List of prime ministers of Japan by education

This is a list of prime ministers of Japan and the educational institutions they attended. As of October 2024, of the 65 prime ministers to date, 17 were educated at the University of Tokyo (called Tokyo Imperial University between 1897 and 1947), seven at Waseda University, six at the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy, five at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, four at Keio University, two at Kyoto University and Meiji University, and one at 13 other institutions. 7 did not attend higher education.

Many prime ministers born and raised during the Edo period didn’t attend university, as there was no degree-awarding higher education at the time. Instead, education was predominantly provided by local temples and shrine priests through private systems such as the Shoheizaka Gakumonjo.^[1][2] Since around the Meiji Restoration, young samurai and heirs of noble families, often backed by the government or feudal lords, began attending universities abroad, such as Itō Hirobumi, who studied at University College London,^[3] and Saionji Kinmochi, who was born into a prominent kuge family and attended the University of Paris. The country’s first university, the University of Tokyo, was established in the 1870s. Since the 1920s, when early graduates of the university had risen through the ranks, most civilian prime ministers have been educated at universities in Japan.