The first 23 graduates of the Imperial College of Engineering in Tokyo, or Kobu-Daigakko, founded the Society of Engineering, or Kogakkai, in 1879 as an alumni association. After 1882, the society began allowing other engineers to become regular members. This paper discusses the process how this private organization turned into a public society by uncovering the detail of its early history: establishment; formation of the rule, meetings, the bulletin and journal; registration of other engineers; and the role of Yozo Yamao. Initially, the leading members had been doing only administrative works at the monthly meetings, such as collecting membership fees and revising the rules. The members gradually began holding seminars on industrial and engineering topics. In 1880, they began circulating a bulletin, Kogaku Soshi (later Kogakkai-shi), for the members, and printed eight issues. In response to the requests of non-members, they published the bulletin publicly the following year. In 1882, the society asked a prominent leading figure of engineering Yozo Yamao, one of the co-founders of the Imperial College of Engineering, to be president. Yamao did not engage in any activities while he was president, but he played a role, as a representative, in giving the society wider legitimacy in the engineering world. The early history of the society indicates that the graduates of the College took an active part in the academic field of engineering. Within two years of the 23 members graduating, they made the society a leader in the underdeveloped community of late 19th-century Japan.
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