Located in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, three of its buildings have been designated Important Cultural Properties and the school is a Special Historic Site.

His pro-sonnō jōi views often were at odds with the tairō Ii Naosuke and he was also influenced by the nativist kokugaku philosophy, both of which laid the foundations of the Meiji restoration as well as the development of State Shinto[4] The academy he founded in Mito also promoted to Mitogaku school established by Tokugawa Mitsukuni.

[5] However, the situation in Mito Domain was very unstable during the Boshin War, and he was ordered to relocate to Shizuoka a few months later.

The Meiji government's fears were well-founded, as only a few months after he relocated, survivors of the Battle of Aizu barricaded themselves within the Kōdōkan.

The park is planted with some 60 varieties of Prunus mume, some of which date from the time of Tokugawa Nariaki.