was a former province in the area that is today the western half of Tottori Prefecture in the

San'in region The is an area in the southwest of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It consists of the northern part of the Chūgoku region, facing the Sea of Japan. Specifically, it is the two prefectures of Shimane Prefecture, Shimane and Tottori Prefecture ...

of Japan. Hōki was bordered by Inaba, Mimasaka, Izumo, Bitchū, and Bingo Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms 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 ...

system, Hōki was one of the provinces of the San'indo circuit. Under the '' Engishiki'' classification system, Hōki was ranked as one of the 35 "superior countries" (上国) in terms of importance, and one of the "middle countries" (中国) in terms of distance from the capital. The provincial capital was located in what is now the city of Kurayoshi, Tottori. The '' ichinomiya'' of the province is the Shitori Shrine also located in the town of Yurihama. As there are many cultural and historic similarities between Hōki and neighboring Izumo Provinces, the two provinces are sometimes informally grouped together as the . Conversely, Mount Daisen forms a geographic divide, which separates Hōki culturally and historically into eastern and regions. The Famous Scenes of the Sixty States 41 Hoki

The Famous Scenes of the Sixty States 41 Hoki

History

From before the

Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

, the area of Hōki was part of the Izumo cultural area, including the production of iron and the forging of swords. According to the "Hōki '' Fudoki''", the hydra monster Yamata no Orochi pursued Princess Inada into the mountains of Hōki, where she called out for her mother to save her. Her cries of "Hahakimase" became shortened to "hahaki" and eventually "Hōki". The ancient '' Kojiki'' states that the burial place of the creator ''

kami are the Deity, deities, Divinity, divinities, Spirit (supernatural entity), spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the traditional Shinto religion of Japan. ''Kami'' can be elements of the landscape, forc ...

'', Izanami was located on the border of Izumo with Hōki. During the late Kofun period to

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

, Hōki was gradually incorporated into Yamato rule. At the end of the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

, exiled Emperor Go-Daigo escaped from his prison on the

Oki Islands The is an archipelago in the Sea of Japan, the islands of which are administratively part of Oki District, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. The islands have a total area of . Only four of the around 180 islands are permanently inhabited. Much of the ...

and made Hōki his initial base of operations against the Kamakura shogunate. During the

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

, the Yamana clan were nominally '' shugo'' of the province; however, their control over the province was very weak, and local warlords and aggressive neighbors often usurped Yamana authority. In the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

, the province was a contested area between the Amago clan. Mōri clan and

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...

, with Nobunaga's general, Hashiba Hideyoshi eventually seizing control. In the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, the entire province was ruled by a branch of the

Ikeda clan was a Japanese clan that claimed descent from Minamoto no Yorimitsu (948-1021) of the Seiwa Genji. Minamoto no Yasumasa, the fourth generation descending from Yorimitsu, and younger brother of Minamoto no Yorimasa (1104-1180), was the first to ...

as part of the 320,000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

'' Tottori Domain centered on Tottori Castle in neighboring Inaba Province, although the important temple and pilgrimage center of Daisen-ji remained independent. Following 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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

and the abolition of the han system in 1871, Hōki became part of Tottori Prefecture on August 29,1871. However, Tottori was merged into

Shimane Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a ge ...

on August 21, 1876. It was separated back out on September 12, 1881. However, the name of province continued to exist for some time afterwards for legal purposes. For example, Hōki is explicitly recognized in treaties in 1894 (a) between Japan and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and (b) between Japan and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

.US Department of State. (1906)
''A digest of international law as embodied in diplomatic discussions, treaties and other international agreements'' (John Bassett Moore, ed.), Vol. 5, p. 759
Per the early

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

, an official government assessment of the nation’s resources, the province had 778 villages with a total '' kokudaka'' of 245,034 ''

''.

Gallery

Yonago Castle, honmaru-1.jpg, ruins of Yonago Castle Hoki Kokufu-ato, kokucho-ato.jpg, Hōki Kokufu ruins Shitori-jinja, haiden.jpg, Shitori Shrine, ''ichinomiya'' of Hōki Province

Notes

References

* Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005)
''Japan encyclopedia.''
Cambridge:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

.
OCLC 58053128

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoki Province Former provinces of Japan Hōki Province History of Tottori Prefecture 1871 disestablishments in Japan States and territories disestablished in 1871