was a province of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in eastern

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

in the area of Ōita Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with

Buzen Province was an old province of Japan in northern Kyūshū in the area of Fukuoka Prefecture and Ōita Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Bungo Province. Buzen bordered on Bungo and Chikuzen Provinces. History The ruins of the ancient capital ...

. Bungo bordered Buzen, Hyūga, Higo, Chikugo, and Chikuzen Provinces.

History

At the end of the 7th century, Toyo Province was split into ''Buzen'' (literally, "the front of ''Toyo''") and ''Bungo'' ("the back of ''Toyo''"). Until the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese ...

, Bungo was read as ''Toyokuni no Michi no Shiri''. It is believed that the capital of Bungo was located in ''Furugō'' (古国府), literally "old capital," section of the city of Ōita, but as of 2016 no archaeological evidence has been found. The honor of the holiest

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintoist ...

shrine of Bungo Province (豊前一宮, ''Buzen ichinomiya'') was given to

Usa Shrine The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

known as Usa Hachimangu or Usa Jingu in Usa district (today Usa, Ōita). Usa shrine had not only religious authority but also political influence to local governance, but their influence was reduced until the Sengoku period. During the

Sengoku period The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Variou ...

, in the middle of the 16th century, Bungo was a stronghold of the Ōtomo clan. The Ōuchi clan in the western

Chūgoku Region The , also known as the region, is the westernmost region of Honshū, the largest island of Japan. It consists of the prefectures of Hiroshima, Okayama, Shimane, Tottori, and Yamaguchi. In 2010, it had a population of 7,563,428. History '' ...

was influenced to Buzen politics. In the middle of the period, both clans declined. After Toyotomi Hideyoshi also took the power in Kyūshū, 120 thousand

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about . It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1000 gō. One ''gō'' is the volume of the "rice cup", the plastic measuring cup that is supplied ...

of Buzen province was given to

Kuroda Yoshitaka , also known as , was a Japanese '' daimyō'' of the late Sengoku through early Edo periods. Renowned as a man of great ambition, he succeeded Takenaka Hanbei as a chief strategist and adviser to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Kuroda became a Christia ...

since 1587, who made Kokura, currently part of Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, his site and built the castle. Other parts of the province were divided into pieces and given to other '' daimyōs''. In the year 1600 the Dutch ship piloted by the Englishman Will Adams foundered on Bungo's coast. When Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu interviewed Adams, his suspicions were confirmed that the Jesuits, who had been allowed to operate in Japan since the 1540s, were intent on gaining control of the country. When the time was right, in 1614, Ieyasu banished all Christian activity. Thus, Adams' landing in Bungo proved significant to the nation's subsequent history. This series of historic events was the basis of the 1975 book ''

Shogun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

'', and the 1980 miniseries of the same name. In the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, the provinces of Japan were converted into prefectures. Maps of Japan and Bungo Province were reformed in the 1870s.

Shrines and temples

'' Sasamuta-jinja'' and ''

Yusuhara Hachiman-gū 270px, Japan National Route 440 in Yusuhara is a town located in Takaoka District, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 3,285 and a population density of 14 persons per km².The total area of the town is . Ge ...

'' were the chief

Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...

s ('' ichinomiya'') of Bungo."Nationwide List of ''Ichinomiya''," p. 3
; retrieved 2012-1-18.

Historical districts

* Ōita Prefecture ** Amabe District (海部郡) *** Kitaamabe District (北海部郡) - dissolved *** Minamiamabe District (南海部郡) - dissolved ** Hayami District (速見郡) ** Hita District (日高郡) - dissolved ** Kusu District (球珠郡) ** Kunisaki District (国埼郡) *** Higashikunisaki District (東国東郡) *** Nishikunisaki District (西国東郡) - dissolved ** Naoiri District (直入郡) - dissolved ** Ōno District (大野郡) - dissolved ** Ōita District (大分郡) - dissolved

Notes

External links

Murdoch's map of provinces, 1903
{{Japan Old Province Former provinces of Japan

History

Shrines and temples

Historical districts

See also

Notes

External links