is a Japanese geographical term. It means both an ancient division of the country and the main road running through the old

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 n ...

ese geographical region.Nussbaum, "''Hokurikudō''" in Both were situated along the northwestern edge of

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 sepa ...

. The name literally means 'North Land Way'. It also refers to a series of roads that connected the capitals (国府 ''kokufu'') of each of the provinces that made up the region. When the

Gokishichidō was the name for ancient administrative units organized in Japan during the Asuka period (AD 538–710), as part of a legal and governmental system borrowed from the Chinese. Though these units did not survive as administrative structures beyon ...

system was initially established after the

Taika reforms The were a set of doctrines established by Emperor Kōtoku (孝徳天皇 ''Kōtoku tennō'') in the year 645. They were written shortly after the death of Prince Shōtoku and the defeat of the Soga clan (蘇我氏 ''Soga no uji''), uniting Ja ...

, it consisted of just two provinces: Wakasa and Koshi. During the reign of Emperor Temmu, Koshi was divided into three regions: Echizen, Etchū and Echigo and

Sado Island is a city located on in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. Since 2004, the city has comprised the entire island, although not all of its total area is urbanized. Sado is the sixth largest island of Japan in area following the four main islands and Ok ...

was added as a fifth province. Later,

Noto Noto ( scn, Notu; la, Netum) is a city and in the Province of Syracuse, Sicily, Italy. It is southwest of the city of Syracuse at the foot of the Iblean Mountains. It lends its name to the surrounding area Val di Noto. In 2002 Noto and i ...

and Kaga were carved out of Echizen to form seven provinces in total. The

Hokuriku subregion Hokuriku may refer to: * ''Hokuriku'' (train), a sleeping car train in Japan * Hokuriku Shinkansen, a high-speed railway line connecting Tokyo with Kanazawa * The Hokuriku region in Japan * ALO's Hokuriku was a Japanese football club based in ...

of Chūbu region constitutes Hokurikudō region today.

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 retir ...

.
OCLC 58053128
Regions of Japan Hokuriku region Hokurikudo {{Japan-geo-stub

See also

Notes

References