was an old province of

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 ...

in the area of

Fukushima may refer to: Japan * Fukushima Prefecture, Japanese prefecture ** Fukushima, Fukushima, capital city of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan ***Fukushima University, national university in Japan *** Fukushima Station (Fukushima) in Fukushima, Fukushim ...

Miyagi Miyagi may refer to: Places * Miyagi Prefecture, one of the 47 major divisions of Japan * Miyagi, Gunma, a village in Japan, merged into Maebashi in 2004 *Miyagi District, Miyagi, a district in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan Other uses * Miyagi (surna ...

, Iwate and

Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, ...

s and the municipalities of

Kazuno is a city located in Akita Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 30.715, and a population density of 43 persons per km² in 12.970 households. The total area of the city is . Geography Kazuno is located in a valley in t ...

and Kosaka in

Akita Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is approximately 966,000 (as of 1 October 2019) and its ge ...

. Mutsu Province is also known as or . The term is often used to refer to the combined area of Mutsu and the neighboring province Dewa, which together make up the entire

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 ...

History

Invasion by the Kinai government

Mutsu, on northern

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separa ...

, was one of the last provinces to be formed as land was taken from the indigenous

Emishi The (also called Ebisu and Ezo), written with Chinese characters that literally mean "shrimp barbarians," constituted an ancient ethnic group of people who lived in parts of Honshū, especially in the Tōhoku region, referred to as in contemp ...

, and became the largest as it expanded northward. The ancient regional capital of the Kinai government was Tagajō in present-day

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 ...

. * 709 ('' Wadō 2, 3rd month''), an uprising against governmental authority took place in Mutsu and in nearby

Echigo Province was an old province in north-central Japan, on the shores of the Sea of Japan. It bordered on Uzen, Iwashiro, Kōzuke, Shinano, and Etchū Provinces. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Echigo''" in . It corresponds today to Niigata ...

. Troops were dispatched to subdue the revolt. * 712 (''Wadō 5''), Mutsu was separated from Dewa Province. Empress Genmei's ''

Daijō-kan The , also known as the Great Council of State, was (i) (''Daijō-kan'') the highest organ of Japan's premodern Imperial government under the Ritsuryō legal system during and after the Nara period or (ii) (''Dajō-kan'') the highest organ of Jap ...

'' made cadastral changes in the provincial map of 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 cap ...

, as in the following year when Mimasaka Province was split from

Bizen Province was a province of Japan on the Inland Sea side of Honshū, in what is today the southeastern part of Okayama Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Bitchū and Bingo Provinces. Bizen borders Mimasaka, Harima, and Bitchū Provinces. Bizen ...

, Hyūga Province was sundered from Ōsumi Province, and Tanba Province was severed from Tango Province. * 718, Shineha, Uda and Watari districts of the Mutsu Province, Kikuta, Iwaki districts of the Hitachi Province are incorporated into Iwaki Province (718). * 801, Mutsu was conquered by Sakanoue no Tamuramaro. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Mutsu''" in . * 869 ('' Jōgan 10, 5th month''): A terrible earthquake struck Mutsu. More than 1,000 people lost their lives in the disaster.Titsingh,

Prosperity of Hiraizumi

In 1095, the Ōshū Fujiwara clan settled at

Hiraizumi is a town located in Nishiiwai District, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 7,408 and a population density of in 2,616 households. The total area of the town was . It is noted for the Historic Monuments and Site ...

, under the leadership of

Fujiwara no Kiyohira was a samurai of mixed Japanese-Emishi parentage of the late Heian period (794–1185), who was the founder of the Hiraizumi or Northern Fujiwara dynasty that ruled Northern Japan from about 1100 to 1189. Biography Kiyohira was the son of Fuji ...

. Kiyohira hoped to "form a city rivaling Kyoto as a centre of culture". The legacy of the Ōshū Fujiwara clan remains with the temples

Chūson-ji is a Buddhist temple in the town of Hiraizumi in southern Iwate Prefecture, Japan. It is the head temple of the Tendai sect in Tōhoku region of northern Honshu. The temple claims it was founded in 850 by Ennin, the third chief abbot of the sect. ...

and Mōtsū-ji in Hiraizumi, and the Shiramizu Amidadō temple building in Iwaki. In 1189, Minamoto no Yoritomo invaded Mutsu with three great forces, eventually killing Fujiwara no Yasuhira and acquiring the entire domain.

Sengoku period

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 ...

, clans ruled parts of the province. *The

Nanbu clan The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled most of northeastern Honshū in the Tōhoku region of Japan for over 700 years, from the Kamakura period through the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The Nanbu claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji of Kai Pr ...

Morioka is the capital city of Iwate Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. On 1 February 2021, the city had an estimated population of 290,700 in 132,719 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . ...

in the north. *The Date clan at Iwadeyama and

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 ...

in the south. *The

Sōma clan The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled the northern Hamadōri region of southern Mutsu Province in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan for over 700 years, from the Kamakura period through the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The Sōma claimed de ...

at Nakamura in the south. *The

Iwaki clan The was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Hitachi-Heishi, a cadet branch of the Taira clan. However, this connection is tenuous and not backed by documentary evidence, suggesting that the Iwaki were instead descendants from ...

at Iinodaira in the south. *The

Uesugi clan The is a Japanese samurai clan which was at its peak one of the most powerful during the Muromachi and Sengoku periods (14th to 17th centuries). Appert, Georges. (1888) ''Ancien Japon,'' p. 79./ref> At its height, the clan had three main branch ...

had a castle town at Wakamatsu in the south.

After the Boshin War

As a result of 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 ...

, Mutsu Province was divided by the

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji o ...

, on 19 January 1869, into five provinces: Iwashiro, Iwaki, Rikuzen, Rikuchū, and Rikuō). The fifth of these, corresponding roughly to today's

, was assigned the same two kanji as the entire province prior to division; however, the character reading was different.（岩手大学教育学部） Due to the similarity in characters in the name, this smaller province has also sometimes been referred to as 'Mutsu'.

Districts

Under Ritsuryō

* Iwase District (磐瀬郡) * Aizu District (会津郡) * Yama District (耶麻郡) *

Asaka District Asaka is a Districts of Uzbekistan, district of Andijan Region in Uzbekistan. The capital lies at Asaka, Uzbekistan, Asaka. It has an area of and it had 340,000 inhabitants in 2022. The district consists of 1 city (Asaka), 4 urban-type settlemen ...

(安積郡) * Adachi District (安達郡) * Shinobu District (信夫郡) * Katta District (刈田郡) * Shibata District (柴田郡) * Natori District (名取郡) * Kikuta District (菊多郡) * Iwaki District (石城郡) * Shineha District (標葉郡) * Namekata District (行方郡) * Uda District (宇多郡) * Esashi District (江刺郡) * Igu District (伊具郡) *

Watari District Watari may refer to: Places *Watari District, Miyagi, Japan *Watari, Miyagi, town in Watari District * Watari Station (Miyagi), train station in Watari District * Watari Station (Kumamoto), train station in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan * Watari Museu ...

(亘理郡) * Miyagi District (宮城郡) * Kurokawa District (黒川郡) * Kami District (賀美郡) * Shikama District (色麻郡) * Tamatsukuri District (玉造郡) * Shida District (志太郡) * Kurihara District (栗原郡) * Iwai District (磐井郡) (split into East-Iwai and West-Iwai districts in Iwate Prefecture) * Isawa District (膽沢郡) *

Nagaoka District Nagaoka may refer to: Places * Nagaoka, Niigata, Japan * Nagaoka-kyō, the capital of Japan from 784 to 794 ** Nagaokakyō, Kyoto, Japan, a city at the location of Nagaoka-kyō * Izunagaoka, Shizuoka, Japan, a former town in Izu Peninsula People w ...

(長岡郡) (distinct from the one in

Kōchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kōchi Prefecture has a population of 757,914 (1 December 2011) and has a geographic area of 7,103 km2 (2,742 sq mi). Kōchi Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the northwest and ...

) * Niita District (新田郡) (distinct from the one in

Gunma Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,362 km2 (2,456 sq mi). Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fukushima ...

) * Oda District (小田郡) (now in the city of Tome, Miyagi Prefecture) * Tōda District (遠田郡) * Kesen District (気仙郡) * Oshika District (牡鹿郡) * Tome District (登米郡) * Monou District (桃生郡) * Ōnuma District (大沼郡)

Meiji Era

** Tsugaru District (津軽郡) ** Kita District (北郡) ** Sannohe District (三戸郡) *

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 ...

** Ninohe District (二戸郡)

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

Nihon Ōdai Ichiran , ', is a 17th-century chronicle of the serial reigns of Japanese emperors with brief notes about some of the noteworthy events or other happenings. According to the 1871 edition of the ''American Cyclopaedia'', the 1834 French translation of ...

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

External links

{{Japan Old Province Former provinces of Japan *Mutsu Province *Mutsu Province