is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

located in past

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 today's

Miyagi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,305,596 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefecture to the nort ...

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 ...

. The name of the prefecture was from this district. The original territory was east–west long from the

Ōu Mountains The are a mountain range in the Tōhoku region of Honshū, Japan. The range is the longest range in Japan and stretches south from the Natsudomari Peninsula of Aomori Prefecture to the Nasu volcanoes at the northern boundary of the Kantō ...

to 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 ...

, including current

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...

Shiogama is a cities of Japan, city located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 52,662, and a population density of 3,032 persons per km² in 23,270 households. The total area of the city is . Geography Shiogama is in n ...

, and

Tagajō is a city located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 62,869 in 27,869 households, and a population density of 3,200 people per km². The total area of the city is . The city was named after Taga Castle, the c ...

cities. As of 2003, the district has an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 69,567 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematical ...

of 620.80 persons per km². The total area is 112.06 km².

History

The Minami-Koizumi site had been a village or town site since the fifth century A.D. Miyagi District first appeared in historical documents occurred in 766, in the '' Shoku Nihongi''. Archaeologists presume that Miyagi District was established by eighth century, based on the presence of square field system remains between Hirose River and Nanakita River. The province capital of Mutsu was moved to Taga (modern

) from the Koriyam site of Natori District in 724. Its residential area extended beyond the wall of Taga. In 785, Taga District and Shinakami District were separated from Miyagi, but later annexed. Taga continued to be the capital in 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 ...

, but the city center moved to west Iwakiri. In 1190 Isawa Iekage was appointed as the Governor Acting in Absence of Mutsu Province, charged with restoring order after the Revolt of Ōkawa Kanetō. His descendants established a fiefdom around Taga and changed their name to Rusu, which means, literally, ''acting in absence''. In the

Nanboku-chō period The Nanboku-chō period (南北朝時代, ''Nanboku-chō jidai'', "North and South court period", also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period), spanning from 1336 to 1392, was a period that occurred during the formative years of the Mur ...

of 14th century, Taga was the object of military campaigns between the South and North Courts. The Rusu family occupied the northernmost part of the district, where Taga was located. The fate of the Rusu family had been easily swung by the battles between governors of Mutsu (Ōshū). The Mutsu were strong generals sent from central government, or shogunate. In addition to the Rusu, some

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 were known in southern and western parts of the district, including Ōkōchi, tenacious warriors for the Southern Court; Kokubun, the lord around the

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 eac ...

(Kukubun-ji) of Mutsu;

Hachiman clan In Japanese religion, ''Yahata'' (八幡神, ancient Shinto pronunciation) formerly in Shinto and later commonly known as Hachiman (八幡神, Japanese Buddhist pronunciation) is the syncretic divinity of archery and war, incorporating elements f ...

, descendants of a past vice-governor of Mutsu. A long war broke the unity of Mutsu and the function of its capital. After the governor Ōsaki left, the rule of the district was divided by Rusu and Kokubun, who struggled against each other. Eventually 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 ...

's influence reached to Miyagi and the clan sent to its children as child-in-law and successors of the heads of families. Then

Rusu Masakage was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period through Azuchi-Momoyama period. Served as a retainer of the Date clan Masakage was the uncle of the famous Date Masamune.

and

Kokubun Morishige Kokubun (written: 国分 or 國分) is a Japanese surname. The 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 majo ...

became commanders of Date Masamune, fought many battles for the Date's dominance over Tohoku region. The two held only nominal independence from Date, solely to placate the retainers of the families. When Masamune surrendered to the new shogun

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 ...

in 1590, Rusu was abandoned and Kokubun was formally regarded a subject of Date. Miyagi District became a part of the territory of Date clan. In 1600, just after the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of ...

, Masamune decided to build and move to the

Sendai Castle 260px, Layout of Aoba Castle is a Japanese castle located in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Throughout the Edo period, Aoba Castle was home to the Date clan, ''daimyō'' of Sendai Domain. The castle was also known as or as . In 2003, the ca ...

in Miyagi District. After that the district was developed as the suburb of new Sendai town.

town has been ruled as a different area from the rest since then. The Meiji government divided Mutsu Province into three parts in 1869. Miyagi District became part of

Rikuzen Province is an old province of Japan in the area of Miyagi Prefecture (excluding Igu, Katta District and Watari Districts) and parts of Iwate Prefecture (specifically Kesen District). Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Rikuzen''" in . It was some ...

. The population in 1889 (excluding Sendai) was 60,518. In March 2011, exactly ten years ago, an earthquake and tsunami hit this region of Japan.

Towns and villages

* Matsushima *

Rifu is a town located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 36,014, and a population density of 800 persons per km2 in 13,568 households. The total area of the town is . Rifu is known for its nashi pears. Recently, ...

* Shichigahama

References

Bibliography

* Committee for Editing the Miyagi Prefecture History (under Miyagi Prefecture), ''Miyagi Prefecture History'', vol.2, Gyōsei, reprinted in 1987. (original version was published in 1956). 宮城県史編纂委員会『宮城県史』（2、近世史）、ぎょうせい。 {{Authority control Districts in Miyagi Prefecture