[4] The Wagakukōdansho was founded in 1793 under the eleventh Shogun, Tokugawa Ienari, by the blind monk and scholar Hanawa Hokiichi [5] in the Banchō area.

Initially located near nowadays Yonbanchō, it moved in 1803 in Omote-Rokubanchō, near present day Sanbanchō 24, into a larger campus of 840 tsubo, roughly 2800 square meters.

Towards the end of the Shogunate the institute conducted research to substantiate the claims of Japan on Hokkaido and the Bonin Islands and drafted diplomatic letters to foreign powers.

The research undertaken was misunderstood to be about the abolishment of the Imperial system in Japan, greatly angering imperialists, and Hanawa Tadatomi was assassinated in front of the institute in February 1863.

The 17,244 printing woodblocks of the Gunsho Ruijū, also designated as Important Cultural Properties, are kept in the storage of the Onkogakkai (温故学会) [11] , an institute dedicated to the works of Hanawa Hokiichi.

The site where the institute stood has been designated a Historic place by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in 1952[13] and a touristic sign now marks its location in Sanbanchō.