Hizen Province

Hizen Province (肥前国, Hizen no kuni) was an old province of Japan in the area of Saga Prefecture and Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū.^[1] Along with Higo Province, it was sometimes called Hishū (肥州).

Hizen had borders with the provinces of Chikuzen and Chikugo.^[2]

The ancient capital city of the province was near Saga.^[3]

History

The name "Hizen" dates from the Nara Period, when the province was divided from Higo Province. The name appears in the Shoku Nihongi.

In the Meiji period, the provinces of Japan were converted into prefectures. Maps of Japan and Hizen Province were reformed in the 1870s.^[4]

Kawakami jinja and Chiriku Hachiman-gū^[5] were the chief Shinto shrines (ichinomiya) of Hizen.^[6]

↑ Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2002). Japan Encyclopedia. Harvard University Press. p. 338. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5.
↑ The province did not include the regions of Tsushima and Iki which are now part of modern Nagasaki prefecture.
↑ Hildreth, Richard (1907). Hildreth's "Japan as it was and is": a handbook of old Japan. K. Paul, Trench, Trubner. p. 47.
↑ Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2002). Japan Encyclopedia. Harvard University Press. p. 780. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5.
↑ "Hachiman Shinkō," Archived 2012-03-21 at the Wayback Machine Encyclopedia of Shinto. Retrieved 2011-2-2.
↑ "Nationwide List of Ichinomiya," p. 3 Archived 2013-05-17 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2011-1-18.

Media related to Hizen Province at Wikimedia Commons

v t e Provinces of Japan
Kinai	Izumi Kawachi Settsu Yamashiro Yamato Yoshino 716–738
Tōkaidō	Awa Hitachi Iga Ise Izu Kai Kazusa Mikawa Musashi Owari Sagami Shima Shimōsa Suruga Tōtōmi
Tōsandō	Dewa -1869 Hida Iwaki 718–724 Iwaki 1869– Iwase 718–724 Iwashiro 1869– Kōzuke Mino Ōmi Mutsu –1869 Rikuō (or Mutsu) 1869– Rikuchū 1869– Rikuzen 1869– Shimotsuke Shinano Suwa 721–731 Ugo 1869– Uzen 1869–
Hokurikudō	Echigo Echizen Etchū Kaga Noto Sado Wakasa
San'indō	Hōki Inaba Izumo Iwami Oki Tajima Tanba Tango
San'yōdō	Aki Bingo Bitchū Bizen Harima Mimasaka Nagato Suō
Nankaidō	Awa Awaji Iyo Kii Sanuki Tosa
Saikaidō	Bungo Buzen Chikugo Chikuzen Higo Hizen Hyūga Iki Ōsumi Satsuma Tane 702–824 Tsushima
Hokkaidō 1869–	Chishima Hidaka Iburi Ishikari Kitami Kushiro Nemuro Oshima Shiribeshi Teshio Tokachi
Pre-Taihō Code provinces	Chichibu Fusa Hi Keno Kibi Koshi Kumaso Toyo Tsukushi
Source: Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 780, p. 780, at Google Books; excerpt, "Japan's former provinces were converted into prefectures by the Meiji government ... [and] grouped, according to geographic position, into the 'five provinces of the Kinai' and 'seven circuits'."