Before the school system was reformed after World War II, this school used to be known as Kagoshima Prefectural Daiichi-Kagoshima Middle School (鹿児島県立第一鹿児島中学校, Kagoshima Kenritsu Daiichi Kagoshima Chūgakkō) and Kagoshima Prefectural Daiichi Girls’ High School (鹿児島県立第一高等女学校, Kagoshima Kenritsu Daiichi Kōtōjogakkō).

Daiichi-Kagoshima Middle School was established in 1894 as 鹿児島県尋常中学校 (Kagoshima Ken Jinjō-Chūgakkō)[1][2] and the year is Tsurumaru's founding year.

After World War II, the Seventh Higher School Zoshikan (第七高等学校造士館, Daishichi Kōtō Gakkō Zōshikan) on the former site of Tsurumaru Castle was closed because of the educational reform in occupied Japan.

[note 2] People named the successor of Daiichi-Kagoshima Middle School "Tsurumaru" after the site of the Seventh Higher School because they missed it.

[2] The school emblem features a crane spreading its wings because Tsuru (鶴) means a crane in Japanese.