Higo Province

{{short description|Former province of Japan}}

Image:Provinces of Japan-Higo.svg

{{nihongo|Higo Province|肥後国|Higo no Kuni|{{IPA|ja|çiꜜ.ɡo (no kɯ.ɲi), çiꜜ.ŋo-, çi.ɡoꜜ-, çi.ŋoꜜ-}}{{cite book|script-title=ja:NHK日本語発音アクセント新辞典|publisher=NHK Publishing|editor=NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute|date=24 May 2016|lang=ja}}}} was an old province of Japan in the area that is today Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Higo" in {{Google books|p2QnPijAEmEC|Japan Encyclopedia, p. 310|page=3190}}. It was sometimes called {{nihongo|Hishū|肥州}}, with Hizen Province. Higo bordered on Chikugo, Bungo, Hyūga, Ōsumi, and Satsuma Provinces.

History

The castle town of Higo was usually at Kumamoto City. During the Muromachi period, Higo was held by the Kikuchi clan, but they were dispossessed during the Sengoku period, and the province was occupied by neighboring lords, including the Shimazu clan of Satsuma, until Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Kyūshū and gave Higo to his retainers, first Sassa Narimasa and later Katō Kiyomasa. The Kato were soon stripped of their lands, and the region was given to the Hosokawa clan.

During the Sengoku Period, Higo was a major center for Christianity in Japan, and it is also the location where the philosopher, the artist{{Cite web|date=2009|title=Art of Miyamoto Musashi|url=http://www.ecole-miyamoto-musashi.com/liens.html|access-date=August 12, 2020|website=ecole-miyamoto-musashi.com}} and swordsman Miyamoto Musashi stayed at the Hosokawa daimyō{{'}}s invitation, Hosokawa Tadatoshi third lord of Kumamoto, while completing his The Book of Five Rings.

File:Statue of Hosokawa Tadatoshi.jpg|Statue of Hosokawa Tadatoshi within Suizen-ji Jōju-en

File:Hidari mitsudomoe.svg|Mon of Miyamoto Musashi born in Ōhara-chō province of Mimasaka{{Cite web|date=2018|title=Mimasaka. Musashi Miyamoto|url=https://www.memorial-heiho-niten-ichi-ryu.com/mimasaka|access-date=August 12, 2020|website=Mémorial Heiho Niten Ichi Ryu}}

During the Meiji period, the provinces of Japan were converted into prefectures. Maps of Japan and Higo Province were reformed in the 1870s.Nussbaum, [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC&pg=PA780 "Provinces and prefectures"] at p. 780. At the same time, the province continued to exist for some purposes. For example, Higo is explicitly recognized in the 1894 treaties with the United States and the United Kingdom.US Department of State. (1906). [https://books.google.com/books?id=dKCOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA759 A digest of international law as embodied in diplomatic discussions, treaties and other international agreements (John Bassett Moore, ed.), Vol. 5, p. 759].

Shrines and temples

Aso-jinja was the chief Shinto shrine (ichinomiya) of Higo.[http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/images/uploads/EOS070712Ab.pdf "Nationwide List of Ichinomiya," p. 3] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517061440/http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/images/uploads/EOS070712Ab.pdf |date=2013-05-17 }}; retrieved 2011-10-29.

Historical districts

See also

Notes

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References

  • Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC Japan encyclopedia.] Cambridge: Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-674-01753-5}}; [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/58053128?referer=di&ht=edition OCLC 58053128]
  • Papinot, Edmond. (1910). Historical and Geographic Dictionary of Japan. Tokyo: Librarie Sansaisha. [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/77691250 OCLC 77691250]