Map showing original extent of Kesen District in Iwate Prefecture

colored area=original extent in Meiji period; green=present area is a

rural district Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the Ad ...

Iwate Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture at , with a population of 1,210,534 (as of October 1, 2020). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefectur ...

, in the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains a ...

of northern Japan. Formerly, the area of the cities of Rikusentakata and

Ōfunato is a city located in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 35,452, and a population density of 110 persons per km2 in 14,895 households. The total area of the city is . Geography Ōfunato is located in southeastern ...

were within the borders of the district. the district consists only of the town of Sumita with a population of 5,228 people, with a density of 15.6 per km² and an area of .

History

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 ...

under the

Tokugawa shogunate 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 ...

, the district was within

Mutsu Province was an old province of Japan in the area of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori Prefectures and the municipalities of Kazuno and Kosaka in Akita Prefecture. Mutsu Province is also known as or . The term is often used to refer to the comb ...

and was under the control of the

Date clan The is a Japanese samurai kin group. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Date", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 5 retrieved 2013-5-5. History The Date family was founded ...

of the

Sendai Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Sendai Domain was based at Aoba Castle in Mutsu Province, in the modern city of Sendai, located in the Tōhoku region of the i ...

. In 1869, following 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 ...

, Mutsu Province was divided, with the area of Kesen District becoming part of

Rikuchū Province was an old province in the area of Iwate and Akita Prefectures. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Rikuchū''" in . It was sometimes called , with Rikuzen and Mutsu Provinces. Rikuchu covered most of modern-day Iwate Prefecture: with the ...

, and from 1872, part of Iwate Prefecture. On April 1, 1889, with the establishment of the municipalities system, the district was organized into two towns (Sakari and Takata) and 20 villages. file:Iwate Kesen-gun 1889.png, 1. Sakari; 2. Yonesaki; 3. Ōfunato; 4. Massaki; 5. Otomo; 6. Hirota; 7. Takata; 8. Kesen; 9. Yasaku: 10. Takekoma; 11. Yokota; 12. Setamai; 13. Shimoarisu; 14. Kamiarisu; 15. Hikoroichi; 16. Takkon; 17. Ikawa: 18. Akasaki; 19. Ryōri; 20. Okirai; 21. Yoshihama; 22. Tōni; Purple = Ōfunato City; Orange= Sumita Town; Pink = Rikuzentakata Town; Blue = Kamaishi City

Subsequent timeline

* November 1, 1926 - The village of Kesen elevated to town status (3 towns, 19 villages) * April 1, 1932 - The village of Ōfunato raised to town status. (4 towns, 18 villages) * April 29, 1940 - The village of Setamai raised to town status. (5 towns, 17 villages) * April 1, 1952 - The towns of Ōfunato and Sakari and the villages of Akasaki, Ikawa, Takkon, Hikoroichi and Massaki merge to form the city of Ōfunato. (3 towns, 12 villages) * June 1, 1952 - The village of Hirota raised to town status. (4 towns, 11 villages) * January 1, 1955 – The towns of Takata, Kesen and Hirota and the villages of Otomo, Takekoma, Yasaki, Yokota, and Yonesaki merged to form the city of Rikuzentakata. (1 town, 6 villages) * April 1, 1955 - The town of Setamai and the villages of Shimoarisu and Kamiarisu merged to form the town of Sumita (1 town, 4 villages) * April 1, 1955 - The village of Tōni annexed by the city of Kamaishi. (1 town, 3 villages) * September 30, 1956 - The villages of Okirai, Yoshihama, and Ryōri merged to form the village of Sanriku. (1 town, 1 village) *April 1, 1967 – The village of Sanriku raised to town status (2 towns) * November 15, 2001: The town of Sanriku is annexed by the city of Ōfunato. (1 town) {{Authority control Districts in Iwate Prefecture