Shimotsuke Province

Shimotsuke Province (下野国, Shimotsuke-no kuni) is an old province of Japan in the area of Tochigi Prefecture on the island of Honshū.[1] It was sometimes called Yashū (野州) or Shimotsuke-shū (下野州).

The ancient capital city of the province was near Tochigi.

Tokugawa Ieyasu's tomb and shrine is at Nikkō, in Shimotsuke.[2]

History

In the Nara period, Shimotsuke was part of Keno Province. This was changed in the reforms of the Taihō Code in 701.[3]

Parts of Shimotsuke were held by a several daimyo during the Sengoku period.

Timeline

  • 1150 (Kyūan 6, 12th month): Minamoto-no Yoshikane, the head of the Ashikaga clan, was established in Shimotsuke Province.[4]
  • 1627 (Kan'ei 4): Inaba Masanari took control of Mōka Domain in Shimotsuke.[5]
  • 1672 (Kanbun 12): Itakura Shigenori was given the fief of Kasuyama Domain in Shimotsuke.[6]
  • 1725 (Kyōhō 10): A cadet branch of the Ōkubo clan was established in Karasuyama Domain in Shimotsuke, where they stayed until the Meiji Restoration.[7]

In the Meiji period, the provinces of Japan were converted into prefectures. Maps of Japan and Shimotsuke Province were reformed in the 1870s.[8]

Shrines and Temples

Futarasan jinja was the chief Shinto shrine (ichinomiya) of Shimotsuke. [9]

References

  1. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Shimotsuke" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 862.
  2. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 410.
  3. Tsunoda, Ryūsaku. (1951). Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories: Later Han through Ming dynasties, p. 18 n25.
  4. Titsingh, p. 187.
  5. Papinot, Edmund. (2003). "Inaba", Nobiliare du Japon, p. 15; Papinot, Jacques. (1906). Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon.
  6. Papinot, "Itakura", pp. 16-17.
  7. Papinot, "Ōkubo", p. 46.
  8. Nussbaum, "Provinces and prefectures" at p. 780.
  9. "Nationwide List of Ichinomiya," p. 2 Archived 2013-05-17 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-1-17.

Other websites

Media related to Shimotsuke Province at Wikimedia Commons