was a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

which consisted of a peninsula in the southeastern part of modern

Mie Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture an ...

. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Shima''" in . Its abbreviated name was . Shima bordered on

Ise Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today includes most of modern Mie Prefecture. Ise bordered on Iga, Kii, Mino, Ōmi, Owari, Shima, and Yamato Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History The name of Ise appears ...

to the west, and on

Ise Bay is a bay located at the mouth of the Kiso Three Rivers between Mie prefecture, Mie and Aichi prefecture, Aichi Prefectures in Japan. Ise Bay has an average depth of and a maximum depth of . The mouth of the bay is and is connected to the small ...

on the north, east and south. It roughly coincides with the modern municipalities of Shima and Toba. Hiroshige Hiyoriyama Tobaminato

Shima is classified as one of the provinces of the Tōkaidō, and was the smallest of all provinces. Under the ''

Engishiki The is a Japanese book of laws and customs. The major part of the writing was completed in 927. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Engi-shiki''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 178. History Emperor Daigo ordered the compilation of the ''Engishi ...

'' classification system, Shima was ranked as an "inferior country" (下国) and a "near country" (近国), in terms of its distance from the capital.

History

Shima was an autonomous district of Ise Province, noted as a prosperous fishing region, and during the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capita ...

governors of the district were responsible for providing annual gifts of fish and

abalone Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen language, Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any small to very large marine life, marine gastropod mollusc in the family (biology), family Haliotidae, which once contained six genera but now cont ...

to the Emperor. It was separated from Ise Province during the late 7th or early 8th centuries. During the

Asuka period The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710, although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato period, Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after the ...

and Nara period it was dominated by the Takahashi clan. As the arable land area of Shima Province was very small, portions of the rice lands of Ise Province, as well as

Mikawa Province was an Provinces of Japan, old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Mikawa''" in . Its abbreviated form name was . Mikawa bordered on Owari Province, O ...

and

Owari Province was a province of Japan in the area that today forms the western half of Aichi Prefecture, including the modern city of Nagoya. The province was created in 646. Owari bordered on Mikawa, Mino, and Ise Provinces. Owari and Mino provinces w ...

were considered as part of the taxable revenues of Shima Province for the purpose of upkeep of its provincial capital, shrines and temples. The exact location of the provincial capital is not known, but is traditionally believed to have been in Ago, currently part of the city of Shima where the ruins of the ''Kokubun-ji'' of Shima Province have been discovered. The ''

Ichinomiya is a Japanese language, Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a Provinces of Japan, province. Shrines of lower rank were designated , , , and so forth.''Encyclopedia of Shinto'' ''Ichi no miya'' retr ...

'' of the province is the , one of the subsidiary shrines within the

Ise Grand Shrine The , located in Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the solar goddess Amaterasu Ōmikami and the grain goddess Toyouke-hime (Toyouke Omikami). Also known simply as , Ise Shrine is a shrine complex composed of many Shi ...

complex. During the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

Shima came under the control of

Hōjō clan The was a Japanese samurai family who controlled the hereditary title of '' shikken'' (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate between 1203 and 1333. Despite the title, in practice the family wielded actual political power in Japan during this perio ...

, followed by the

Kitabatake clan The Kitabatake clan was a clan that ruled south Ise Province in Japan and had strong ties to the eastern provinces through Pacific sea routes. Among its leaders included Kitabatake Tomonori. Clan heads # Kitabatake Masaie (1215–1274, founder ...

for much of the

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

, although the

Kuki clan Kuki may refer to: Locations * Kuki, Isfahan or Harizeh, a village in Isfahan Province, Iran * Kuki, Saitama, a city in Japan Peoples and culture * Kuki people, Thadou or Chin, an ethnic tribe in Burma and came to settle in Northeast India. * K ...

, originally pirates in Ise Bay based at

Toba Castle was a Japanese castle (now in ruins) located in the city of Toba, Mie Prefecture, Japan. Throughout the Edo period, Toba Castle was the administrative center for Toba Domain, a feudal domain of Shima Province under the Tokugawa shogunate. Toba ...

dominated much of the coastal areas by the end of the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

Ohama Kagetaka was a Japanese pirate during the latter part of the Sengoku period and the Azuchi–Momoyama period of Japan. He operated in the Shima Province area (now part of Mie Prefecture), and later commanded naval forces for both Takeda Shingen and Toku ...

was also a pirate operating in the

area of Shima Province during the 16th century. With the establishment of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

, Kuki Moritaka was confirmed as ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' of Toba, initially with revenues of 35,000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

'', growing to 55,000 ''koku'' under his son Kuki Hisataka, who was transferred to Sanda Domain in

Settsu Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises the southeastern part of Hyōgo Prefecture and the northern part of Osaka Prefecture. It was also referred to as or . Osaka and Osaka Castle were the main center of the province. Most of Settsu's ...

. The Kuki were replaced by the '' tozama''

Naitō clan is a Japanese samurai kin group. The clan claims its descent from Fujiwara no Hidesato. The Naitō became ''daimyōs'' during the Edo period.Edmond Papinot, Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du J ...

, which ruled Toba to 1680. The domain then reverted to ''

tenryō The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil war ...

'' status under the direct control of the Shogunate for one year. It then came under the control of the Doi clan (1681–1691), Ogyu-Matsudaira clan (1691–1710), Itakura clan (1710–1717), and Toda-Matsudaira clan (1717–1725) before finally coming under the Inagaki clan (1725–1871), where it remained until the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

. During the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a coalition seeking to seize political power in the name of the Impe ...

Inagaki Nagayuki is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese painter *, Japanese microbiologist *, Japanese singer and musician *, Japanese filmmaker *, Japanese politician *, Japanese popular singer *, Japanese diplomat *, Japanese ...

remained loyal to the Shogunate, and as a result was fined heavily by the

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji ...

and forced into retirement. His son, Inagaki Nagahiro became domain governor, and after the

abolition of the han system The in the Empire of Japan and its replacement by a system of prefectures in 1871 was the culmination of the Meiji Restoration begun in 1868, the starting year of the Meiji period. Under the reform, all daimyos (, ''daimyō'', feudal lords) ...

in July 1871, Toba Domain became "Toba Prefecture", which merged with the short lived "Watarai Prefecture" of former

in November 1871, which later became part of

Historical districts

** Ago District (英虞郡) - merged with Tōshi District to become Shima District (志摩郡) on March 29, 1896 ** Tōshi District (答志郡) - merged with Ago District to become Shima District on March 29, 1896

Bakumatsu period domains

Notes

References

* Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005)
''Japan encyclopedia.''
Cambridge:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

.
OCLC 58053128
* Papinot, Edmond. (1910). ''Historical and Geographic Dictionary of Japan.'' Tokyo: Librarie Sansaisha
OCLC 77691250

External links

{{Japan Old Province History of Mie Prefecture Former provinces of Japan 1871 disestablishments in Japan States and territories disestablished in 1871