Yoshino Province

Yoshino Province (芳野監, Yoshino-gen, fl. about 716 – after 738) was a Japanese province in the area of Nara Prefecture on the island of Honshū.^[1] It was a short-lived special division of the provinces of Japan, a part of Kinai. It was composed of only one district, Yoshino (吉野郡, Yoshino-gun). Its extent roughly coincides with that of today's Yoshino District plus Gojō city.

Yoshino was established by separating Yoshino District from Yamato Province. The time of its founding is unknown, but it is thought that it happened at around the same time as the establishment of Izumi Province (和泉監, Izumi-gen) in 716. The unit name “gen” (監) was different from the “kuni” (国) of normal provinces. No record remains of the reasons for their establishment. Both new provinces were unusually small and contained secondary palaces: the Yoshino Palace (吉野宮, Yoshino-miya) in the Yoshino province and the Chinu Palace in Izumi.

Yoshino Province was abolished some time after the year 738 and its territory was absorbed back into Yamato Province.

References

^ Bodart-Bailey, Beatrice M. (1999). Kaempfer's Japan: Tokugawa Culture Observed, p. 122.

Other websites

Media related to Yoshino Province at Wikimedia Commons

[1] Bodart-Bailey, Beatrice M. (1999). Kaempfer's Japan: Tokugawa Culture Observed, p. 122.

[1]

v t e Former provinces of Japan (List)
Kinai	Izumi Kawachi Settsu Yamashiro Yamato Yoshino 716–738
Tōkaidō	Awa Hitachi Iga Ise Izu Kai Kazusa Mikawa Musashi Owari Sagami Shima Shimōsa Suruga Tōtōmi
Tōsandō	Dewa -1869 Hida Iwaki 718–724 Iwaki 1869– Iwase 718–724 Iwashiro 1869– Kōzuke Mino Ōmi Mutsu –1869 Rikuō (or Mutsu) 1869– Rikuchū 1869– Rikuzen 1869– Shimotsuke Shinano Suwa 721–731 Ugo 1869– Uzen 1869–
Hokurikudō	Echigo Echizen Etchū Kaga Noto Sado Wakasa
San'indō	Hōki Inaba Izumo Iwami Oki Tajima Tanba Tango
San'yōdō	Aki Bingo Bitchū Bizen Harima Mimasaka Nagato Suō
Nankaidō	Awa Awaji Iyo Kii Sanuki Tosa
Saikaidō	Bungo Buzen Chikugo Chikuzen Higo Hizen Hyūga Iki Ōsumi Satsuma Tane 702–824 Tsushima
Hokkaidō 1869–	Chishima Hidaka Iburi Ishikari Kitami Kushiro Nemuro Oshima Shiribeshi Teshio Tokachi
Pre-Taihō Code provinces	Chichibu Fusa Hi Keno Kibi Koshi Kumaso Toyo Tsukushi
Source: Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 780, p. 780, at Google Books; excerpt, "Japan's former provinces were converted into prefectures by the Meiji government ... [and] grouped, according to geographic position, into the 'five provinces of the Kinai' and 'seven circuits'."