Kyoto University (京都大学, Kyōto daigaku), or Kyodai (京大, Kyōdai) is a national university located in Kyoto, Japan. It is the second oldest Japanese university, and formerly one of Japan's Imperial Universities. The forerunner of the Kyoto University was the Chemistry School (舎密局, Seimikyoku) founded in Osaka in 1869, which, despite its name, taught physics as well. (舎密 is a transcription of a Dutch word chemie.) Later, the Third Higher School (第三髙等學校, Daisan kōtō gakkō) was established in the place of Seimi-kyoku in 1886, it then transferred to the university's present main campus in the same year. Kyoto Imperial University (京都帝國大學, Kyōto teikoku daigaku) as a part of the Imperial University system was established on June 18, 1897, using the Third Higher School's buildings. The higher school moved to a patch of land just across the street, where the Yoshida South Campus stands today. In the same year of the university's establishment, the College of Science and Technology was founded. The College of Law and the College of Medicine were founded in 1899, the College of Letters in 1906, expanding the university's activities to areas outside natural science.