was a province of Japan in the area of modern

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to the ...

. The province was located in the middle of the

Bōsō Peninsula The is a peninsula that encompasses the entirety of Chiba Prefecture on Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula covers ...

, whose name takes its first ''

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

'' from the name of Awa Province and its second from Kazusa and Shimōsa provinces. Its abbreviated form name was or . The borders of Kazusa Province were defined by Shimōsa Province to the north, the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

to the east, Awa Province to the south, and

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous a ...

to the west. 19 Kazusa

Kazusa was classified as one of the provinces of the Tōkaidō. Under the ''

Engishiki The is a Japanese book about laws and customs. The major part of the writing was completed in 927. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Engi-shiki''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 178. History In 905, Emperor Daigo ordered the compilation of th ...

'' classification system, Kazusa was ranked as a "great country" (大国) and a "far country" in relation to its distance from the capital (遠国). Along with Kōzuke and Hitachi, it was originally one of the provinces where an imperial prince was nominally assigned as

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

History

Early history

Kazusa was originally part of a larger territory known as , which was divided into "upper" and “lower” portions (i.e. Kazusa and Shimōsa) during the reign of

Emperor Kōtoku was the 36th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 孝徳天皇 (33)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. The years of his reign lasted from 645 through 654. Traditional narrative Before Kōtoku's ascen ...

(645–654). It was well known to the Imperial Court in Nara -period

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 ...

for its fertile lands, and is mentioned in Nara period records as having supplied

hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest growing plants o ...

to the Court. Kazusa was divided into 15 counties, of which the four counties comprising the district of Awa were separated in 718 into a separate province. The exact location of the capital of Kazusa is not precisely known, but is believed to have been somewhere within the borders of the modern city of

Ichihara, Chiba is a city, located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 274,117 in 128,316 households and a population density of 240 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The city is home, together with the city of ...

. The ruins of the ''kokubun-ji'', or

provincial temple were Buddhist temples established in each of the provinces of Japan by Emperor Shōmu during the Nara period (710 – 794). History Shōmu (701 – 756?) decreed both a ''kokubun-ji'' for monks and a for nuns to be established in each ...

, of Kazusa has been located in the Sōza district of Ichihara. The ''kokubun-ji'' was first excavated in 1949, and is on a plateau above the

Yōrō River The is a river in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is in length and has a drainage area of . Under the Rivers Act of 1906 the Yōrō is designated as a Class 2 River. The Yōrō originates near Mount Kiyosumi on the border of Amatsukominato area of ...

in close proximity to

. The site is protected as a Designated Historic Site of Japan. However, the ''

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 Kazusa Province is the

Tamasaki Shrine is a Shinto shrine in the Ichinomiya neighborhood of the town of Ichinomiya in Chōsei District, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is the ''ichinomiya'' of former Kazusa Province. The main festival of the shrine is held annually on September 13, and ...

in what is now the town of

Ichinomiya, Chiba 260px, Ichinomiya town hall is a town located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 12,494 in 5643 households and a population density of 540 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geography Ichinom ...

, on the opposite coast of the province. During 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. ...

, the province was divided into numerous ''

shōen A was a field or manor in Japan. The Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: ''zhuāngyuán'', Cantonese: ''zong1 jyun4''). Shōen, from about the 8th to the late 15th century, describes any of the private, ...

'' controlled by local

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

clans, primarily the

Chiba clan The Chiba clan (千葉氏 ''Chiba-shi'') was a Japanese '' gōzoku'' and samurai family descending from the Taira clan. The clan was founded by Chiba Tsunetane, the son of Taira no Tadatsune. The Chiba governed in Shimōsa Province, and the cl ...

, which sided with

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1192 until 1199.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako who acted as regent (''shikken'') after his ...

in the

Genpei War The was a national civil war between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yoritomo, who appointed himself ...

. During the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

, much of the province was under the control of the

Ashikaga clan The was a prominent Japanese samurai clan which established the Muromachi shogunate and ruled Japan from roughly 1333 to 1573. The Ashikaga were descended from a branch of the Minamoto clan, deriving originally from the town of Ashikaga ...

. By the early

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 area was a highly contested region highly fragmented by various samurai clans. However, 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 ...

, the

Satomi clan The was a Japanese samurai clan of the Sengoku period (1467–1573) and early Edo period (1603–1868). The clan ruled Awa Province as a ''Sengoku daimyō'' and was a major military power in the Kantō region during the wars of the Nanboku-c ...

had gained control over much of Awa, Kazusa and Shimōsa provinces. The Satomi provided only lukewarm support to

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

during the Battle of Odawara against the

Later Hōjō clan The was one of the most powerful samurai families in Japan in the Sengoku period and held domains primarily in the Kantō region. Their last name was simply Hōjō (北条) but in order to differentiate between the earlier Hōjō clan with the s ...

and were subsequently deprived of their holdings in Kazusa and Shimōsa. After the installation of

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

in Edo, Kazusa became part of the

Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty that was formerly a powerful ''daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of the Minamoto clan (Seiwa Genji) through the Matsudaira clan. The early history of this clan r ...

holdings, and Tokugawa hereditary retainer

Honda Tadakatsu , also called Honda Heihachirō (本多平八郎) was a Japanese samurai, general and daimyo of the late Sengoku through early Edo periods, who served Tokugawa Ieyasu. Honda Tadakatsu was one of the Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings along with Ii ...

was promoted to ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

'' of

Ōtaki Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of the Edo period, located in Kazusa Province (modern-day Chiba Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Ōtaki Castle in what is now the town of Ōtaki, Chiba. History The original Ōtaki Castle w ...

(50,000 ''

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 ...

'').

Edo period

During the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

, several small domains were created within the borders of Kazusa, most of which continued to be retained as ''

tenryō The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

'' territory owned directly by the ''

shōgun , 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 administered by various ''

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as ''gokenin.'' However ...

''. The entire province had an assessed revenue of 425,080 ''koku''.

Edo period Domains in Kazusa Province

Abolishment

Following the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...

, Jōzai Domain was abolished for its opposition to the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, and six minor domains were created for daimyō dispossessed with the creation of

Sunpu Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. The domain centered at Sunpu Castle is what is now the Aoi-ku, Shizuoka. From 1869 it was briefly called . History During the Muromachi period, Sunpu was the capital of the ...

for the ex-''shōgun''

Tokugawa Yoshinobu Prince was the 15th and last ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He was part of a movement which aimed to reform the aging shogunate, but was ultimately unsuccessful. He resigned of his position as shogun in late 1867, while aiming ...

. These various domains and ''tenryō'' territories were transformed into short-lived prefectures in July 1871 by the

abolition of the han system The in the Empire of Japan and its replacement by a system of prefectures in 1871 was the culmination of the Meiji Restoration begun in 1868, the starting year of the Meiji period. Under the reform, all daimyos (, ''daimyō'', feudal lords) ...

, and the entire territory of Kazusa Province became part of the new Chiba Prefecture on June 15, 1873.

Historical districts

The area of former Kazusa Province was organized into nine districts by 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 ...

cadastral reforms, later reduced to five: *

** Amaha District ( :ja:天羽郡) - merged with Mōda and Sue Districts to become Kimitsu District ( :ja: 君津郡) on April 1, 1897 ** Ichihara District ( :ja:市原郡) - dissolved ** Isumi District ( :ja: 夷隅郡) ** Kamihabu District ( :ja:上埴生郡) - merged with Nagara District to become Chōsei District ( :ja: 長生郡) on April 1, 1897 ** Mōda District ( :ja:望陀郡) - merged with Amaha and Sue Districts to become Kimitsu District on April 1, 1897 ** Musha District ( :ja:武射郡) - merged with Yamabe District to become Sanbu District ( :ja: 山武郡) on April 1, 1897 ** Nagara District ( :ja:長柄郡) - merged with Kamihabu District to become Chōsei District on April 1, 1897 ** Sue District ( :ja:周淮郡) - merged with Amaha and Mōda Districts to become Kimitsu District on April 1, 1897 ** Yamabe District ( :ja:山辺郡) - merged with Musha District to become Sanbu District on April 1, 1897

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 History of Chiba Prefecture Former provinces of Japan States and territories established in the 710s 1868 disestablishments in Japan States and territories disestablished in 1868 718 establishments