was a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

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 ...

on the

Inland Sea An inland sea (also known as an epeiric sea or an epicontinental sea) is a continental body of water which is very large and is either completely surrounded by dry land or connected to an ocean by a river, strait, or "arm of the sea". An inland se ...

side of western

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separa ...

, in what is today western

Okayama Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefectur ...

. It was sometimes called , with Bizen and

Bingo Bingo or B-I-N-G-O may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * Bingo, a game using a printed card of numbers ** Bingo (British version), a game using a printed card of 15 numbers on three lines; most commonly played in the UK and Ireland ** Bi ...

Provinces; those three provinces were settled in the late 7th Century, dividing former

Kibi Province was an ancient province or region of Japan, in the same area as Okayama Prefecture and eastern Hiroshima Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kibi''" in . It was sometimes called . It was divided into Bizen (備前), Bitchū (� ...

. Bitchu bordered

Hōki was a after ''Jingo-keiun'' and before ''Ten'ō''. This period spanned the years from October 770 through January 781. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 770 : The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events. The pr ...

, Mimasaka, Bizen, and

Provinces. The ancient capital and

temples A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

were built around

Sōja is a city located in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. As of 2020, the city has an estimated population of 69,343 and a population density of 322 persons per km2. The total area is 211.90 km2. History In the 7th century, Ki Castle was built atop ...

. For much of the

Muromachi Period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

, the province was dominated by the

Hosokawa clan The is a Japanese Samurai kin group or clan. Ancestors # Emperor Jimmu # Emperor Suizei # Emperor Annei # Emperor Itoku # Emperor Kōshō # Emperor Kōan # Emperor Kōrei # Emperor Kōgen # Emperor Kaika # Emperor Sujin # Emperor Suinin # Emper ...

, who resided in

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...

and allowed the province a degree of independence. By the

Sengoku Period The was a period in History of Japan, 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 Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

, other clans fought over Bitchu, and

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

and

Mōri Terumoto Mōri Terumoto (毛利輝元, January 22, 1553 – June 2, 1625) was a Japanese ''daimyō''. The son of Mōri Takamoto, and grandson and successor of the great warlord Mōri Motonari, he fought against Oda Nobunaga but was eventually overco ...

were fighting in the province when Oda died, leading to a division of the province. After 1600, the province was divided among a variety of

han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

(fiefs), and included a number of castles. By the time the provinces were reorganized into prefectures, the dominant city was the port,

Kurashiki is a historic city located in western Okayama Prefecture, Japan, sitting on the Takahashi River, on the coast of the Inland Sea. As of March 31, 2017, the city has an estimated population of 483,576 and a population density of 1,400 persons per ...

Shrines and temples

Kibitsu jinja is a Shinto shrine in the Kibitsu neighborhood of Kita-ku, Okayama in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. It is the ''ichinomiya'' of former Bitchū Province. The main festivals of the shrine is held annually on the second Sunday of May and on October 1 ...

'' 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 Bitchū. "Nationwide List of ''Ichinomiya''," p. 3
; retrieved 2012-11-20.

Historical districts

** Aga District (阿賀郡) - merged with Tetta District to become Atetsu District (阿哲郡) on April 1, 1900 ** Asakuchi District (浅口郡) ** Jōbō District (上房郡) - dissolved ** Kawakami District (川上郡) - dissolved ** Kayō District (賀陽郡) - merged with Shimotsu District to become Kibi District (吉備郡) on April 1, 1900 ** Kuboya District (窪屋郡) - merged with Tsuu District to become Tsukubo District (都窪郡) on April 1, 1900 ** Oda District (小田郡) ** Shimotsu District (下道郡) - merged with Kayō District to become Kibi District on April 1, 1900 ** Shitsuki District (後月郡) - dissolved ** Tetta District (哲多郡) - merged with Aga District to become Atetsu District on April 1, 1900 ** Tsuu District (都宇郡) - merged with Kuboya District to become Tsukubo District on April 1, 1900

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

External links

Former provinces of Japan {{Okayama-geo-stub