meiji era.

Chidokan was established in 1805 in the Baba-machi district of Tsuruoka castle town by Sakai Tadaari, the ninth lord of the Shonai domain. The name 'Chidokan' is said to derive from a passage in the Book of Rites, and the academy adopted an educational philosophy rooted in the classical school of Co…