is a Japanese term denoting an ancient division of the country. ''Kinai'' is a name for the ancient provinces around the capital

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

and Heian-kyō. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kinai''" in . The five provinces were called ''go-kinai'' after 1760.Nussbaum, "''Gokishichidō''" in . The name is still used to describe part of the

Kansai region The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropoli ...

, but the area of the Kinai corresponds only generally to the land of the old provinces. The region was established as one of 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 ...

'' ("Five provinces and seven roads") during the

Asuka period The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710 (or 592 to 645), although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after ...

(538-710). It consisted of Yamashiro,

Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a name for the whole of Japan. Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial House of Japan. Japanese his ...

Settsu is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. As of 2017, the city has an estimated population of 85,290 and a population density of 5,664 people per km². The total area is 14.88 km². Surrounding municipalities *Osaka Prefecture **Higa ...

, Kawachi, and Izumi provinces.

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 {{Japan-hist-stub zh:五畿七道#五畿

See also

Notes

References