Koshi Province

Koshi Province in map of Japan

Koshi Province (越国 Koshi no Kuni) was an ancient province or region of Japan in the area of Echigo, Etchū and Echizen provinces.^[1] Also encompassed are Noto and Kaga provinces which were once part of Echizen.^[2] It was sometimes called Esshū (越州).

It appears as one of the original provinces in the Nihon Shoki. In 598 AD it sent a white deer to Empress Suiko as tribute.

At the end of the 7th century it was divided into three separate provinces: Echizen, Echigo and Etchū (evidenced by Taihō Code in 701). The names of new provinces mean front-Koshi, rear-Koshi and middle-Koshi respectively that represent the distance from Kinki region when Ritsuryō system had enacted.

This area is now known as the Hokuriku region.

Notes

1. Satow, Ernest. (1874). "The Geography of Japan," Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Vol. 1-2, p. 35., p. 35, at Google Books
2. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Koshi" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 563, p. 563, at Google Books.

References

• Asiatic Society of Japan. (1874). Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan. Yokohama: The Society. OCLC 1514456
• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128