Dewa Province (出羽国, Dewa no kuni) was a province of Japan comprising modern-day Yamagata Prefecture and Akita Prefecture, [1] except for the city of Kazuno and the town of Kosaka. Dewa bordered on Mutsu and Echigō Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was Ushū (羽州).
Prior to the Asuka period, Dewa was inhabited by Ainu or Emishi tribes, and was effectively outside of the control of the Yamato dynasty. Abe no Hirafu conquered the native Emishi tribes at what are now the cities of Akita and Noshiro in 658 and established a fort on the Mogami River. In 708 AD Dewa District (出羽郡, Dewa-gun) was created within Echigō Province. The area of Dewa District was roughly that of the modern Shōnai area of Yamagata Prefecture, and was gradually extended to the north as the Japanese pushed back the indigenous people of northern Honshū. Dewa District was promoted to the status of a province (Dewa Province (出羽国, Dewa no kuni)) in 712 AD, and gained Okitama and Mogami Districts, formerly part of Mutsu Province. [2]
A number of military expeditions were sent to the area, with armed colonists forming settlements with wooden palisades across central Dewa in what is now the Shōnai area of Yamagata Prefecture. The capital of the new province was initially established at Dewanosaku (出羽柵), a fortified settlement in what is now part of Sakata, Yamagata, which served as a vital military stronghold in the expansion of Yamato control and settlement in the region. In 733, the capital was moved north, and a new military settlement, later named “Akita Castle”, was built what is now in the Takashimizu area of the city of Akita. Abe no Yakamaro was sent as Chinjufu-shōgun. In 737, a major military operation began to connect Akita Castle with Taga Castle on the Pacific Coast. Over the next 50 years, additional fortifications were erected at Okachi in Dewa Province and Monofu in Mutsu Province involving a force of over 5000 men. The road was greatly resented by the Emishi tribes, and after an uprising in 767, pacification expeditions were carried out in 776, 778, 794, 801 and 811. [3]
During the Nara period, under the Engishiki classification system, Dewa was ranked as a "greater country" (上国). Under the ritsuryō system, Dewa was classed as a “far country” (遠国). The name of the province was originally pronounced “Idewa”. The Ichinomiya of Dewa Province was the Chōkaisan Omonoimi Jinja in what is now Yuza, Yamagata.
During the Heian period, in 878, a major rebellion known as the Ganki Disturbance (元慶の乱, Ganki no ran) erupted in the region against Yamato rule. Another major uprising occurred in 939, as part of East Japan war Tengyō no Ran. Towards the end of the Heian period, the province was organized into eleven districts. It was later a battleground in the Gosannen War and the Former Nine Years War.
Following the destruction of the Northern Fujiwara clan by the forces of the Kamakura shogunate in 1189, many Fujiwara partisans fled to the mountains of Dewa and continued to resist central authority. The area was divided into numerous shōen during the Kamakura period, which developed into the centers of numerous rival samurai clans. In 1335, Shiba Kaneyori received the Dewa Province as a fief from Ashikaga Takauji, [4] but ruled it only in name. By the end of the Sengoku period, the Mogami clan had emerged as the strongest local force in the southern portion of the province, whereas the Akita clan dominated the northern portion of the province. Both clans sided with Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Battle of Sekigahara, and were thus secured in their holdings at the start of the Tokugawa shogunate.
During the early Edo period, both the Mogami and the Akita were dispossessed, and their territories broken up into smaller domains, the largest of which were held by the Sakai clan and Uesugi clans. During the Bakumatsu period, all of the domains in the area joined the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei supporting the Tokugawa shogunate. Following the defeat of the pro-Tokugawa forces, the new Meiji government reorganized Dewa province into Ugo Province (羽後国) in the north, and Uzen Province (羽前国) in the south in 1868.These provinces became Akita Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture on August 2, 1876. [5]
| Name | type | daimyo | kokudaka | notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kubota Domain | tozama | Satake | 205,000 koku | also known as Akita Domain |
| Kameda Domain | tozama | Iwaki | 20,000 koku | |
| Honjō Domain | tozama | Rokugō | 20,000 koku | |
| Shōnai-Matsuyama Domain | fudai | Sakai | 20,000 koku | sub of Shōnai Domain |
| Shōnai Domain | fudai | Sakai | 170,000 koku | also known as Tsuruoka Domain |
| Yamagata Domain | fudai | Mizuno | 50,000 koku | |
| Kaminoyama Domain | fudai | Matsudaira (Fujii) | 30,000 koku | |
| Tendō Domain | tozama | Oda | 20,000 koku | |
| Nagatoro Domain | fudai | Yonekitsu | 10,000 koku | |
| Yonezawa Domain | tozama | Uesugi | 167,000 koku | |
| Kubota Shinden Domain | tozama | Satake | 20,000 koku | sub of Kubota Domain |
| Yonezawa Shinden Domain | tozama | Uesugi | 10,000 koku | sub of Yonezawa domain |
| Shinjō Domain | fudai | Tozawa | 68,800 koku | |
The Tōhoku region, Northeast region, or Northeast Japan consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (ken): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata.
Provinces of Japan were first-level administrative divisions of Japan from the 600s to 1868.
Shinjō is a city in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. As of 1 January 2020, the city had an estimated population of 34,937, and a population density of 160 persons per km². The total area of the city is 223.08 km².
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Uzen Province is an old province of Japan in the area of Yamagata Prefecture. It was sometimes called Ushū (羽州), with Ugo Province.
Ugo Province is an old province of Japan in the area of Akita Prefecture and some parts of Yamagata Prefecture. It was sometimes called Ushū (羽州), with Uzen Province.
Mutsu Province was an old province of Japan in the area of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori Prefectures and the municipalities of Kazuno and Kosaka in Akita Prefecture.
Echigo Province was an old province in north-central Japan, on the shores of the Sea of Japan. It bordered on Uzen, Iwashiro, Kōzuke, Shinano, and Etchū Provinces. It corresponds today to Niigata Prefecture, minus the island of Sado.
Bizen Province was a province of Japan on the Inland Sea side of Honshū, in what is today the southeastern part of Okayama Prefecture. It was sometimes called Bishū (備州), with Bitchū and Bingo Provinces. Bizen borders Mimasaka, Harima, and Bitchū Provinces.
Akumi District is a rural district located in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan.
National Route 7 is a major north-south national highway on the Sea of Japan side of the island of Honshū, Japan. It traverses four prefectures, with Niigata at its southern end, then Yamagata, Akita, and finally, Aomori at its northern end. The 471.8-kilometer (293.2 mi) long highway begins at an intersection with national routes 8, 17, 113, 116, 289, 350, and 402 in the capital of Niigata, Niigata. Travelling north, the highway links the prefectural capitals Akita and Aomori. In central Aomori the highway ends at the northern terminus of National Route 4 and National Route 45.
Shōnai Domain was a feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province, Japan. It was centered on Tsuruoka Castle in what is now the city of Tsuruoka in Yamagata Prefecture, and was thus also known as the Tsuruoka Domain. It was governed for the whole of its history by the Sakai clan, which resulted in an unusually stable and prosperous domain. During their rule over Shōnai, the Sakai clan was ranked as a province-holding daimyō family, and as such, had the privilege of shogunal audiences in the Great Hall (Ohiroma) of Edo Castle. In the Boshin War of 1868–69, the domain joined the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei, the alliance of northern domains supporting the Tokugawa shogunate, but then later defected to the imperial side. As with all other domains, it was disbanded in 1871.
Mogami clan (最上氏) were Japanese daimyōs, and were a branch of the Ashikaga family. In the Sengoku period, they were the Sengoku daimyōs who ruled Dewa Province which is now Yamagata Prefecture and Akita Prefecture.
Kaminoyama Domain a feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province, Japan. It was centered on Kaminoyama Castle in what is now the city of Kaminoyama, Yamagata.
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Kameda Domain was a feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province, Japan. It was centered on Kameda Castle in what is now the city of Yurihonjō, Akita.
Akita Castle refers to the ruins of a Nara period fortified settlement located in what is now the city Akita, Akita Prefecture, Japan. It is also sometimes referred to as “Fort Akita”. The name is sometimes also used for Kubota Castle, an Edo period Japanese castle which served as the headquarters or the Satake, daimyō of Kubota Domain, rulers of northern Dewa Province under the Tokugawa shogunate.
Hiyama Castle is a Sengoku period Japanese castle located in what is now part of the city of Noshiro, Akita Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of Japan. The site of Hiyama Castle proper, the outlying Ōdate (大館跡), and Chausu (茶臼館跡) fortifications and the ruins of the temple of Kokusei-ji (国清寺跡) were collectively designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1979.
Tozawa clan was a Japanese samurai kin group from Mutsu and Dewa Provinces who ruled as daimyō of Shinjō Domain under the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate. The Tozawa clan residence in Edo was located near the temple of Zōjō-ji.
The Nakayamagoe Pass is a mountain pass in Ōu Mountains on the Dewa Sendai Kaidō, a branch of the Ōshū Kaidō highway, which connected Sendai in what is now Miyagi Prefecture with Sakata in what is now Yamagata Prefecture on the Sea of Japan. It was proclaimed a National Historic Site in 1990.
Coordinates: 39°00′59″N140°19′02″E / 39.01639°N 140.31722°E