Mutsu Province

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Mutsu Province
陸奥国
Province of Japan
654–1869
Provinces of Japan-Mutsu.svg
Map of Japanese provinces (1868) with Mutsu Province highlighted
Capital Miyagi District
History 
• Established
654
• Disestablished
1869
Succeeded by
Rikuō Province Blank.png
Rikuchū Province Blank.png
Rikuzen Province Blank.png
Iwashiro Province Blank.png
Iwaki Province Blank.png
Today part of Fukushima Prefecture
Miyagi Prefecture
Iwate Prefecture
Akita Prefecture
Aomori Prefecture

Mutsu Province (陸奥国, Mutsu no Kuni; Japanese pronunciation: [mɯꜜ.tsɯ(nokɯ.ɲi)] [1] ) was an province of Japan in what is now Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori Prefectures and the municipalities of Kazuno and Kosaka in Akita Prefecture.

Contents

Mutsu Province is also known as Ōshū (奥州) or Michinoku (陸奥 or 道奥); the Eastern Old Japanese name varied between Mutu and Miti.

The termis often used to refer to

The combined area of Mutsu and the neighbouring Dewa Province is the Tōhoku region, which was also known as Ōu (奥羽) via on'yomi reading (using Chinese pronunciations of the kanji) used for Mutsu and Dewa.

History

Mutsu Province from 7c. to 712 Japan prov map mutsu701.png
Mutsu Province from 7c. to 712
Mutsu Province 718 for several years Japan prov map mutsu718.png
Mutsu Province 718 for several years
Mutsu Province from 1185 to 1868 Japan prov map mutsu.png
Mutsu Province from 1185 to 1868

Invasion by the Kinai government

Mutsu, on northern Honshū, was one of the last provinces to be formed as land was taken from the indigenous Emishi, and became the largest as it expanded northward. The ancient regional capital of the Kinai government was Tagajō in present-day Miyagi Prefecture.

Prosperity of Hiraizumi

In 1095, the Ōshū Fujiwara clan settled at Hiraizumi, under the leadership of Fujiwara no Kiyohira. Kiyohira hoped to "form a city rivaling Kyoto as a centre of culture". The legacy of the Ōshū Fujiwara clan remains with the temples Chūson-ji and Mōtsū-ji in Hiraizumi, and the Shiramizu Amidadō temple building in Iwaki. In 1189, Minamoto no Yoritomo invaded Mutsu with three great forces, eventually killing Fujiwara no Yasuhira and acquiring the entire domain. [4]

Sengoku period

During the Sengoku period, clans ruled parts of the province.

After the Boshin War

Rikuo (Mutsu) Province from 1869 to 1871 Old Japan Mutsu (1869).svg
Rikuō (Mutsu) Province from 1869 to 1871

As a result of the Boshin War, Mutsu Province was divided by the Meiji government, on 19 January 1869, into five provinces: Iwashiro , Iwaki , Rikuzen , Rikuchū , and Rikuō )[ citation needed ]. The fifth of these, corresponding roughly to today's Aomori Prefecture, was assigned the same two kanji as the entire province prior to division; however, the character reading was different. [5] Due to the similarity in characters in the name, this smaller province has also sometimes been referred to as 'Mutsu'.

Districts

Under Ritsuryō

Iwate Prefecture

Miyagi Prefecture

Fukushima Prefecture

Meiji Era

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, ed. (24 May 2016). NHK日本語発音アクセント新辞典 (in Japanese). NHK Publishing.
  2. ↑ Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Mutsu" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 676 , p. 676, at Google Books.
  3. ↑ Titsingh, p. 119. , p. 119, at Google Books
  4. ↑ Sansom, George (1958). A History of Japan to 1334. Stanford University Press. p. 254,326–328. ISBN   0804705232.{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  5. ↑ "地名「三陸地方」の起源に関する地理学的ならびに社会学的問題" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-18.（岩手大学教育学部）

References

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