The Famous Scenes of the Sixty States 23 Mino

was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today southern

Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, ...

. Mino was bordered by Ōmi to the west, Echizen and Hida to the north, and Shinano to the east, and

Ise Ise may refer to: Places *Ise, Mie, a city in Japan ** Ise Grand Shrine, a Shinto shrine located in Ise, Mie * Ise Ekiti, a city in Nigeria * Ise, Norway, a village in Norway * Ise Province, an ancient province of Japan * River Ise, a tributary of ...

, Mikawa, and Owari to the south. Its abbreviated form name was . Under the '' Engishiki'' classification system, Mino was ranked as one of the 13 "great countries" (大国) in terms of importance, and one of the "near countries" (近国) in terms of distance from the capital. The provincial capital and ''

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 ...

'' were located in what is now the town of Tarui.

Historical record

"Mino" is an ancient place name, and appears in '' mokkan'' wooden tags from the ruins of Asuka-kyō,

Fujiwara-kyō was the Imperial capital of Japan for sixteen years, between 694 and 710. It was located in Yamato Province (present-day Kashihara in Nara Prefecture), having been moved from nearby Asuka. However, the name Fujiwara-kyō was never used in th ...

, and other ancient sites, but using the ''

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequ ...

'' "三野国". Per the '' Kujiki'', there were originally three separate countries in Mino, centered around what is now Ōgaki, Ōno, and Kakamigahara. Each had its own '' Kuni no miyatsuko'', and together with Motosu (in eastern Gifu) and Mugetsu (in north-central Gifu), these five entities were joined under Yamato rule to form the province of Mino. The use of the ''kanji'' "美濃" is found in the ''

Kojiki The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperia ...

'' and became prevalent in the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the c ...

. Early Mino included much of Kiso District in Shinano and portions of northern Owari. The route of the ancient

Tōsandō is a Japanese geographical term. It means both an ancient division of the country and the main road running through it. It is part of the ''Gokishichidō'' system. It was situated along the central mountains of northern Honshu, specifically th ...

highway connecting the ancient capitals of Japan and the eastern provinces passed through Mino, and even in 713 AD, records indicate that the road was widened to accommodate increasing numbers of travelers. The '' Nihon Shoki'' and ''

Shoku Nihongi The is an imperially-commissioned Japanese history text. Completed in 797, it is the second of the '' Six National Histories'', coming directly after the '' Nihon Shoki'' and followed by '' Nihon Kōki''. Fujiwara no Tsugutada and Sugano no Ma ...

'' indicates that numerous immigrants from the hata clan and from

Silla Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms o ...

settled in Mino in the Asuka and Nara periods. During the

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kamak ...

and

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 ...

, the Toki clan held the position of ''

shugo , commonly translated as “(military) governor,” “protector,” or “constable,” was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the ''shōgun'' to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The pos ...

'' of Mino Province. During 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 ...

, Saitō Dōsan usurped political power from the Toki, and later the province was conquered by

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

. 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 ...

took place at the western edge of Mino, near the mountains between the

Chūbu Region The , Central region, or is a region in the middle of Honshū, Japan's main island. In a wide, classical definition, it encompasses nine prefectures (''ken''): Aichi, Fukui, Gifu, Ishikawa, Nagano, Niigata, Shizuoka, Toyama, and ...

and the Kinki Region. With the establishment of 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 ...

, several feudal domains were established in Mino. At the time of 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 ...

, Mino was divided into 18 districts, which in turn were divided into 131 subdistricts and 1561 villages. The total assessed ''

kokudaka refers to a system for determining land value for taxation purposes under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo-period Japan, and expressing this value in terms of ''koku'' of rice. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Koku"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 54 ...

'' of the province was 654,872 ''koku''.

Historical districts

** Anpachi District (安八郡) - absorbed parts of Taki District; but lost parts to Kaisai and Shimoishizu Districts to become Kaizu District (海津郡) on April 1, 1896 ** Atsumi District (厚見郡) - merged with Kakami and parts of Katagata Districts to become Inaba District (稲葉郡) on April 1, 1896 ** Ena District (恵那郡) - dissolved ** Fuwa District (不破郡) ** Gujō District (郡上郡) - dissolved ** Haguri District (羽栗郡) - merged with Nakashima District to become Hashima District (羽島郡) on April 1, 1896 ** Ikeda District (池田郡) - merged with parts of Ōno (Mino) Districts to become Ibi District (揖斐郡) on April 1, 1896 ** Ishizu District (石津郡) *** Kamiishizu District (上石津郡) - merged with parts of Taki District to become Yōrō District (養老郡) on April 1, 1896 *** Shimoishizu District (下石津郡) - merged with Kaisai and parts of Anpachi Districts to become Kaizu District on April 1, 1896 ** Kaisai District (海西郡) - merged with Shimoishizu and parts of Anpachi Districts to become Kaizu District on April 1, 1896 ** Kakami District (各務郡) - merged with Atsumi and parts of Katagata Districts to become Inaba District on April 1, 1896 ** Kamo District (加茂郡) ** Kani District (可児郡) ** Katagata District (石津郡) - dissolved to split and merged into parts of Inaba, Motosu and Yamagata Districts on April 1, 1896 ** Mugi District (武儀郡) - dissolved ** Mushiroda District (席田郡) - merged with former Motosu, parts of Katagata and parts of Ōno (Mino) Districts to become Motosu District (本巣郡) on April 1, 1896 ** Nakashima District (中島郡) - merged with Haguri District to become Hashima District on April 1, 1896 ** Ōno District (Mino) (大野郡) - dissolved to split and merged into parts of Motosu and Ibi Districts on April 1, 1896 ** Taki District (石津郡) - dissolved to split and merged into parts of Yōrō and Anpachi Districts on April 1, 1896 ** Toki District (土岐郡) - dissolved ** Yamagata District (山県郡) - absorbed parts of Katagata District on April 1, 1896; now dissolved

''Shugo''

Below is an incomplete list of the ''

'' who controlled Mino Province and the years of their control:

Kamakura shogunate

Ōuchi Koreyoshi Ouchi or Ōuchi may refer to: Geography * Ouchi, Hubei (), a town in Gong'an County, Jingzhou, Hubei, China Japan * Ōuchi, Akita, a town now merged into Yurihonjō, Akita * Ouchi, Saga, a town now merged into Karatsu-city, Saga * Ōuchi-juku ...

(大内惟義), 1187–1211 * Ōuchi Korenobu (大内惟信), until 1221 * Utunomiya Yasutsuna (宇都宮泰綱), from 1252 *

Hōjō clan The was a Japanese samurai family who controlled the hereditary title of ''shikken'' (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate between 1203 and 1333. Despite the title, in practice the family wielded actual political power in Japan during this period ...

, from 1285 * Hōjō Tokimura (北条時村), 1296–1300 * Hōjō Masataka (北条政高), until 1333

Muromachi shogunate

* Toki Yorisada (土岐頼貞), 1336–1339"Toki clan" at Sengoku-expo.net
retrieved 2013-5-10. * Toki Yoritō (土岐頼遠), 1339–1342 * Toki Yoriyasu (土岐頼康), 1342–1387 * Toki Yasuyuki (土岐康行), 1387–1389 * Toki Yoritada (土岐頼忠), 1390–1394 * Toki Yorimasu (土岐頼益), 1395–1414 * Toki Mochimasu (土岐持益), 1422–1465 * Toki Shigeyori (土岐成頼), 1468–1495 * Toki Masafusa (土岐政房), 1495–1519 *

Toki Yorinari , also known as Toki Yoriaki,
retrieved 2013-5-10. was a Japanese "Saitō Dōsan" at p. 809

Edo period Domains

Geography

Mino and Owari provinces were separated by the Sakai River, which means "border river."

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
* Titsingh, Isaac. (1834)
''Annales des empereurs du Japon''
(''

Nihon Odai Ichiran 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 ...

''). Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland
OCLC 5850691

Other websites

{{Japan Old Province History of Gifu Prefecture