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
  • (厚見郡) - merged with Kakami and parts of Katagata Districts to become (稲葉郡) on April 1, 1896
  • Ena District (恵那郡) - dissolved
  • Fuwa District (不破郡)
  • Gujō District (郡上郡) - dissolved
  • (羽栗郡) - merged with Nakashima District to become Hashima District (羽島郡) on April 1, 1896
  • (池田郡) - merged with parts of Ōno (Mino) Districts to become Ibi District (揖斐郡) on April 1, 1896
  • (石津郡)
    • (上石津郡) - merged with parts of Taki District to become Yōrō District (養老郡) on April 1, 1896
    • (下石津郡) - merged with Kaisai and parts of Anpachi Districts to become Kaizu District on April 1, 1896
  • (海西郡) - merged with Shimoishizu and parts of Anpachi Districts to become Kaizu District on April 1, 1896
  • (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)
  • (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
  • (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
  • (中島郡) - merged with Haguri District to become Hashima District on April 1, 1896
  • (大野郡) - dissolved to split and merged into parts of Motosu and Ibi Districts on April 1, 1896
  • (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[]

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

Muromachi shogunate[]

• (土岐頼貞), 1336–1339^[3]
• (土岐頼遠), 1339–1342
• (土岐頼康), 1342–1387
• (土岐康行), 1387–1389
• (土岐頼忠), 1390–1394
• (土岐頼益), 1395–1414
• (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[]

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