Shimousa Province

Shimo province marked in red

Shimousa ( Japanese 下総国 , Shimousa no kuni ) was one of the historical provinces of Japan , which included what is now the northern part of Chiba Prefecture and the southern strip of Ibaraki Prefecture on the island of Honshū . Shimousa bordered the provinces of Hitachi , Kazusa , Kozuke , Musashi, and Shimotsuke . Together with Kazusa it is also called Sōshū ( 総州 ).

history

The province was created in the 7th century by splitting the old province of Fusa ( 総国 ) into the provinces of Kami-tsu-Fusa ("Upper Fusa") and Shimo-tsu-Fusa ("Lower Fusa"). Towards the end of the 7th century, however, the dialect variants Kazusa and Shimousa prevailed. According to their geographical positions, Kazusa was also called Nansō ( 南総 , dt. "South Fusa") and Shimousa also Hokusō ( 北総 , dt. "North Fusa").

Provincial capital and temple

The old provincial capital ( kokufu ) was in the modern district of Kōnodai ( 国府台 ; where Kō is a contraction of Kokufu) from Ichikawa . However, during the feudal era, Sakura became the more important city. Shimousa passed through the hands of various rulers and for a time the province or parts of it was ruled by daimyo of the provinces Musashi or Kazusa.

Fiefdom

In the early Edo period , the following fiefs ( Han ) had their seat in Shimousa:

Kurihara: ruled by Naruse Masanari, income 34,000 Koku Reis.
Koga: ruled by Matsudaira (Toda) Yasunaga, 20,000 koku
Sekiyado: ruled by Matsudaira (Hisamatsu) Yasumoto, 40,000 Koku
Yamazaki: ruled by Okabe Nagamori, 12,000 koku
Yamakawa: (founded 1609) ruled by Matsudaira (Hisamatsu) Sadatsuna, 15,000 koku
Ino: ruled by Honda Narishige, 3,000 Koku (abolished in 1613)
Iwatomi: ruled by Hōjō Ujikatsu, 10,000 Koku (abolished in 1613)
Sakura: in constantly changing possession and size; 1610 ruled by Doi Toshikatsu, 32,400 koku (enlarged with another 12,600 koku in 1612, further gains in the following times)
Iida: (founded 1608, abolished 1613), ruled by Aoyama Narishige, 10,000 koku
Omigawa: from 1602 to 1610, ruled by Doi Toshikatsu, 10,000 Koku, from 1612 ruled by Andō Shigenobu with 16,600 Koku
Moriya: ruled by Toki Sadayoshi, 10,000 Koku

At the end of the Edo period for the Meiji Restoration , the districts of Shimousa brought the following yields: Katsushika> 125,000 Koku from 337 villages, Sashima> 45,000 Koku / 82 villages, Yūki> 35,000 Koku / 53 villages, Toyoda> 38,000 Koku / 80 villages, Okada> 22,000 Koku / 42 villages, Chiba> 44,000 Koku / 136 villages, Inba> 69,000 Koku / 272 villages, Habu> 25,000 Koku / 62 villages, Katori> 149,000 Koku / 296 villages, Sōsa> 37,000 Koku / 68 villages, Kaijō> 27,000 Koku / 70 villages, Sōma> 64,000 / 142 villages and were divided into the following territories:

Shogunate possession ( Bakuryō ) in all twelve counties
Owned by the Hitotsubashi-Tokugawa (one of the Gosankyō branch lines) in the Katsushika and Yūki districts
Property of the Tayasu-Tokugawa (Gosankyō) in the Habu, Katori and Sōma districts
Han based in Shimousa
- Katsushika County
  - Sekiyado with 43,000 Koku there, in two other counties from Shimousa and several other provinces
  - Koga with 80,000 Koku in Katsushika, Sashima and several other provinces
- Yūki based in Yūki County with 18,000 Koku from Yūki County and several other provinces
- Oyumi in Chiba County with 10,000 koku from Chiba, Sōsa and Kaijō counties as well as individual villages in Kazusa and Sagami
- Sakura based in Inba County, consisting of land with 110,000 Koku incomes in several Shimousa counties, especially Inba, Chiba and Habu, as well as in Dewa and several other provinces
- Katori district
  - Omigawa with 10,000 koku in Katori, Kaijō and the province of Mutsu
  - Tako with 10,000 koku in Katori and the provinces of Mutsu and Shimotsuke
  - Takaoka with 10,000 koku in Katori, Inba and Sōma as well as the province of Kazusa
Han with territory in Shimousa, but seat in other provinces
- Mibu (seat: Shimotsuke province) with land in the Gun Katsushika, Sashima and Yūki
- Tanaka (Suruga Province) with land in Katsushika and Sōma
- Mineyama (Tango Province) with land in Sashima County
- Nagatoro (Dewa Province) with land in Toyoda, Chiba and Habu counties
- Sendai (Mutsu Province) with a one-village exclave in Toyoda
- Ushiku (Hitachi Province) owned in Toyoda, Okada, and Sōma counties
- Karasuyama (Shimotsuke Province) owned by Toyoda and Sōma counties
- Hamamatsu (Tōtōmi Province) owned in Inba
- Yodo (Yamashiro Province) with holdings in Inba, Habu, Katori and Sōma
- Tateyama (Awa Province) with two villages in Katori
- Funagata (Awa Province) with a village in Katori
- Annaka (province of Kōzuke) owned in the counties of Katori, Sōsa and Kaijō
- Nishibata (Mikawa Province) owned in Katori and Sōsa
- Takasai (Kōzuke Province) owned in Kaijō
- Ichinomiya (Kazusa Province) owned in Sōma
- Tsuchiura (Hitachi Province) owned in Sōma
small spiritual possessions

As everywhere, some smaller exclaves were administered by the nearby Han, bailiwicks of Bakufu, etc.

Prefectures

After the first consolidation of the prefectures that emerged from the Han in 1871/72, the following prefectures ( Ken ) were located in the area of Shimousa :

Inba, with originally planned administrative headquarters in Inba County, consisting of nine Shimousa counties, brought together the prefectures Sakura, Koga, Sekiyado, Yūki, Oyumi, Sogano (Han established after the Restoration) and Katsushika (originated in the crown domain in Shimousa)
Niihari , which was mainly in Hitachi Province, but also included the districts of Katori, Sōsa and Kaijō in the east of Shimousa, where the prefectures Tako, Omigawa and Takaoka were previously located

In the second wave of prefectural fusions in 1875/76, Inba was ceded to Ibaraki (districts Yūki, Sashima, Okada, Toyoda, parts of Katsushika and Sōma) and Saitama (parts of Katsushika) with Kisarazu, which included the provinces of Kazusa and Awa , merged into Chiba, and Niihari was mainly incorporated into Ibaraki Prefecture, but the three Shimousa counties went to Chiba.

Web links

Map of the counties and prefectures in the provinces of Shimousa and Hitachi after the first wave of prefectural fusions 1871/72 , Map of the prefectures in the Kantō region 1876 (Japanese)

Individual evidence

↑ National Museum of Japanese History : 旧高旧領取調帳データベース (database of feudal territories and income at the end of the shogunate [or shortly afterwards, see notes]) according to the series of publications of the same name (Kimura Motoi: 旧高旧領取調帳 , 6 vols ., Kondō Shuppansha 1969-79), search mask for village, yield, district, province, Han / other ruled area, early Meiji prefecture etc.

35.766388888889 140.33388888889Coordinates: 35 ° 46 ' N , 140 ° 20' E

[1] National Museum of Japanese History : 旧高旧領取調帳データベース (database of feudal territories and income at the end of the shogunate [or shortly afterwards, see notes]) according to the series of publications of the same name (Kimura Motoi: 旧高旧領取調帳 , 6 vols ., Kondō Shuppansha 1969-79), search mask for village, yield, district, province, Han / other ruled area, early Meiji prefecture etc.