Former province of Japan
?mi Province
(
近江?
,
?mi no kuni
)
was a
province of Japan
, which today comprises
Shiga Prefecture
.
[1]
It was one of the provinces that made up the
T?sand?
circuit
. Its nickname is
G?sh?
(
江州
)
. Under the
Engishiki
classification system, ?mi was ranked as one of the 13 "great countries" (大?) in terms of importance, and one of the "near countries" (近?) in terms of distance from the imperial capital Kyoto.
?mi bordered on
Wakasa
and
Echizen Provinces
to the north,
Mino
and
Ise Provinces
to the east,
Iga
and
Yamato Provinces
to the south, and
Yamashiro
and
Tanba Provinces
to the west.
Lake Biwa
, Japan's largest lake, is located at the center of the province.
History
[
edit
]
The area of ?mi has been settled since at least the
Yayoi period
, and the traces of several large settlements have been found. During the
Kofun period
, the area appears to have been dominated by several powerful immigrant clans, most notably the
Wani clan
, originally from
Baekje
. The names of "?mi" or "Lake Biwa" do not appear in the
Kojiki
,
Man'y?sh?
or other ancient documents. ?mi was originally called by various names. Wooden tags from the ruins of
Asuka-ky?
state "Ahaumi" (淡海), or variations therefore, including "Chikaumi" (近淡海), meaning "fresh-water sea or "nearby freshwater sea", which evolved into or ?mi-no-umi, (近江海). The name was only fixed to "?mi" after the enactment and enforcement of the
Taiho Code
in 701 AD and the decree of 713 AD that the names of the provinces as defined under the
Ritsury?
system should be named using two auspicious
kanji
.
The
?mi ?tsu Palace
, located in what is now the city of
?tsu
, and later the
Shigaraki Palace
in the city of
K?ka
were briefly the capitals of Japan, and ?mi was the location of several battles of the
Asuka period
Jinshin War
. During the Nara period, the
provincial capital
and
provincial temple
were built in ?tsu near the ruins of the former ?mi ?tsu Palace.
Takebe taisha
was designated as the chief Shinto shrine (
ichinomiya
) for the province.
[2]
During the
Heian period
, then proximity of ?mi to the capital at
Heian-ky?
, its location on the
T?kaid?
and
Nakasend?
highways connecting the capital with the provinces of eastern Japan, and the main route from the capital to the
Sea of Japan
gave the province great strategic importance. With the spread of
Buddhism in Japan
, the great
Tendai
monastery of
Enryaku-ji
was constructed at
Mount Hiei
in ?mi.
From the late
Heian period
and into the
Kamakura period
, the
Sasaki clan
controlled the post of
shugo
of ?mi Province, and their cadet houses of the
Rokkaku clan
and
Ky?goku clan
continued to dominate the province into the
Muromachi period
. In the tumultuous
Sengoku period
, internal struggles weakened both clans, and ?mi became a battleground between the
Azai
and
Asakura clans
in the north and in the south the Rokkaku were supported by the famous
K?ga ninja
. In the late 1560s into the 1570s, lord
Oda Nobunaga
invaded from the east, defeating the Azai, Asakura, Rokkaku, K?ka, and the
Ashikaga shogunate
. He built
Azuchi Castle
near Lake Biwa in ?mi, from which he planned to eventually rule all of Japan and beyond. Following Nobunaga's
assassination in Honn?-ji temple
, much of the province was awarded by
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
to
Ishida Mitsunari
,
Tokugawa Ieyasu
's arch-rival at the
Battle of Sekigahara
.
After the establishment of the
Tokugawa Shogunate
, much of the province was divided into several
feudal domains
, then largest of which was
Hikone Domain
, ruled by the
Ii clan
. ?mi continued in its role as a transportation conduit, with five
stations
of the
T?kaid?
and eight
stations
of the
Nakasend?
.
Following the
Meiji restoration
, on November 22, 1871 ?tsu Prefecture and Nagahama Prefecture were created from former
tenry?
and
hatamoto
territories within the province, and each of the former domains formed its own prefecture. These were merged on January 19, 1872 to form Shiga Prefecture. From August 21, 1876 to February 7, 1881 the Reinan region of
Fukui Prefecture
(west of
Tsuruga
city) was part of Shiga Prefecture, thus giving it a shoreline on the Sea of Japan. The merger was strongly opposed by the local inhabitants, and the merger was withdrawn.
Historical districts
[
edit
]
?mi was divided into 12 Districts (郡), which were further subdivided into 93 counties (?), containing 1,597 villages. The total assessed value of the province in terms of
kokudaka
was 858,618
koku
.
Edo-period Domains
[
edit
]
List of the domains of ?mi Province
Name
|
Capital
|
Ruling clan and kokudaka
|
Hikone Domain
|
Sawayama Castle
(1600- 1606)
Hikone Castle
(1606- 1871)
|
Ii clan (1600 - 1871, 180,000→150,000→200,000→250,000→300,000 (350,000→200,000→230,000)
|
Zeze Domain
|
Zeze Castle
|
Toda clan (1601 - 1616, 30,000 koku)
Honda clan (1616 - 1621, 30,000 koku)
Suganuma clan (1621-1634, 31,000 koku)
Ishikawa clan (1634 - 1651, 70,000→ 53,000 koku)
Honda clan (1651 - 1871 , 70,000 koku)
|
Minakuchi Domain
|
Minakuchi Castle
|
Kato clan (1682 - 1695, 20,000 koku)
Torii clan (1695 - 1712, 20,000 koku)
Kato clan (1712 - 1871, 25,000 koku)
|
?mizo Domain
|
?mizo jin'ya
|
Wakebe clan (1619- 1871, 20,000 koku)
|
Nissh?ji Domain
|
Nissh?ji jin'ya
|
Ichihashi clan (1620 - 1871, 20,000→18,000→17,000 koku)
|
Yamakami Domain
|
Yamakami jin'ya
|
Ando clan (1604 - 1695, 10,000 koku)
Inagaki clan, (1698 - 1871, 13,000 koku)
|
?mi-Miyagawa Domain
|
Miyagawa jin'ya
|
Hotta clan (1698 - 1871, 10,000→13,000)
|
Mikami Domain
|
Mikami jinya
|
Endo clan (1698 - 1870, 10,000→12,000 koku)
|
Katata Domain
|
Katata jin'ya
|
Hotta clan (1698 - 1826, 10,000→13,000 koku)
Transferred to Shimotsuke
Sano Domain
|
Kutsuki Domain
|
Kutsuki jin'ya
|
Kutsuki clan (1636 - 1648, 10,000 koku)
transferred to Shimotsuke
Kanuma Domain
|
?mori Domain
|
?mori jin'ya
|
Mogami clan (1622 - 1632, 10,000 koku)
attainder
|
?mi-Takashima Domain
|
|
Sakuma clan (1600 - 1616, 15,000→20,000 koku)
transfer to Shinano
Iiyama domain
, later attainder
|
?mi-Komuro Domain
|
Komuro jin'ya
|
Kobori clan (1619 -1788, 12,460→11,460→16,300 koku)
attainder due to mismanagement
|
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Other websites
[
edit
]
Media related to
Omi Province
at Wikimedia Commons