Kawachi Province

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Map of Japanese provinces (1868) with Kawachi Province highlighted.

Kawachi Province (河内国, Kawachi no kuni) was a province of Japan in the eastern part of modern Osaka Prefecture.[1] It originally held the southwestern area that was split off into Izumi Province. It was also known as Kashū (河州).

Geography

The area was radically different in the past, with Kawachi Bay and lake dominating the area over what is now land.

Chiku

Kawachi was divided into three counties (地区, chiku): northern (北河内, Kita Kawachi), central (中河内, Naka Kawachi), and southern (南河内, Minami Kawachi).[when?]

Development

Kawachi province was established in the 7th century. On 11 May 716, the Ōtori, Izumi, and Hine districts were split off to form Izumi Province (和泉監, Izumi-gen). In December 720, the Katashimo (堅下郡, Katashimo-gun) and Katakami (堅上郡, Katakami-gun) districts were combined to become Ōagata (大縣郡, Ōagata-gun). On 15 September 740, Izumi Province was merged back in. On 30 May 757, that area was again separated to form Izumi Province (this time with the normal kuni designation).

Under Dōkyō's administration, Yuge-no-Miya (由義宮) was established, taking the name of Nishi-no-Miyako (西京, "Western Capital"); moreover, in 769 the office of Kawachi kokushi was abolished, and the special administration structure of Kawachi shiki (河内職) was established. With the downfall of Dōkyō, the prior system was restored the following year.

Capital

The provincial capital was in

Fujiidera, but this is not known for certain. It may have been moved during the Nara period (both locations would still be within modern Fujiidera). However, in the Shūgaishō, the capital was in Ōagata District. In the Setsuyōshū, Tanboku District
was mentioned as the seat.

It seems that there was no office of shugo before the Jōkyū War. It is unknown where the original shugo's residence was, but afterwards, it transferred to the Tannan, Furuichi, Wakae, and Takaya areas.

Temples

A

Kashiwara, but they went out of use in sometime around the Nanboku-chō period. Similarly, one for nuns was also near the same place, but it seems that it was in ruin by the Heian period
.

Hirakata
, is labelled the "Primary Shrine of Kashū" (河州一ノ宮, Kashū Ichi-no-Miya), but this may be a mixup where what was once the primary shrine for the Katano township was confused for the primary shrine of Kawachi.

The

secondary shrine is said to have been Onji Shrine [ja
]. However, just having the second most influence in Kawachi Province does not necessarily mean it was a secondary shrine in the shrine system. That it is called the secondary shrine is also a recent innovation.

There were no lower-level shrines.

The

; there is a theory that this shrine was moved to where the sōja's land was, and another theory that it came to be the sōja due to its proximity to the capital.

History

Ancient – Kamakura period

The province of Kawachi was once the power of the Mononobe clan; Kizuri in Higashiōsaka was, in ancient times, one of their strongholds.

Tsuboi in

Minamoto clan (i.e., the Kawachi Genji). The likes of Hachimantarō Yoshiie who made vassals out of the samurai of the eastern provinces, his father Minamoto no Yoriyoshi, and Yoshiyori's father Minamoto no Yorinobu's tomb of three generations is even now close to the Tsūhō-ji remains that was the Kawachi Genji's family temple. Minamoto no Yoritomo (who founded the Kamakura shogunate
) was a descendant of these Kawachi Genji.

Near the end of the Kamakura period, Kusunoki Masashige and his household, being a powerful clan of southern Kawachi, rose up in defiance of the shogunate; barricaded in the Shimo Akasaka, Kami Akasaka, and Chihaya castles, he baffled the Kamakura shogunal armies. With the direct imperial rule of Kenmu, Kusunoki was appointed as both kokushi and shugo.

Muromachi period

The

battle of Shijō Nawate
.

"After the death of

Chikafusa the Southern Court moved from Anau to Amano in the province of Kawachi, making the Kongoji its headquarters."[3]

With the advent of the Muromachi period, the post of Kawachi shugo fell to one of the three kanrei, of the Hatakeyama clan; Hatakeyama Mitsuie and Hatakeyama Mochikuni continued this, making what should have been a dynasty of sorts, but in dispute over Mochikuni's family headship, the adopted Hatakeyama Masanaga and the begotten Hatakeyama Yoshinari quarreled, and as Kawachi became the background for that feud, it fell to waste.

Masanaga was attacked at Shōgaku-ji (正覚寺,

Osaka) by Hosokawa Masamoto and Hatakeyama Yoshitoyo, but his son Hisayoshi was in Kishū attempting to recoup for another attack; finally, they succeeded in making a comeback as the shugo of Kawachi and Kishū, and Hisayoshi's son Tanenaga ultimately managed to destroy Yoshihide of Yoshinari's line, once again consolidating the house of Hatakeyama. However, through all this, Kawachi had been the battleground, and had essentially been reduced to scorched earth
.

Sengoku period

Portrait of Miyoshi Nagayoshi

By the Sengoku period, the consolidated Kawachi was the asset of Hatakeyama Tanenaga, but the real power was imbued in the shugodai, a title that passed into the hands of Yusa Naganori: the shugo came to be reduced to a mere figurehead. Moreover, the kanrei house of Hosokawa continued to face internal strife; in addition to the Hosokawa inheritance dispute between Takakuni, Sumimoto, and Sumiyuki, the son of Sumimoto (the victor of that conflict) Harumoto attacked and overthrew the shugodai in Sakai who played an active role in the Hosokawa clan's internal strife, Miyoshi Motonaga.

The

Kashiwara, Osaka
).

However, being in opposition later on, Nagayoshi would fight his father's cousin in Harumoto's faction,

Osaka
).

But even Nagayoshi had to pass away at the age of 42, and afterwards retainers were in conflict (the Miyoshi triumvirate and Matsunaga Hisahide), making a battleground of Kawachi and Yamato. The event that finally closed the period and these conflicts was Oda Nobunaga's procession to the capital.

Azuchi-Momoyama period

Upon his ascension to the capital, Oda Nobunaga gave the task of governing the northern half of Kawachi to Miyoshi Yoshitsugu, and that of the southern half to Hatakeyama Akitaka (his son-in-law). However, they both fell in the conflicts around the Genki era, and control of Kawachi fell to Oda's chief vassal Sakuma Nobumori. But even Nobumori would later be shunned and banished by Nobunaga.

When Oda died in the

Incident at Honnō-ji, Hashiba Hideyoshi, who attacked Akechi Mitsuhide at the battle of Yamazaki, as a result of the Kiyosu Conference
, came to control the province.

Hideyoshi came to rule all Japan, and when Osaka Castle was built, Wakae Castle, which had once been an important spot in Kawachi, became derelict.

After the death of Hideyoshi, the

bakuhan taisei
.

When Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyori had their showdown at the Siege of Osaka, Kawachi also became a battleground. This fight had a winter and a summer campaign, but since the winter campaign was a battle around Osaka Castle, Kawachi was not a war location then. The aspect of the summer campaign was completely turned about, and the outer moat of Osaka Castle was buried, leaving the castle exposed; the Osaka side judged a siege defense to be impossible, and intercepted Tokugawa's side going from Kyoto to Osaka in the field. Therefore, fights occurred at various places in Kawachi, it being between Kyoto and Osaka. The primary battles that developed were the Battle of Dōmyōji (Gotō Matabee vs. Date Masamune, Matsudaira Tadateru, and Mizuno Katsunari; Sanada Yukimura, Kitagawa Nobukatsu, and Susukida Kanesuke vs. Date Masamune, Matsudaira Tadateru, and Mizuno Katsunari) and the battle of Yao and Wakae (Kimura Shigenari vs. Ii Naotaka; Chōsokabe Morichika vs. Tōdō Takatora).

Edo period

In the

Hōjō of Sayama Domain and the Takagi of Tannan Domain. In addition, the Inaba of Yodo Domain
had many territories.

Historical districts

Meiji era reorganization

  • Kitakawachi District (北河内郡) – merger of Katano, Matta and Sasara Districts; making the former Kawachi Province's northern portion a single district on April 1, 1896
  • Nakakawachi District (中河内郡) – merger of Kawachi, Ōgata, Shibukawa, Takayasu, Tanboku and Wakae Districts, along with part of Shiki District (Mikimoto-mura); making the former Kawachi Province's central portion a single district on April 1, 1896
  • Minamikawachi District (南河内郡) – merger of Asukabe, Furuichi, Ishikawa, Nishigori, Tannan and Yakami Districts, along with part of Shiki District (all but Mikimoto-mura); making the former Kawachi Province's southern portion a single district on April 1, 1896

Kokushi

Shugo

Kamakura bakufu

Muromachi bakufu

Kawachi figures

Though Kawachi was a very small province, many important people in ancient and medieval Japan had to do with the area and the decisive moments in Japanese history that took place there or around it.

See also

Notes

  1. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Kawachi" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 496, p. 496, at Google Books
    .
  2. ^ "Nationwide List of Ichinomiya", p. 1. Archived 2013-05-17 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2011-08-010
  3. .

References

External links