Shimousa Province

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Map of Japanese provinces with province highlighted

Shimousa province (下総国 -no kuni) was a province of Japan located in and around the northern part of modern Chiba Prefecture on the island of Honshū. Together with Kazusa, it was also called Sōshū.

Shimousa bordered on Hitachi, Kazusa, Kozuke, Musashi and Shimotsuke Provinces.

The ancient provincial capital was near modern Ichikawa, although in feudal times Sakura was a more important center. Shimousa passed through various hands, and at times all or portions of it were ruled by stronger daimyo from Musashi or Kazusa.

[edit] History

During the early Tokugawa Era, Shimousa consisted of these fiefs:

Kurihara: ruled by Naruse Masanari, 34,000 koku
Koga: ruled by Matsudaira (Toda) Yasunaga, 20,000 koku
Sekiyado: ruled by Matsudaira (Hisamatsu) Yasumoto, 40,000 koku
Yamazaki: ruled by Okabe　Nagamori, 12,000 koku
Yamakawa: (established in 1609) ruled by Matsudaira (Hisamatsu) Sadatsuna, 15,000 koku
Ino: ruled by Honda Narishige, 3000 koku (abolished in 1613)
Iwatomi: ruled by Hōjō Ujikatsu, 10,000 koku (abolished in 1613)
Sakura: kept changing hands and size; in 1610, ruled by Doi Toshikatsu, 32,400 koku (with another 12,600 koku added in 1612, and further increases in subsequent periods)
Iida: (established 1608, abolished 1613), ruled by Aoyama Narishige, 10,000 koku
Omigawa: from 1602 to 1610, ruled by Doi Toshikatsu, 10,000 koku; in 1612, ruled by Andō Shigenobu, 16,600 koku
Moriya: ruled by Toki Sadayoshi, 10,000 koku