Mino Province

Map of Japanese provinces (1868) with Mino Province highlighted

Mino Province (美濃国 Mino no kuni), one of the old provinces of Japan, encompassed the southern part of modern-day Gifu Prefecture.^[1] It was sometimes called Nōshū (濃州). Mino Province bordered Echizen, Hida, Ise, Mikawa, Ōmi, Owari, and Shinano Provinces.

Although the ancient provincial capital was near Tarui, the main castle town was at Gifu, the home of Inabayama Castle.

Historical record

In 713, the road crossing through Mino and Shinano provinces was widened to accommodate increasing numbers of travelers.^[2]

Mino Province served an important military and political role as the path to Kyoto as well as to Tokaido.

During the Kamakura and Muromachi Period, Mino Province was governed by the Toki clan and later in Azuchi period controlled by Oda Nobunaga. His heirs continued to control it after Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi took power.

The Battle of Sekigahara took place at the western edge of Mino, near the mountains between the Chūbu Region and the Kinki Region.

Historical districts

• Gifu Prefecture
  • Anpachi District (安八郡) - absorbed parts of Taki District; but lost parts to Kaisai and Shimoishizu Districts to become Kaizu District (海津郡) on April 1, 1896
  • Atsumi District (厚見郡) - merged with Kakami and parts of Katagata Districts to become Inaba District (稲葉郡) on April 1, 1896
  • Ena District (恵那郡) - dissolved
  • Fuwa District (不破郡)
  • Gujō District (郡上郡) - dissolved
  • Haguri District (羽栗郡) - merged with Nakashima District to become Hashima District (羽島郡) on April 1, 1896
  • Ikeda District (池田郡) - merged with parts of Ōno (Mino) Districts to become Ibi District (揖斐郡) on April 1, 1896
  • Ishizu District (石津郡)
    • Kamiishizu District (上石津郡) - merged with parts of Taki District to become Yōrō District (養老郡) on April 1, 1896
    • Shimoishizu District (下石津郡) - merged with Kaisai and parts of Anpachi Districts to become Kaizu District on April 1, 1896
  • Kaisai District (海西郡) - merged with Shimoishizu and parts of Anpachi Districts to become Kaizu District on April 1, 1896
  • Kakami District (各務郡) - merged with Atsumi and parts of Katagata Districts to become Inaba District on April 1, 1896
  • Kamo District (加茂郡)
  • Kani District (可児郡)
  • Katagata District (石津郡) - dissolved to split and merged into parts of Inaba, Motosu and Yamagata Districts on April 1, 1896
  • Mugi District (武儀郡) - dissolved
  • Mushiroda District (席田郡) - merged with former Motosu, parts of Katagata and parts of Ōno (Mino) Districts to become Motosu District (本巣郡) on April 1, 1896
  • Nakashima District (中島郡) - merged with Haguri District to become Hashima District on April 1, 1896
  • Ōno District (Mino) (大野郡) - dissolved to split and merged into parts of Motosu and Ibi Districts on April 1, 1896
  • Taki District (石津郡) - dissolved to split and merged into parts of Yōrō and Anpachi Districts on April 1, 1896
  • Toki District (土岐郡) - dissolved
  • Yamagata District (山県郡) - absorbed parts of Katagata District on April 1, 1896; now dissolved

Shugo

Below is an incomplete list of the shugo who controlled Mino Province and the years of their control:

Kamakura shogunate

• Ōuchi Koreyoshi (大内惟義), 1187–1211
• Ōuchi Korenobu (大内惟信), until 1221
• Utunomiya Yasutsuna (宇都宮泰綱), from 1252
• Hōjō clan, from 1285
• Hōjō Tokimura (北条時村), 1296–1300
• Hōjō Masataka (北条政高), until 1333

Muromachi shogunate

• Toki Yorisada (土岐頼貞), 1336–1339^[3]
• Toki Yoritō (土岐頼遠), 1339–1342
• Toki Yoriyasu (土岐頼康), 1342–1387
• Toki Yasuyuki (土岐康行), 1387–1389
• Toki Yoritada (土岐頼忠), 1390–1394
• Toki Yorimasu (土岐頼益), 1395–1414
• Toki Mochimasu (土岐持益), 1422–1465
• Toki Shigeyori (土岐成頼), 1468–1495
• Toki Masafusa (土岐政房), 1495–1519
• Toki Yorinari (土岐頼芸), 1519–1542^[4]

Geography

Mino and Owari provinces were separated by the Sakai River, which means "border river."

Notes

1. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Mino" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 638, p. 638, at Google Books.
2. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 64., p. 64, at Google Books
3. "Toki clan" at Sengoku-expo.net; retrieved 2013-5-10.
4. Nussbaum, "Saitō Dōsan" at p. 809.

References

• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon (Nihon Odai Ichiran). Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691.

Other websites

Media related to Mino Province at Wikimedia Commons

• Murdoch's map of provinces, 1903