was an old 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 northern

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 surround ...

in the area of

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders S ...

and

Ōita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,136,245 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,340 km2 (2,448 sq mi). Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, Kumam ...

. It was sometimes called , with

Bungo Province was a province of Japan in eastern Kyūshū in the area of Ōita Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Buzen Province. Bungo bordered Buzen, Hyūga, Higo, Chikugo, and Chikuzen Provinces. History At the end of the 7th century, Toyo ...

. Buzen bordered on Bungo and Chikuzen Provinces.

History

The ruins of the ancient capital of the province were found near

Toyotsu, Fukuoka was a town located in Miyako District, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of 2006, the town had an estimated population of 8,566 and a density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The sy ...

. The castle town of

Kokura is an ancient castle town and the center of Kitakyushu, Japan, guarding the Straits of Shimonoseki between Honshu and Kyushu with its suburb Moji. Kokura is also the name of the penultimate station on the southbound San'yō Shinkansen lin ...

was also in Buzen, and a seat of many feudal rulers. Hiroshige Buzen Rakanji

During 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 Buzen Province were

reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill#The Yorkshire Associati ...

ed in the 1870s. After the abolition of the clan system in 1871 Buzen Province became

Kokura Prefecture The short-lived of Japan was founded separately from Fukuoka Prefecture in December 1871 after the clan system was abolished earlier that year. It was made up of three separate han territories (Buzen, Kokura and Nakatsu) which were, each for a ...

for four years until it was absorbed by

in 1876. At the same time, the province continued to exist for some purposes. For example, Buzen is explicitly recognized in the 1894 treaties with the

United States 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 ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Shrines and temples

'' Usa jinjū'' was 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 ...

(''

ichinomiya is a Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a province. Shrines of lower rank were designated , , , and so forth. ''Encyclopedia of Shinto'' ''Ichi no miya'' retrieved 2013-5-14. The term gave rise t ...

'') of Buzen. "Nationwide List of ''Ichinomiya''," p. 3
; retrieved 2012-1-18.

Historical districts

** Kiku District (企救郡) ** Kōge District (上毛郡) - merged with Tsuiki District to become Chikujō District (築上郡) on February 26, 1896 ** Miyako District (京都郡) - absorbed Nakatsu District on February 26, 1896 ** Nakatsu District (仲津郡) - merged into Miyako District on February 26, 1896 ** Tagawa District (田川郡) ** Tsuiki District (築城郡) - merged with Kōge District to become Chikujō District on February 26, 1896 *

** Shimoge District (下毛郡) - dissolved ** Usa District (宇佐郡) - dissolved

Notes

References

* Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005)
''Japan encyclopedia.''
Cambridge:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

.
OCLC 58053128
* Papinot, Edmond. (1910). ''Historical and Geographic Dictionary of Japan.'' Tokyo: Librarie Sansaisha
OCLC 77691250

External links

Former provinces of Japan {{Oita-geo-stub