Mutsu Province

Updated on Dec 03, 2024

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Mutsu Province (陸奥国, Mutsu no kuni) was an old province of Japan in the area of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori Prefectures and the municipalities of Kazuno and Kosaka in Akita Prefecture.

Mutsu Province is also known as Ōshū (奥州) or Michinoku (陸奥 or 道奥). The term Ōu (奥羽) is often used to refer to the combined area of Mutsu and the neighboring province Dewa which make up the Tōhoku region.

Invasion by the Kinai government

Mutsu, on northern Honshū, was one of the last provinces to be formed as land was taken from the indigenous Emishi and became the largest as it expanded northward. The ancient capital of the Kinai government was Tagajō in present-day Miyagi Prefecture.

709 (Wadō 2, 3rd month), an uprising against governmental authority took place in Mutsu and in nearby Echigo Province. Troops were dispatched to subdue the revolt.

712 (Wadō 5), Mutsu was separated from Dewa Province. Empress Genmei's Daijō-kan made cadastral changes in the provincial map of the Nara period, as in the following year when Mimasaka Province was split from Bizen Province. Hyūga Province was sundered from Ōsumi Province; Tanba Province was severed from Tango Province.

718, Shineha, Uda and Watari districts of the Mutsu Province, Kikuta, Iwaki districts of the Hitachi Province are incorporated into the Iwaki Province (718).

801, Mutsu was conquered by Sakanoue no Tamuramaro.

869 (Jōgan 10, 5th month): A terrible earthquake struck Mutsu. More than 1,000 people lost their lives in the disaster.

Prosperity of Hiraizumi

In 1095, the Ōshū Fujiwara clan settled at Hiraizumi, under the leadership of Fujiwara no Kiyohira. He hoped to "form a city rivaling Kyoto as a centre of culture". The legacy of the Ōshū Fujiwara clan remains as the Chūson-ji. In 1189 Minamoto no Yoritomo invaded Mutsu with three great forces, eventually killing Fujiwara no Yasuhira and "all his vast domain fell into the hands of Yoritomo."

Mōtsū-ji in Hiraizumi, the Shiramizu Amidadō in the base of the Iwaki clan.

Sengoku period

During the Sengoku period, clans ruled parts of the province.

The Nanbu clan at Morioka in the north.

The Date clan at Iwadeyama and Sendai in the south.

The Sōma clan at Nakamura in the south.

The Iwaki clan at Iinodaira in the south.

The Uesugi clan had a castle town at Wakamatsu in the south.

After the Boshin War

As the result of the Boshin War, the Mutsu Province was divided by the Meiji government on 19 January 1869. In this division, five provinces (Iwaki, Iwashiro, Rikuzen, Rikuchū, and Mutsu) were established. The Meiji Mutsu Province was a region in the northernmost part of the main island that corresponds to today's Aomori Prefecture.

At the same time, while the characters of the name were unchanged, the official reading was changed to the on'yomi version Rikuō.