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 county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

located in Chiba,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. As of 2010, the district has an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 18,593 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

of 120 persons per km². The total area was . The district formerly included all of the city of Katsuura, most of the city of

Isumi is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 37,206 in 17,004 households and a population density of 240 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Isumi is located on the east coast o ...

and a portion of the town of

Mutsuzawa is a town located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 6,928 in 2796 households and a population density of 190 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geography Located in the mountainous area that d ...

. It has been reduced in size through mergers and consolidation to two towns. The district is located in the outer zone of Metropolitan Tokyo, roughly from the center of the capital.

Towns and villages

* Onjuku * Ōtaki

History

Early history

Isumi District was one of the ancient districts of

Kazusa Province was a province of Japan in the area of modern Chiba Prefecture. The province was located in the middle of the Bōsō Peninsula, whose name takes its first ''kanji'' from the name of Awa Province and its second from Kazusa and Shimōsa province ...

. The district was named after the

Isumi River The is a river in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is in length and has a drainage area of . Under the Rivers Act of 1906 the Isumi is designated as a Class 2 River. Additionally, the government has designated the Isumi River a national-level . Ge ...

, which runs from the mountainous areas of Katsuura to the south of Kujūkuri Beach on the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. The district is mentioned in

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

chronicles under various names, usually as . The ''

Nihon Shoki The or , sometimes translated as ''The Chronicles of Japan'', is the second-oldest book of classical Japanese history. It is more elaborate and detailed than the , the oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeol ...

'' records the area as , and 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 ...

'' as . In the ancient period the district bordered Mōda and Unakami districts to the west, and

Habu is a Ryukyuan name referring to certain venomous snakes: * The following species are found in the Ryukyu Islands of Japan: ** ''Protobothrops elegans'', a.k.a. the Sakishima habu, found in the southern Ryukyu Islands ** ''Protobothrops flavoviri ...

and Nagara districts to the north. In the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

(794–1185) the district was divided into two

shōen A was a field or Manorialism, manor in Japan. The Japanese language, Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese language, Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: ''zhuāngyuán'', Cantonese: ''zong1 jyun4''). Shōen, from about the 8th to th ...

estates; one to the north, and one to the south.

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, ruling from 1192 until 1199, also the first ruling shogun in the history of Japan.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako ...

(1147–1199) drew soldiers from both

estates with the assistance of the local warlord Kazusa Hirotsune (?–1184). Yoritomo went on to found the

Kamakura Shogunate The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459. The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no Yori ...

. Manki Castle and Ōtaki Castle were built in this period. Kuniyoshi, once a village and now part of Isumi City, became a noted

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

in this period, and a ''rokusai-ichi'', or market held six days of the month, is held to this day. By the end of 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 ...

(1467–1573) the district had been variously controlled by the Toki, Hōjō, and Satomi clans. The Satomi ceded the area to

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 ...

(1534–1582) in 1590.

Edo period

The name of Isumi District was standardized to its present ''kanji'' and pronunciation by 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 ...

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

(1543–1616), as part of the wider unification of Japan, entered the

Kantō region The is a geography, geographical region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures of Japan, prefectures: Chiba Prefecture, Chiba, Gunma Prefe ...

in 1590 and awarded the Isumi District to a trusted general

Honda Tadakatsu , also called Honda Heihachirō (本多平八郎) was a Japanese samurai, general, and daimyo of the late Sengoku through early Edo periods, who served Tokugawa Ieyasu. Honda Tadakatsu was one of the Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings (Shitennō) a ...

(1548–1610). Under the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

, the minor feudal domain of

Ōtaki Domain was a Han (Japan), feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of the Edo period, located in Kazusa Province (modern-day Chiba Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Ōtaki Castle (Chiba), Ōtaki Castle in what is now the town of Ōtaki, Chiba. H ...

, controlled by Honda Tadakatsu from Ōtaki Castle, controlled 18 villages within the district, with another 57 villages under the control of other domains (including one village belonging to Nitta Domain in

Tosa Province was a province of Japan in the area of southern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Tosa bordered on Awa to the northeast, and Iyo to the northwest. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō syst ...

). The remaining 108 villages were ''

tenryō The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil war ...

'' under direct control of the central government and administered by various

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the Shōgun, shogunates in History of Japan, Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred ...

, or

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate. The Edo period was marked by the extensive development of rice paddy land in the district.

Modern period

In the post

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 ...

cadastral reform, the area came under the control of

Chiba Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama ...

and on April 1, 1889, was divided into two towns ( Ōtaki and Asahi) and 21 villages. Katsuura was elevated to town status on March 12, 1890, Kuniyoshi (future Chōjamachi) on September 22, 1893, Ōhara on December 2, 1899, Onjuku on April 1, 1914, and Okitsu on January 1, 1921. The town of

was created on April 29, 1954, through the merger of Chōjamachi with neighboring villages, and the town of Taitō was created in December of the same year. Katsuura was elevated to city status on October 1, 1958. Taitō and Chōjamachi merged to form the town of

Misaki Misaki (, "misaki") are a collective term for spirit-like existences in Japan like gods, demons and spirits, among other supernatural entities. Their name comes from a kannushi's vanguard. Summary Misaki are subordinate to the high-ranking di ...

on August 1, 1961, leaving the district with five towns. On December 5, 2005, the towns of Isumi, Misaki and Ōhara

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

to form the city of

, leave the district with only two remaining towns.

Notes

References

* *
Counties of Japan
{{Authority control Districts in Chiba Prefecture