or was a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

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 n ...

in the part of

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 sepa ...

that is today northeastern

Okayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 7,114 km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefecture borders Tottori Prefecture to the ...

. Mimasaka bordered Bitchū, Bizen, Harima, Hōki, and Inaba Provinces. Mimasaka was landlocked, and was often ruled by the ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominall ...

'' in Bizen. The ancient capital and castle town was

Tsuyama is a city in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 102,294 and a population density of 200 persons per km². The total area was 185.73 km². The area increased in 2005 as the result of a merger with adjacent ...

. 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 character ...

the province was controlled by the

Tsuyama Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Mimasaka Province in modern-day Okayama Prefecture.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 ...

Miyamoto Musashi, the author of '' The Book of Five Rings''.

Historical record

In the 3rd month of the 6th year of the '' Wadō'' era (713), the land of ''Mimasaka no kuni'' was administratively separated 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. Bi ...

. In that same year,

Empress Genmei , also known as Empress Genmyō, was the 43rd monarch of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 元明天皇 (43) retrieved August 22, 2013. according to the traditional order of succession. Genmei's reign spanned the years 707 throu ...

'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 J ...

'' continued to organize other

cadastral A cadastre or cadaster is a comprehensive recording of the real estate or real property's metes-and-bounds of a country.Jo Henssen, ''Basic Principles of the Main Cadastral Systems in the World,'/ref> Often it is represented graphically in a cad ...

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 c ...

. In ''Wadō'' 6,

Tanba Province was a province of Japan in the area of central Kyoto and east-central Hyōgo Prefectures. Tanba bordered on Harima, Ōmi, Settsu, Tajima, Wakasa, and Yamashiro Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō sys ...

was sundered from Tango Province; and

Hyūga Province was an old province of Japan on the east coast of Kyūshū, corresponding to the modern Miyazaki Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Hyūga''" in . It was sometimes called or . Hyūga bordered on Bungo, Higo, Ōsumi, and Sats ...

was divided from

Ōsumi Province was an old province of Japan in the area that is today the eastern part of Kagoshima Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Ōsumi bordered on Hyūga and Satsuma Provinces. Osumi's ancient capital was near modern Kokubu. During the Sengoku ...

.Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). In ''Wadō'' 5 (712),

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 co ...

had been severed from

Dewa Province was a province of Japan comprising modern-day Yamagata Prefecture and Akita Prefecture, except for the city of Kazuno and the town of Kosaka. Dewa bordered on Mutsu and Echigō Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History Early per ...

Shrines and temples

Nakayama Shrine was the chief

Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The ''honden''Also called (本殿, meanin ...

(''

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 ...

'') of Mimasaka. "Nationwide List of ''Ichinomiya''," p. 3
; retrieved 2012-11-20.

Historical districts

** Aida District (英田郡) – absorbed Yoshino District on April 1, 1900 ** Kumehokujō District (久米北条郡) – merged with Kumenanjō District to become Kume District (久米郡) on April 1, 1890 ** Kumenanjō District (久米南条郡) – merged with Kumehokujō District to become Kume District on April 1, 1890 ** Mashima District (真島郡) – merged with Ōba District to become Maniwa District (真庭郡) on April 1, 1890 ** Ōba District (大庭郡) – merged with Mashima District to become Maniwa District on April 1, 1890 ** Saihokujō District (西北条郡) – merged with Saisaijō, Tōhokujō and Tōnanjō Districts to become Tomata District (苫田郡) on April 1, 1890 ** Saisaijō District (西西条郡) – merged with Saihokujō, Tōhokujō and Tōnanjō Districts to become Tomata District on April 1, 1890 ** Shōboku District (勝北郡) – merged with Shōnan District to become Katsuta District (勝田郡) on April 1, 1890 ** Shōnan District (勝南郡) – merged with Shōboku District to become Katsuta District on April 1, 1890 ** Tōhokujō District (東北条郡) – merged with Saihokujō, Saisaijō and Tōnanjō Districts to become Tomata District on April 1, 1890 ** Tōnanjō District (東南条郡) – merged with Saihokujō, Saisaijō and Tōhokujō Districts to become Tomata District on April 1, 1890 ** Yoshino District (吉野郡) – merged into Aida District on April 1, 1900

External links

* ttp://www.maproom.org/00/05/sub1/1.html Murdoch's map of provinces, 1903 {{Japan Old Province Former provinces of Japan Okayama Prefecture

Historical record

Shrines and temples

Historical districts

See also

External links