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65-447: Shimane Prefecture ( 島根県 , Shimane-ken ) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu . Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km . Shimane Prefecture borders Yamaguchi Prefecture to the southwest, Hiroshima Prefecture to the south, and Tottori Prefecture to

130-589: A central government agency]") as in Hokkaidō). The central government wanted to have greater control over all local governments due to Japan's deteriorating position in World War II – for example, all mayors in the country became appointive as in the Meiji era – and over Tokyo in particular, due to the possibility of emergency in the metropolis. After the war, Japan was forced to decentralise Tokyo again, following

195-425: A large silver mine usually requires substantial quantities of lumber to be harvested from surrounding forests. However, the development of Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine resulted in less deforestation and erosion because of "sustainable" control of logging, and also less soil and water pollution. It was one of the reasons that Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine was selected as a World Heritage Site. It was also declared in 2007 as among

260-410: A new dō was created to cover it. The Meiji government originally classified Hokkaidō as a "Settlement Envoyship" ( 開拓使 , kaitakushi ) , and later divided the island into three prefectures (Sapporo, Hakodate, and Nemuro). These were consolidated into a single Hokkaido Department ( 北海道庁 , Hokkaido-chō ) in 1886, at prefectural level but organized more along the lines of a territory. In 1947,

325-609: A prefecture, e.g. [aꜜitɕi] and [keꜜɴ] become [aitɕi̥ꜜkeɴ] ) . The Classical Chinese character from which this is derived carries a rural or provincial connotation, and an analogous character is used to refer to the counties of China , counties of Taiwan and districts of Vietnam . The different systems of parsing frame the ways in which Japanese prefectures are perceived: The prefectures are also often grouped into eight regions (地方, chihō ). Those regions are not formally specified, they do not have elected officials, nor are they corporate bodies. But

390-459: A slight population increase due to the mergers in the early 2000s. These are the towns and villages of each district . The number of towns and villages greatly decreased during the mergers. However, they hold about one-third of the prefecture's population. Shimane prefecture has a sub-tropical climate. Winter is cloudy with a little snow, and summer is humid. The average annual temperature is 14.6 °C (58.3 °F). It rains almost every day in

455-593: A year which was then one third of the world's production. Silver from the mine was used widely for coins in Japan. It was contested fiercely by warlords until the Tokugawa Shogunate won control of it in 1600 as a result of the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. It was later secured by fences and barricaded by pine trees. Yamabuki Castle was built in the center of the mining complex. Silver production from

520-799: Is a directly elected governor ( 知事 , chiji ) . Ordinances and budgets are enacted by a unicameral assembly ( 議会 , gikai ) whose members are elected for four-year terms. Under a set of 1888–1890 laws on local government until the 1920s, each prefecture (then only 3 -fu and 42 -ken ; Hokkaidō and Okinawa-ken were subject to different laws until the 20th century) was subdivided into cities ( 市 , shi ) and districts ( 郡 , gun ) and each district into towns ( 町 , chō/machi ) and villages ( 村 , son/mura ) . Hokkaidō has 14 subprefectures that act as General Subprefectural Bureaus ( 総合振興局 , sōgō-shinkō-kyoku, "Comprehensive Promotion Bureau" ) and Subprefectural Bureaus ( 振興局 , shinkō-kyoku, "Promotion Bureau" ) of

585-541: Is a combination of the four terms. Tokyo , capital city of Japan is referred to as to ( 都 , [toꜜ] ) , which is often translated as "metropolis". The Japanese government translates Tōkyō-to ( 東京都 , [toːkʲoꜜːto] ) as "Tokyo Metropolis" in almost all cases, and the government is officially called the "Tokyo Metropolitan Government". Following the capitulation of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1868, Tōkyō-fu (an urban prefecture like Kyoto and Osaka)

650-663: Is bounded by the Sea of Japan coastline on the north, where two-thirds of the population live, and the Chūgoku Mountains on the south. Shimane Prefecture governs the Oki Islands in the Sea of Japan which juridically includes the disputed Liancourt Rocks (竹島, Takeshima ). Shimane Prefecture is home to Izumo-taisha , one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan, and the Tokugawa -era Matsue Castle . The history of Shimane starts with Japanese mythology. The Shinto god Ōkuninushi

715-399: Is derived implies a core urban zone of national importance. Before World War II, different laws applied to fu and ken, but this distinction was abolished after the war, and the two types of prefecture are now functionally the same. 43 of the 47 prefectures are referred to as ken ( 県 , pronounced [keꜜɴ] when a separate word but [ꜜkeɴ] when part of the full name of

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780-686: Is located across the Sea of Japan from Izumo to Sakaiminato , which is located in Tottori prefecture. Also, the peninsula created two brackish lakes, Lake Shinji and Nakaumi . The island of Daikon is located in Nakaumi. Off the main island of Honshū , the island of Oki belongs to Shimane prefecture as well. The island itself is in the Daisen-Oki National Park. Shimane also claims the use of Liancourt Rocks , over which they are in dispute with South Korea . As of 1 April 2012, 6% of

845-506: Is occasionally used to differentiate the government from the island itself. The prefecture's government calls itself the "Hokkaidō Government" rather than the "Hokkaidō Prefectural Government". Osaka and Kyoto Prefectures are referred to as fu ( 府 , pronounced [ɸɯꜜ] when a separate word but [ꜜɸɯ] when part of the full name of a prefecture, e.g. [kʲoꜜːto] and [ɸɯꜜ] become [kʲoːtoꜜɸɯ] ) . The Classical Chinese character from which this

910-489: Is set tightly by national laws, and prefectures and municipalities are only autonomous within that framework. Historically, during the Edo period , the Tokugawa shogunate established bugyō -ruled zones ( 奉行支配地 ) around the nine largest cities in Japan, and 302 township-ruled zones ( 郡代支配地 ) elsewhere. When the Meiji government began to create the prefectural system in 1868, the nine bugyō-ruled zones became fu ( 府 ) , while

975-417: Is still used today and was kept during the period of Japanese rule .) Hokkai-dō ( 北海道 , [hokkaꜜidoː] ) , the only remaining dō today, was not one of the original seven dō (it was known as Ezo in the pre-modern era). Its current name is believed to originate from Matsuura Takeshiro , an early Japanese explorer of the island. Since Hokkaidō did not fit into the existing dō classifications,

1040-575: The Amago clan expanded power based in Gassantoda Castle and the Masuda clan dominated Iwami Province . The Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine was located between Amago territory and Masuda territory, and there were many battles between the clans for the silver. In 1566 Mōri Motonari conquered Izumo, Iwami, and Oki. In 1600, after over 30 years of Mori control, Horio Yoshiharu entered Izumo and Oki as

1105-603: The Izumo - Matsue area. Otherwise, over two-thirds of the population is on the coastline . A reason for the population distribution is that the Chūgoku Mountains make the land inland harder to inhabit. The capital, Matsue, has the smallest population of all 47 prefectural capitals. Shimane has also the largest percentage of elderly people. The province had an estimated 743 centenarians per million inhabitants in September 2010,

1170-464: The Yamagata - Mosse laws on local government and the simultaneous Great Meiji merger was performed in 1889, the 15 -ku became wards of Tokyo City , initially Tokyo's only independent city (-shi) , the six rural districts of Tokyo were consolidated in 85 towns and villages. In 1893, the three Tama districts and their 91 towns and villages became part of Tokyo. As Tokyo city's suburbs grew rapidly in

1235-625: The fiefdoms they encountered there. Its original sense in Portuguese, however, was closer to " municipality " than " province ". Today, in turn, Japan uses its word ken ( 県 ), meaning "prefecture", to identify Portuguese districts while in Brazil the word "Prefeitura" is used to refer to a city hall . Those fiefs were headed by a local warlord or family. Though the fiefs have long since been dismantled, merged, and reorganized multiple times, and been granted legislative governance and oversight,

1300-637: The han system. The Iwami area was split into three regions: the mining district, under the direct control of the Shogunate, the Hamada clan region, and the Tsuwano clan region. The Iwami Ginzan , now a UNESCO World Heritage Site , produced silver and was one of the nation's largest silver mines by the early 17th century. The Hamada clan was on the shogunate's side in the Meiji Restoration , and

1365-511: The " Union of Kansai governments " (Kansai kōiki-rengō) which has been established by several prefectural governments in the Kansai region. There are some differences in terminology between Tokyo and other prefectures: police and fire departments are called chō ( 庁 ) instead of honbu ( 本部 ) , for instance. But the only functional difference between Tōkyō-to and other prefectures is that Tokyo administers wards as well as cities. Today, since

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1430-505: The "Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine and its Cultural Landscape" — became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007. The mine was discovered and developed in 1526 by Kamiya Jutei, a Japanese merchant. Jutei later introduced a Korean style of silver mining that would become the Haifukiho Method . The mine reached its peak production in the early 1600s, with approximately 38 tons of silver a year while Japan produced about 200 tons of silver

1495-408: The 35 wards were reorganised into the 23 special wards , because many of its citizens had either died during the war, left the city, or been drafted and did not return. In the occupation reforms, special wards, each with their own elected assemblies ( kugikai ) and mayors ( kuchō ), were intended to be equal to other municipalities even if some restrictions still applied. (For example, there was during

1560-531: The Chūgoku Expressway at Kita-Hiroshima and stretches to Hamada. In Shimane, the largest employer is the retail industry, employing over 60,000 workers. The supermarket, Mishimaya, and the hardware store, Juntendo, are examples of companies based in Shimane. The manufacturing industry has the second highest number of employees with 49,000 workers. One-third of the prefecture's population is concentrated in

1625-600: The Europeans. Parts of the mining town remain in good condition and the Japanese Government designated it as a Special Preservation District for Groups of Historic Buildings in 1969. The government also applied for it to become a World Heritage Site . An evaluation of the site by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOSMOS)) found no "outstanding universal value. Nevertheless,

1690-788: The Metropolitan government. For example, the Tokyo Fire Department which was only responsible for the 23 special wards until 1960 has until today taken over the municipal fire departments in almost all of Tokyo. A joint governmental structure for the whole Tokyo metropolitan area (and not only the western suburbs of the special wards which are part of the Tokyo prefecture/Metropolis") as advocated by some politicians such as former Kanagawa governor Shigefumi Matsuzawa has not been established (see also Dōshūsei ). Existing cross-prefectural fora of cooperation between local governments in

1755-709: The Royal governor. Later on in the Kamakura period (1185–1333), the Kamakura shogunate forced emperors Go-Toba and Godaigo into exile in Oki. Emperor Go-Daigo later escaped from Oki and began rallying supporters against the shogunate, which proved successful. During the Muromachi period (1336–1573), Izumo and Oki were controlled by the Kyōgoku clan . However, after the Ōnin War ,

1820-545: The Shimane peninsula from Dentetsu-Izumoshi Station and Izumo Taisha-mae Station to Matsue Shinjiko-Onsen Station . JR West has three Limited Express trains to Shimane, which are Super Matsukaze , Super Oki , and Yakumo . Additionally, the overnight limited express Sunrise Izumo operates daily between Tokyo and Izumoshi . The four expressways in the prefecture connect major cities with other prefectures. The Matsue expressway connects Matsue with Unnan and Yonago in Tottori prefecture. Hamada Expressway forks from

1885-455: The Tokyo metropolitan area are the Kantō regional governors' association (Kantō chihō chijikai) and the " Shutoken summit" (formally "conference of chief executives of nine prefectures and cities", 9 to-ken-shi shunō kaigi ). But, these are not themselves local public entities under the local autonomy law and national or local government functions cannot be directly transferred to them, unlike

1950-460: The castle was burned down. The Tsuwano clan, despite then being ruled by the Matsudaira, was on the emperor's side in the restoration. In 1871, the abolition of the han system placed the old Shimane and Hamada Provinces in the current area of Shimane Prefecture. Later that year, Oki became part of Tottori. In 1876, Hamada Prefecture was merged into Shimane Prefecture. Also, Tottori Prefecture

2015-522: The country, were further subdivided into urban units/towns/neighbourhoods (-chō/-machi) and rural units/villages (-mura/-son) . The yet unincorporated communities on the Izu (previously part of Shizuoka ) and Ogasawara (previously directly Home Ministry-administrated) island groups became also part of Tokyo in the 19th century. When the modern municipalities – [district-independent] cities and [rural] districts containing towns and villages – were introduced under

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2080-490: The decades. But it was not until the year 2000 that the special wards were fully recognised as municipal-level entities. Independently from these steps, as Tokyo's urban growth again took up pace during the postwar economic miracle and most of the main island part of Tokyo "Metropolis" became increasingly core part of the Tokyo metropolitan area , many of the other municipalities in Tokyo have transferred some of their authority to

2145-400: The department was dissolved, and Hokkaidō became a full-fledged prefecture. The -ken suffix was never added to its name, so the -dō suffix came to be understood to mean "prefecture". When Hokkaidō was incorporated, transportation on the island was still underdeveloped, so the prefecture was split into several "subprefectures" ( 支庁 , shichō ) that could fulfill administrative duties of

2210-583: The early 20th century, many towns and villages in Tokyo were merged or promoted over the years. In 1932, five complete districts with their 82 towns and villages were merged into Tokyo City and organised in 20 new wards. Also, by 1940, there were two more cities in Tokyo: Hachiōji City and Tachikawa City . In 1943, Tokyo City was abolished, Tōkyō-fu became Tōkyō-to , and Tokyo-shi's 35 wards remained Tokyo-to's 35 wards, but submunicipal authorities of Tokyo-shi's wards which previously fell directly under

2275-538: The east. Matsue is the capital and largest city of Shimane Prefecture, with other major cities including Izumo , Hamada , and Masuda . Shimane Prefecture contains the majority of the Lake Shinji - Nakaumi metropolitan area centered on Matsue, and with a population of approximately 600,000 is Japan's third-largest metropolitan area on the Sea of Japan coast after Niigata and Greater Kanazawa . Shimane Prefecture

2340-514: The evaluating body concluded in its report that Iwami Ginzan was "a strong candidate for inscription as a World Heritage property" in the future. It recommended that the nomination be deferred for the time being so that more research on the property could be conducted. The bid was finally successful in 2007, establishing the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine and its Cultural Landscape as a listed World Heritage Site. The development of

2405-405: The formal extent of the local autonomy law suggests, because of national funding and policies. Most of municipalities depend heavily on central government funding – a dependency recently further exacerbated in many regions by the declining population which hits rural areas harder and earlier (cities can offset it partly through migration from the countryside). In many policy areas, the basic framework

2470-495: The general terms of democratisation outlined in the Potsdam Declaration . Many of Tokyo's special governmental characteristics disappeared during this time, and the wards took on an increasingly municipal status in the decades following the surrender. Administratively, today's special wards are almost indistinguishable from other municipalities. The postwar reforms also changed the map of Tokyo significantly: In 1947,

2535-532: The government consolidate the current prefectures into about 10 regional states (so-called dōshūsei ). The plan called for each region to have greater autonomy than existing prefectures. This process would reduce the number of subprefecture administrative regions and cut administrative costs. The Japanese government also considered a plan to merge several groups of prefectures, creating a subnational administrative division system consisting of between nine and 13 states, and giving these states more local autonomy than

2600-554: The highest ratio in Japan, overtaking Okinawa Prefecture (667 centenarians per million). Total Population in age groups 2007 Estimated Population Unit: Thousands Population in age groups by gender 2007 Estimated population Unit: Thousands The prefectural flower is the mountain peony . On the island of Daikonjima, they have been grown from at least the 18th century. 35°13′N 132°40′E  /  35.217°N 132.667°E  / 35.217; 132.667 Prefectures of Japan Each prefecture's chief executive

2665-509: The large districts (97 small districts) covered the former city area of Edo. When the ancient ritsuryō districts were reactivated as administrative units in 1878, Tokyo was subdivided into 15 [urban] districts (- ku ) and initially six [rural] districts ( - gun ; nine after the Tama transfer from Kanagawa in 1893, eight after the merger of East Tama and South Toshima into Toyotama in 1896). Both urban and rural districts, like everywhere in

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2730-585: The largest silver mine that could compare to the renowned Spanish colonial Cerro Rico mine of Potosí in the Viceroyalty of Peru , a present-day World Heritage Site in Bolivia . In foreign countries, because the silver mined at Iwami Ginzan was of very high quality, it came to be known as one of the Japanese brands of silver, sold as "Soma Silver". The name derived from the village of Sama (Soma) in which

2795-426: The mine can be known by its indication on the maps of the period as the "Silver Mine Kingdom". With the progress of navigation, the monarchs of Western Europe had gained many maps imported from Muslim civilizations, and then developed their own maps. A trading fleet using the maps sailed via India and China to Japan, to trade European goods for Japanese silver. The feudal lords who controlled the mine actively traded with

2860-467: The mine fell in the 19th century, as it had trouble competing with mines elsewhere in the world. Mining for other minerals, such as copper, then replaced silver as the predominant material produced from the mountain. The mine was eventually closed in 1923. Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine played a pivotal role in East Asian trade, where silver was a key currency. In Europe and China, the mine had been known as

2925-534: The mine was located. This silver was given the highest trading credit in East Asia. From the 17th century on, the silver coins made from the mine's silver were traded as not only one of the basic currencies within Japan, but also as the currency for trade with China, Portugal, and the Netherlands. (Japan began trading with Portugal in late 16th century, and the Netherlands in the 17th century) The prosperity of

2990-564: The municipality, with the municipality now abolished, fell directly under prefectural or now "Metropolitan" authority. All other cities, towns and villages in Tokyo-fu stayed cities, towns and villages in Tokyo-to. The reorganisation's aim was to consolidate the administration of the area around the capital by eliminating the extra level of authority in Tokyo. Also, the governor was no longer called chiji , but chōkan (~"head/chief [usually: of

3055-407: The occupation a dedicated municipal police agency for the 23 special wards/former Tokyo City , yet the special wards public safety commission was not named by the special ward governments, but by the government of the whole "Metropolis". In 1954, independent municipal police forces were abolished generally in the whole country, and the prefectural/"Metropolitan" police of Tokyo is again responsible for

3120-589: The organization of the prefectural police force, the supervision of schools and the maintenance of prefectural schools (mainly high schools), prefectural hospitals, prefectural roads , the supervision of prefectural waterways and regional urban planning. Their responsibilities include tasks delegated to them by the national government such as maintaining most ordinary national roads (except in designated major cities), and prefectures coordinate and support their municipalities in their functions. De facto, prefectures as well as municipalities have often been less autonomous than

3185-450: The practice of ordering prefectures based on their geographic region is traditional. This ordering is mirrored in Japan's International Organization for Standardization (ISO) coding. From north to south (numbering in ISO 3166-2:JP order), the prefectures of Japan and their commonly associated regions are: Here are some territories that were lost after World War II. This does not include all

3250-406: The prefectural government and keep tight control over the developing island. These subprefectures still exist today, although they have much less power than they possessed before and during World War II. They now exist primarily to handle paperwork and other bureaucratic functions. "Hokkaidō Prefecture" is, technically speaking, a redundant term because dō itself indicates a prefecture, although it

3315-683: The prefecture in terms of rail transportation. The Sanin Main Line goes through the prefecture on the Sea of Japan side into major cities such as Matsue and Izumo. Izumoshi and Matsue stations are the major stops in the prefecture. The Kisuki line, which forks from Shinji Station on the Sanin Line, connects with the Geibi Line in Hiroshima Prefecture , cutting into the Chūgoku Mountains . Ichibata Electric Railway serve

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3380-569: The prefecture. Some other prefectures also have branch offices that carry out prefectural administrative functions outside the capital. Tokyo , the capital of Japan , is a merged city-prefecture; a metropolis, it has features of both cities and prefectures. Each prefecture has its own mon for identification, the equivalent of a coat of arms in the West. The West's use of "prefecture" to label these Japanese regions stems from 16th-century Portuguese explorers and traders use of "prefeitura" to describe

3445-506: The prefectures currently enjoy. As of August 2012, this plan was abandoned. Japan is a unitary state . The central government delegates many functions (such as education and the police force ) to the prefectures and municipalities , but retains the overall right to control them. Although local government expenditure accounts for 70 percent of overall government expenditure , the central government controls local budgets, tax rates , and borrowing. Prefectural government functions include

3510-776: The rainy season, from June to mid-July. The highest average monthly temperature occurs in August with 26.3 °C (79.3 °F). The average annual precipitation is 1,799 millimetres (70.8 in), higher than Tokyo's 1,467 mm (57.8 in) and Obihiro with 920 mm (36.2 in). Three airports serve Shimane. The Izumo Airport located in Izumo is the largest airport in the prefecture in terms of passengers and has regular flights to Haneda Airport , Osaka Airport , Fukuoka Airport , and Oki Airport . The Iwami Airport has two flights each day to Haneda and Osaka and 2 arrivals. Oki Airport has scheduled flights to Osaka and Izumo Airports. JR West and Ichibata Electric Railway serves

3575-451: The result of Battle of Sekigahara , which Mori lost. Following the change, Horio Yoshiharu decided to move to build Matsue Castle instead of Gassan-Toda, and soon after Yoshiharu's death the castle was completed. In 1638, the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu Matsudaira Naomasa  [ ja ] became the ruler because the Horio clan had no heir, and his family ruled until the abolition of

3640-623: The rough translation stuck. The Meiji government established the current system in July 1871 with the abolition of the han system and establishment of the prefecture system ( 廃藩置県 , haihan-chiken ) . Although there were initially over 300 prefectures, many of them being former han territories, this number was reduced to 72 in the latter part of 1871, and 47 in 1888. The Local Autonomy Law of 1947 gave more political power to prefectures, and installed prefectural governors and parliaments. In 2003, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi proposed that

3705-468: The special wards have almost the same degree of independence as Japanese cities, the difference in administration between Tokyo and other prefectures is fairly minor. In Osaka, several prominent politicians led by Tōru Hashimoto , then mayor of Osaka City and former governor of Osaka Prefecture , proposed an Osaka Metropolis plan , under which Osaka City, and possibly other neighboring cities, would be replaced by special wards similar to Tokyo's. The plan

3770-583: The territories of the Empire of Japan such as Manchukuo . Iwami Ginzan The Iwami Ginzan ( 石見銀山 ) was an underground silver mine in the city of Ōda , in Shimane Prefecture on the main island of Honshu , Japan. It was the largest silver mine in Japanese history. It was active for almost four hundred years, from its discovery in 1526 to its closing in 1923. The mines, mining structures, and surrounding cultural landscape — listed as

3835-538: The total land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks , namely Daisen-Oki National Park ; Hiba-Dōgo-Taishaku and Nishi-Chūgoku Sanchi Quasi-National Parks; and eleven Prefectural Natural Parks. Most major cities are located either on the seaside, or along a river. Eight cities are located in Shimane Prefecture, the largest in population being Matsue, the capital, and the smallest being Gōtsu. The cities Masuda, Unnan, Yasugi, and Gōtsu had

3900-571: The township-ruled zones and the rest of the bugyo-ruled zones became ken ( 県 ) . Later, in 1871, the government designated Tokyo , Osaka , and Kyoto as fu , and relegated the other fu to the status of ken. During World War II , in 1943, Tokyo became a to, a new type of pseudo-prefecture. Despite the differences in terminology, there is little functional difference between the four types of local governments. The subnational governments are sometimes collectively referred to as todōfuken ( 都道府県 , [todoːɸɯ̥ꜜkeɴ] ) in Japanese, which

3965-438: The whole prefecture/"Metropolis" and like all prefectural police forces controlled by the prefectural/"Metropolitan" public safety commission whose members are appointed by the prefectural/"Metropolitan" governor and assembly.) But, as part of the "reverse course" of the 1950s some of these new rights were removed, the most obvious measure being the denial of directly elected mayors. Some of these restrictions were removed again over

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4030-475: Was added in the same year. However, five years later, in 1881, the current portion of Tottori Prefecture was separated and the current border was formed. Shimane Prefecture is situated on the Sea of Japan side of the Chūgoku region . Because of its mountainous landscape, rice farming is done mostly in the Izumo plain where the city of Izumo is located. Another major landform is the Shimane peninsula. The peninsula

4095-457: Was believed to live in Izumo , an old province in Shimane. Izumo Shrine , which is in the city of Izumo , honors the god. At that time, the current Shimane prefecture was divided into three parts: Iwami , Izumo , and Oki . That lasted until the abolition of the han system took place in 1871. During the Nara period , Kakinomoto no Hitomaro wrote a poem on Shimane's nature when he was sent as

4160-507: Was narrowly defeated in a 2015 referendum , and again in 2020 . Hokkaidō is referred to as a dō ( 道 , [doꜜː] ) or circuit . This term was originally used to refer to Japanese regions consisting of several provinces (e.g. the Tōkaidō east-coast region, and Saikaido west-coast region). This was also a historical usage of the character in China. (In Korea, this historical usage

4225-539: Was set up and encompassed the former city area of Edo under the Fuhanken sanchisei . After the abolition of the han system in the first wave of prefectural mergers in 1871/72, several surrounding areas (parts of Urawa , Kosuge , Shinagawa and Hikone prefectures ) were merged into Tokyo, and under the system of (numbered) "large districts and small districts" (daiku-shōku) , it was subdivided into eleven large districts further subdivided into 103 small districts, six of

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