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 the area that is today part 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 ...

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 ...

. It was sometimes called or , with

Chikugo Province is the name of a former province of Japan in the area that is today the southern part of Fukuoka Prefecture on Kyūshū. It was sometimes called or , with Chikuzen Province. Chikugo was bordered by Hizen, Chikuzen, Bungo, and Higo Provi ...

. Chikuzen bordered Buzen, Bungo, Chikugo, and

Hizen was an old province of Japan in the area of the Saga and Nagasaki prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Higo Province. Hizen bordered on the provinces of Chikuzen and Chikugo. The province was included in Saikaidō. It did not incl ...

Provinces.

History

The original provincial capital is believed to be near Dazaifu, although

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

city has become dominant in modern times. At the end of the 13th century, Chikuzen was the landing point for a Mongol invasion force. But the main force was destroyed by a

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

(later called

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

). In April 1336, Kikuchi Taketoshi attacked the Shoni clan stronghold at Dazaifu. At the time, the Shoni were allied with

Ashikaga Takauji was the founder and first '' shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate."Ashikaga Takauji" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 625. His rule began in 1338, beginning the Murom ...

in his battles against

Go-Daigo Emperor Go-Daigo (後醍醐天皇 ''Go-Daigo-tennō'') (26 November 1288 – 19 September 1339) was the 96th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')後醍醐天皇 (96) retrieved 2013-8-28. according to the traditional order o ...

. The Shoni were defeated, which led to the suicide of several clan members, including their leader Shoni Sadatsune. 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 Chikuzen 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. At the same time, the province continued to exist for some purposes. For example, Chikuzen is explicitly recognized in treaties in 1894 (a) between Japan and 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 (b) between Japan 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 ...

. The name persists in features such as the Chikuhō Main Line (JR Kyushu) and stations Chikuzen Habu and Chikuzen Ueki. The adjacent Haruda Line includes Chikuzen Uchino and Chikuzen Yamae stations, reflecting the region in the time the rail networks were established.

Shrines and temples

'' Sumiyoshi-jinja'' and '' Hakosaki-gū'' (''

Hakozaki Shrine is a Shintō shrine in Fukuoka .Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1962). ''Studies in Shinto and Shrines,'' p. 339. History Hakozaki Shrine was founded in 923, with the transfer of the spirit of the ''kami Hachiman'' from Daibu Hachiman Shrine in ...

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

Historical districts

** Geza District (下座郡) - merged with Johza and Yasu Districts to become Asakura District (朝倉郡) on February 26, 1896 ** Honami District (穂波郡) - merged with Kama District to become Kaho District (嘉穂郡) on February 26, 1896 ** Ito District (怡土郡) - merged with Shima District to become Itoshima District (糸島郡) on February 26, 1896 ** Johza District (上座郡) - merged with Geza and Yasu Districts to become Asakura District on February 26, 1896 **

Kama District Kama is a district in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, to the east of Jalalabad. Its population, which is 100% Pashtun, was estimated at 180,000 in 2012. The district is within the heartland of the Mohmand tribe of Pashtuns. The district centre ...

(嘉麻郡) - merged with Honami District to become Kaho District on February 26, 1896 ** Kasuya District (糟屋郡) ** Kurate District (鞍手郡) ** Mikasa District (御笠郡) - merged with Mushiroda and Naka Districts to become Chikushi District (筑紫郡) on February 26, 1896 ** Munakata District (宗像郡) - dissolved ** Mushiroda District (席田郡) - merged with Mikasa and Naka Districts to become Chikushi District on February 26, 1896 ** Naka District (那珂郡) - merged with Mikasa and Mushiroda Districts to become Chikushi District on February 26, 1896 ** Onga District (遠賀郡) ** Sawara District (早良郡) - dissolved ** Shima District (志摩郡) - merged with Ito District to become Itoshima District on February 26, 1896 ** Yasu District (夜須郡) - merged with Geza and Johza Districts to become Asakura District on February 26, 1896

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

{{Japan Old Province Former provinces of Japan