Miyagi District, Miyagi
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

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 former Mutsu Province and today's
Miyagi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,265,724 (1 August 2023) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akit ...
,
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 ...
. The name of the prefecture was from this district. The original territory was east–west long from the
Ōu Mountains The are a mountain range in the Tōhoku region of Honshū, Japan. It is the longest range in Japan and stretches south from the Natsudomari Peninsula of Aomori Prefecture to the Nasu volcanoes at the northern boundary of the Kantō region. T ...
to 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 ...
, including current
Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,098,335 in 539,698 households, making it the List of cities in Japan, twelfth most populated city in Japan. ...
,
Shiogama is a cities of Japan, city located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 52,662, and a population density of 3,032 persons per km² in 23,270 households. The total area of the city is . Geography Shiogama is in n ...
, and
Tagajō is a city located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 62,869 in 27,869 households, and a population density of 3,200 people per km². The total area of the city is . The city was named after Taga Castle, the c ...
cities. As of 2003, 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 69,567 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 620.80 persons per km2. The total area is 112.06 km2.


History

The Minami-Koizumi site had been a village or town site since the fifth century A.D. Miyagi District first appeared in historical documents occurred in 766, in the ''
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 and followed by ''Nihon Kōki''. Fujiwara no Tsugutada and Sugano no Mamichi served as t ...
''. Archaeologists presume that Miyagi District was established by eighth century, based on the presence of square field system remains between Hirose River and Nanakita River. The province capital of Mutsu was moved to Taga (modern
Tagajō is a city located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 62,869 in 27,869 households, and a population density of 3,200 people per km². The total area of the city is . The city was named after Taga Castle, the c ...
) from the Koriyam site of Natori District in 724. Its residential area extended beyond the wall of Taga. In 785, Taga District and Shinakami District were separated from Miyagi, but later annexed. Taga continued to be the capital in 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 ...
, but the city center moved to west Iwakiri. In 1190 Isawa Iekage was appointed as the Governor Acting in Absence of Mutsu Province, charged with restoring order after the Revolt of Ōkawa Kanetō. His descendants established a fiefdom around Taga and changed their name to Rusu, which means, literally, ''acting in absence''. In the
Nanboku-chō period The , also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period, was a period in Japanese history between 1336-1392 CE, during the formative years of the Ashikaga shogunate, Muromachi (Ashikaga) shogunate. Ideologically, the two courts fought for 50 ...
of 14th century, Taga was the object of military campaigns between the South and North Courts. The Rusu family occupied the northernmost part of the district, where Taga was located. The fate of the Rusu family had been easily swung by the battles between governors of Mutsu (Ōshū). The Mutsu were strong generals sent from central government, or
shogunate , officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...
. In addition to the Rusu, some
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 ...
clans were known in southern and western parts of the district, including Ōkōchi, tenacious warriors for the Southern Court; Kokubun, the lord around the
provincial temple The are Buddhist temples in Japan, Buddhist temples established in each of the provinces of Japan by Emperor Shōmu during the Nara period (710 – 794). The official name for each temple was Konkomyo Shitenno Gokoku-ji (Konkōmyō Shitennō ...
(Kukubun-ji) of Mutsu; Hachiman clan, descendants of a past vice-governor of Mutsu. A long war broke the unity of Mutsu and the function of its capital. After the governor Ōsaki left, the rule of the district was divided by Rusu and Kokubun, who struggled against each other. Eventually the
Date clan The is a Japanese samurai kin group.Edmond Papinot, Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Date", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 5 retrieved 2013-5-5. History The Date fam ...
's influence reached to Miyagi and the clan sent to its children as child-in-law and successors of the heads of families. Then Rusu Masakage and Kokubun Morishige became commanders of
Date Masamune was a Japanese ''daimyō'' during the Azuchi–Momoyama period through the early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful feudal lords in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai. An outstanding tactician, he w ...
, fought many battles for the Date's dominance over Tohoku region. The two held only nominal independence from Date, solely to placate the retainers of the families. When Masamune surrendered to the new shogun
Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...
in 1590, Rusu was abandoned and Kokubun was formally regarded a subject of Date. Miyagi District became a part of the territory of Date clan. In 1600, just after the
Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was an important battle in Japan which occurred on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu Prefecture, ...
, Masamune decided to build and move to the Sendai Castle in Miyagi District. After that the district was developed as the suburb of new Sendai town.
Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,098,335 in 539,698 households, making it the List of cities in Japan, twelfth most populated city in Japan. ...
town has been ruled as a different area from the rest since then. The Meiji government divided Mutsu Province into three parts in 1869. Miyagi District became part of
Rikuzen Province is an old province of Japan in the area of Miyagi Prefecture (excluding Igu, Katta and Watari Districts) and parts of Iwate Prefecture (specifically Kesen District). Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Rikuzen''" in . It was sometimes c ...
. The population in 1889 (excluding Sendai) was 60,518. In March 2011, exactly ten years ago, an earthquake and tsunami hit this region of Japan.


Towns and villages

*
Matsushima is a group of islands in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. There are some 260 tiny islands (''shima'') covered in pines (''matsu'') – hence the name – and it is considered to be one of the Three Views of Japan. Nearby cultural properti ...
*
Rifu is a town located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 36,014, and a population density of 800 persons per km2 in 13,568 households. The total area of the town is . Rifu is known for its nashi pears. Recently, ...
*
Shichigahama is a town located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 18,447, and a population density of 1,400 persons per km2 in 6,681 households. The total area of the town is . Geography The town is situated on a penins ...


References


Bibliography

* Committee for Editing the Miyagi Prefecture History (under Miyagi Prefecture), ''Miyagi Prefecture History'', vol.2, Gyōsei, reprinted in 1987. (original version was published in 1956). 宮城県史編纂委員会『宮城県史』(2、近世史)、ぎょうせい。 {{Authority control Districts in Miyagi Prefecture