Kazusa Province

province of Japan

Kazusa Province (上総国, Kazusa-no kuni) was an old province of Japan in the area of Chiba Prefecture on the island of Honshū.[1] It was also known as Sōshū (総州) or Nansō (南総).

Map of Japanese provinces (1868) with Kazusa Province highlighted

The ancient capital city of the province was in or near Ichihara, Chiba.

History

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View of Kazusa Province, woodblock print by Hokusai, 1823

Kazusa was originally part of a larger territory known as Fusa Province (総国 or 捄国, Fusa-no-kuni), which was divided into Kazusa Province and Shimōsa Province during the reign of Emperor Kōtoku (645-654). Part of Kazusa was made into Awa Province during the reign of Empress Genshō.[2]

In the Meiji period, the provinces of Japan were converted into prefectures. The maps of Japan and Kazusa Province were reformed in the 1870s.[3]

Shrines and Temples

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Tamasaki jinja was the chief Shinto shrine (ichinomiya) of Kazusa. [4]

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References

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  1. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Kazusa" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 502.
  2. Meyners d'Estrey, Guillaume Henry Jean (1884). Annales de l'Extrême Orient et de l'Afrique, Vol. 6, p. 172; excerpt, Genshō crée sept provinces : Idzumi, Noto, Atoa, Iwaki, Iwase, Suwa et Sado en empiétant sur celles de Kawachi, Echizen, Etchū, Kazusa, Mutsu and Shinano
  3. Nussbaum, "Provinces and prefectures" at p. 780.
  4. "Nationwide List of Ichinomiya," p. 1 Archived 2013-05-17 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-1-17.

Other websites

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  Media related to Kazusa Province at Wikimedia Commons