View source for Hitachi Province

{{short description|Former province of Japan}}
{{Infobox former subdivision
|_noautocat             = 
|native_name            = {{lang|ja|常陸国}}
|conventional_long_name = Hitachi Province
|common_name            = Hitachi Province
|subdivision            = [[Provinces of Japan|Province]]
|nation                 = Japan
|status_text            = 
|government_type        = 
|p1                     = 
|flag_p1                = 
|s1                     = Prefectures of Japan#Former prefectures{{!}}Ibaraki Prefecture
|title_leader           = 
|leader1                = 
|year_leader1           = 
|leader2                =  
|year_leader2           = 
<!-- General information -->
|capital                = [[Hitachi Kokufu]] and [[Mito, Ibaraki|Mito]]
|coordinates            = 
|political_subdiv       = <!-- Accepts wikilinks -->
|today                  = [[Ibaraki Prefecture]]
<!-- Rise and fall, events, years and dates -->
<!-- Only fill in the start/end event entry if a specific article exists. Don't just say "abolition" or "declaration". -->
|year_start             = 7th century
|year_end               = 1871
|event_start            =
|date_start             = 
|event_end              = 
|date_end               = <!-- Optional: Date of disestablishment -->
|event1                 =
|date_event1            =
|event2                 = 
|date_event2            = 
|event3                 = 
|date_event3            = 
|event4                 = 
|date_event4            = 
|event5                 = 
|date_event5            = 
|life_span              = 
|era                    = 
|event_pre              = <!-- Optional: A crucial event that took place before before "event_start" -->
|date_pre               = 
|event_post             = <!-- Optional: A crucial event that took place before after "event_end" -->
|date_post              = 
<!-- Images -->
|image_map              =   Provinces of Japan-Hitachi.svg{{!}}300px
|image_map_caption      = Map of Japanese provinces (1868) with Hitachi Province highlighted
<!-- Area and population of a given year (up to 5) -->
|stat_year1             = <!-- year of the statistic, specify either area, population or both, numbered 1–5 -->
|stat_area1             = <!-- area in square kilometres (w/o commas or spaces), area in square miles is calculated -->
|stat_pop1              = <!-- population (w/o commas or spaces), population density is calculated if area is also given -->
|footnotes              = <!-- Accepts wikilinks -->
}}
[[File:Hitachi-kokufuato sekihi.JPG|thumb|right|[[Hitachi Kokufu]] Ruins Stone Monument in [[Ishioka, Ibaraki|Ishioka]]]]
[[File:Ushibori in the Hitachi province.jpg|thumb|right|View of Hitachi Province, [[Hokusai]] woodcut in 1830]]
{{nihongo|'''Hitachi Province'''|常陸国|Hitachi no Kuni|{{IPA|ja|çi̥ꜜ.ta.tɕi (no kɯ.ɲi), çi̥.taꜜ.tɕi-}}<ref>{{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}}</ref>}} was an [[old provinces of Japan|old province]] of [[Japan]]  in the area of  [[Ibaraki Prefecture]].<ref>[[Louis Frédéric|Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric]]. (2005). "''Hitachi fudoki''" in {{Google books|p2QnPijAEmEC|''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 336|page=336}}.</ref> It was sometimes called {{nihongo|'''Jōshū'''|常州}}. Hitachi Province bordered on [[Shimōsa Province|Shimōsa]] (Lower [[Fusa Province|Fusa]]), [[Shimotsuke Province|Shimotsuke]], and  [[Mutsu Province|Mutsu]] ([[Iwase Province|Iwase -1718-]], [[Iwashiro Province|Iwashiro -1869-]], [[Iwaki Province (718)|Iwaki -1718-]] and  [[Iwaki Province (1868)|-1869-]]) Provinces. Generally, its northern border was with Mutsu.

==History==
The ancient provincial capital ([[Hitachi Kokufu]]) and temple ([[Hitachi Kokubun-ji]]) were located near modern [[Ishioka, Ibaraki|Ishioka]] and have been excavated, while the chief shrine was further east at [[Kashima, Ibaraki|Kashima]] ([[Kashima Shrine]]). The province was established in the 7th century.

In the [[Sengoku period]] the area was divided among several ''[[daimyō]]s'', but the chief castle was usually in the [[Mito Castle]] of the modern city of [[Mito, Ibaraki|Mito]].

In [[Edo period]], one of the clans originating from [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]], settled in the [[Mito Domain]], known as [[Mito Tokugawa family]] or Mito Clan. Mito Domain, was a Japanese domain of the Edo period it was associated with Hitachi Province.

In [[Meiji (era)|Meiji era]] the political maps of the provinces of Japan were reformed in the 1870s, and the provinces became prefectures, and also some provinces were modified or merged, when creating the prefectures.

==Historical districts==
* [[Ibaraki Prefecture]]
** [[Ibaraki District, Hitachi|Ibaraki District]] (茨城郡) - dissolved
*** [[Higashiibaraki District, Ibaraki|Higashiibaraki District]] (東茨城郡)
*** [[Nishiibaraki District, Ibaraki|Nishiibaraki District]] (西茨城郡) - dissolved
** [[Kashima District, Ibaraki|Kashima District]] (鹿島郡) - dissolved
** [[Kōchi District, Ibaraki|Kōchi District]] ({{Nihongo|河内郡, こうちぐん、かわちぐん|Kōchi-gun, Kawachi-gun}}) - merged with Shida District to become [[Inashiki District, Ibaraki|Inashiki District]] (稲敷郡) on March 29, 1896 - Kōchi dissolved
** [[Kuji District, Ibaraki|Kuji District]] (久慈郡)
** [[Makabe District, Ibaraki|Makabe District]] (真壁郡) - dissolved
** [[Naka District, Ibaraki|Naka District]] (那珂郡)
** [[Namegata District, Ibaraki|Namegata District]] (行方郡) - dissolved
** [[Niihari District, Ibaraki|Niihari District]] (新治郡) - dissolved
** [[Shida District, Ibaraki|Shida District]] (信太郡) - merged with Kōchi District to become Inashiki District on March 29, 1896 - Shida  dissolved
** [[Taga District, Ibaraki|Taga District]] (多賀郡) - dissolved
** [[Tsukuba District, Ibaraki|Tsukuba District]] (筑波郡) - dissolved

==History books about Japan==
Two renowned history books about Japan were written in this province:
* [[Dai Nihonshi]] (Great History of Japan), in the 17th century [[Tokugawa Mitsukuni]] beginning his composition, work was continued until its completion in the Meiji era.
* [[Jinnō Shōtōki]] (Chronicles of the Authentic Lineages of the Divine Emperors), in the 14th century [[Kitabatake Chikafusa]] in the [[Oda Castle]] wrote it.

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* [[Louis-Frédéric|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]

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Hitachi Province}}
* [http://www.maproom.org/00/05/sub1/1.html  Murdoch's map of provinces, 1903]

{{-}}
{{Japan Old Province}}

[[Category:Hitachi Province| ]]
[[Category:Former provinces of Japan]]