Mimasaka Province

Mimasaka Province (美作国, Mimasaka no kuni) or Sakushu (作州, Sakushū) was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today northeastern Okayama Prefecture.[1] Mimasaka bordered Bitchū, Bizen, Harima, Hōki, and Inaba Provinces.

Map of Japanese provinces (1868) with Mimasaka Province highlighted

Mimasaka was landlocked, and was often ruled by the daimyō in Bizen. The ancient capital and castle town was Tsuyama. During the Edo period the province was controlled by the Tsuyama Domain.

Mimasaka is the home of the samurai Miyamoto Musashi, the author of The Book of Five Rings.

Historical record

In the 3rd month of the 6th year of the Wadō era (713), the land of Mimasaka no kuni was administratively separated from Bizen Province. In that same year, Empress Genmei's Daijō-kan continued to organize other cadastral changes in the provincial map of the Nara period.

In Wadō 6, Tanba Province was sundered from Tango Province; and Hyūga Province was divided from Ōsumi Province.[2] In Wadō 5 (712), Mutsu Province had been severed from Dewa Province.[2]

Shrines and temples

Nakayama Shrine was the chief Shinto shrine (ichinomiya) of Mimasaka. [3]

Historical districts
  • Okayama Prefecture
    • Aida District (英田郡) – absorbed Yoshino District on April 1, 1900
    • Kumehokujō District (久米北条郡) – merged with Kumenanjō District to become Kume District (久米郡) on April 1, 1890
    • Kumenanjō District (久米南条郡) – merged with Kumehokujō District to become Kume District on April 1, 1890
    • Mashima District (真島郡) – merged with Ōba District to become Maniwa District (真庭郡) on April 1, 1890
    • Ōba District (大庭郡) – merged with Mashima District to become Maniwa District on April 1, 1890
    • Saihokujō District (西北条郡) – merged with Saisaijō, Tōhokujō and Tōnanjō Districts to become Tomata District (苫田郡) on April 1, 1890
    • Saisaijō District (西西条郡) – merged with Saihokujō, Tōhokujō and Tōnanjō Districts to become Tomata District on April 1, 1890
    • Shōboku District (勝北郡) – merged with Shōnan District to become Katsuta District (勝田郡) on April 1, 1890
    • Shōnan District (勝南郡) – merged with Shōboku District to become Katsuta District on April 1, 1890
    • Tōhokujō District (東北条郡) – merged with Saihokujō, Saisaijō and Tōnanjō Districts to become Tomata District on April 1, 1890
    • Tōnanjō District (東南条郡) – merged with Saihokujō, Saisaijō and Tōhokujō Districts to become Tomata District on April 1, 1890
    • Yoshino District (吉野郡) – merged into Aida District on April 1, 1900

See also

Notes
  1. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Mimasaka" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 631, p. 631, at Google Books.
  2. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 64., p. 64, at Google Books
  3. "Nationwide List of Ichinomiya," p. 3 Archived 2013-05-17 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-11-20.

References
  • Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128
  • Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon (Nihon Ōdai Ichiran). Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691.

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