History of Kagoshima Prefecture

The outline of the History of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan is described herein.

Kagoshima Prefecture 鹿児島県
Prefecture
Japanese transcription(s)
• Japanese	鹿児島県
• Rōmaji	Kagoshima-ken
Country	Japan
Region	Kyushu
Island	Kyushu
Capital	Kagoshima
Government
• Governor	Yūichirō Itō
Area
• Total	9,132.42 km2 (3,526.05 sq mi)
Area rank	10th
Population (December 1, 2010)
• Total	1,703,406
• Rank	24th
• Density	186.52/km2 (483.1/sq mi)
ISO 3166 code	JP-46
Districts	11
Municipalities	49
Flower	Miyamakirishima (Rhododendron kiusianum)
Tree	Camphor laurel (Cinnamomum camphora)
Bird	Lidth's jay (Garrulus lidthi)
Website	www3.pref.kagoshima.jp/ foreign/english/

Etymology

View of Sakurajima from mainland Kagoshima

The name of Kagoshima came from Kagoshima Shrine situated in Hayato Cho, Kirishima. There are several views such as a boat of Hoori who was enshrined there was built in Kagoyama Mountain, or Kagoshima means a kami mountain (island) or an island where kami lives, Kagoshima came from Sakurajima, which is encircled by cliffs, an old name of Kagoshima.

Kagoshima-jingū 鹿児島神宮
Basic information
Location	2496, Hayato-chō Uchi, Kirishima Kagoshima 899-5116
Affiliation	Shinto
Deity	Hoori Toyotama-hime Emperor Chūai Emperor Ōjin Empress Jingū
Glossary of Shinto

Prehistoric Kagoshima

About 24,000 years ago, Aira Caldera, corresponding to Kagoshima Bay and larger areas, made great volcanic eruptions, and the volcanic ash reached as far as Hokkaido and made here Shirasu-Daichi (volcanic ejecta). As of 2005, about 40 archaeological sites of the lower paleolithic era had been found in Kagoshima Prefecture. In Nakatane Machi, Kumage-gun, a camp site of lower paleolithic era, 31,000 years ago, was found with sharpened stones and burned soil.^[1]

Yamato Ōken and Kagoshima

Expanding Yamato Ōken (red) around the 7th century; Kagoshima Prefecture is in southernmost Kyushu, in black letters Kumaso and Hayato

There are various Japanese names for a political/governmental organization present starting in the 3rd century of kofun period in Kinki area of Japan, composed of several powerful families, with the Ō (king) or Ōkimi (great king) as its center. These names include Yamato Chōtei (Court), Yamato Ōken, Wa Ōken, and Yamato Seiken. At the present time, Yamato Ōken is tentatively used here. Kagoshima had been long regarded as a foreign country. Hayato people made underground tombs. Under the influence of Yamato Ōken, Satsuma Local Country was established in 702 and Osumi Local Country was established in 713. However, Hayato people were not friendly with the Yamato Ōken.

Shimazu Tadahisa, the founder of the Shimazu Samurai clan

In 1185, Shimazu Tadahisa (died August 1, 1227) was the founder of the Shimazu samurai clan. The Shimazu clan had become the daimyō of Satsuma and Ōsumi domains of Kagoshima and Hyūga country in the Azuchi–Momoyama period. He went to Satsuma in 1196, subdued Hyūga and Ōsumi provinces, and built a castle in the domain of Shimazu (Hyūga) which name he also adopted. He is buried in Kamakura, near his father's tomb.

Wakou, the Portuguese, Francis Xavier and the introduction of firearms

Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta (7 April 1506 – 3 December 1552)

16th-century Japanese pirate raids

In the medieval age, Wokou, meaning Japanese pirates, raided the coastlines of China and Korea from the 13th century onwards. In Kagoshima Prefecture, Wokou departed from Bounotsu and Uchinoura ports. In 1543, a gun was firstly imported into Tanegashima when the Portuguese, the first Europeans, arrived in Japan, which later revolutionized warfare in the country. Francis Xavier, born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta (7 April 1506 – 3 December 1552) was a pioneering Roman Catholic missionary born in Navarra and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. In 1549, under the patronage of Portuguese King, he landed at Kagoshima and started missionary work. In 1574, Kimotsuki clan of Osumi area was defeated and in 1577, Ito of Hyuga was also defeated and the Shimazu clan unified Kagoshima.^[2] In 1587, Toyotomi Hideyoshi won over the Shimazu clan and the Shimazu clan survived only in Satsuma and Osumi areas. Near the end of the 16th century, Japanese feudal leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered the Ryukyu kingdom to support Hideyoshi’s invasions of Korea with men and arms. However, the kingdom was already a tribute state of China.

On August 25, 1543 a gun was imported into Tanegashima, which revolutinalized warfare in Japan. Murashukusha　and Kirishimota in a Chinese document

Invasion of the Ryukyus

The invasion of the Ryukyus by Satsuma took place in April 1609. Three thousand men and more than one hundred war junks sailed from Kagoshima at the southern tip of Kyushu. The kingdom became a tribute state of both China and the Satsuma clan, with Satsuma exercising ultimate control.

Satsuma Ware (Porcelain) and history

A Satsuma ware bowl from the Meiji or Taishō period (19th-early 20th century)

• Satsuma ware or porcelain was originally developed by Korean potters, who came to Japan following the Japanese Invasion of Korea in the 17th century. The Prince of Satsuma brought potters from Korea, where they established a now famous kiln for making pottery. The ongoing patronage of the prince's family, the Shimazu family was the daimyōs (feudal lords) at the time that resulted in the great popularity of Satsuma porcelain. Production of Satsuma pottery is no longer limited to one area of Japan. The Shimazu family introduced the world to their beautiful earthenware pieces at the Paris International Exposition of 1867.

Horeki Age River Improvement Incident

Horeki Age River Improvement Incident or Nōbi Plain River Improvement Incident was a big project of Satsuma han which intended to divide the rivers into Kiso River, Nagara River and Ibi River, in Nagoya district between 1754 and 1755. These rivers were three big rivers which flowed in the Nōbi Plain with complicated geographical features and frequent floods. Tokugawa Ieshige, the 9th Edo shōgun ordered the river improvement construction works to be done by the Satsuma han, in order to weaken the Satsuma han. Hirata Yukie (1704–1755) a karō (家老, house elder), accepted the construction works with 947 people. The works were tremendously difficult and 51 samurais died and 33 people died of disease during the construction works. Hirata Yukie committed seppuku for the great burden to the Satsuma han. Ironically, floods increased after the works and modern technology completed the works in the Meiji period under the direction of Johannis de Rijke (1842–1913) a Dutch civil engineer and advisor to Japanese government.

Shimazu Nariakira

Shimazu Nariakira

History
Builder:	Sakura-jima, Seto-Mura
Laid down:	1853
Launched:	April 1854
Commissioned:	January 1855
Decommissioned:	1870
Fate:	Wrecked, 1870
General characteristics
Propulsion:	3-masted sailing ship
Armament:	10 guns

• Shimazu Nariakira (1809–1858) was an influential daimyō of Satsuma. After he became daimyō of Satsuma, Nariakira had Minayoshi Hotoku, a Satsuma physician, to build the Iroha-maru, one of the first Western-style ships built in Japan. It was based on Minayoshi’s 6-foot-long (180 cm), 3-foot-wide (91 cm) model. Nariakira then built a shipyard for Western-style shipbuilding at Sakurajima. He also began enacting educational changes in Satsuma geared at bringing in Western science and technology. Nariakira established the Rangaku Koshujo, a school for the study of the Dutch language and Western culture. He would frequently visit schools and ask students to explain the meaning of the Confucian texts, to ensure that their Western learning did not corrupt their sense of nationalism. So strong was Nariakira’s desire to raise well-educated youths that he set aside four koku annually to feed starving scholars, essentially a form of financial aid or scholarship. The Shūseikan (集成館) industrial area established by Shimazu Nariakira in 1852 in Iso, Satsuma Province.
• Shōhei Maru (Japanese: 昇平丸) was Japan's first Western-style warship following the country's period of seclusion. She was ordered in 1852 by the government of the shōgun to the southern fief of Satsuma in the island of Kyūshū, in anticipation of the announced mission of Commodore Perry in 1853.

Tokugawa shogunate, powerful Satsuma clan and Satsuma rebellion

Bombardment of Kagoshima

Toward the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, namely the bakumatsu in which the Shimazu clan played an important role, there have been a chain of events such, bombardment of Kagoshima, also known as the Anglo-Satsuma War (Satsu-Ei Sensō), which took place on 15–17 August 1863 during the Late Tokugawa shogunate, Meiji Restoration (1868), abolition of the han system (1871) and Satsuma Rebellion (1877). In 1872, the Ryukyu islands were made the Ryukyu han. The Sword Abolishment Edict and the abolishment of the Samurai system were issued in 1876, and samurais were angered and became furious. Saigō Takamori, the hero and leader of Meiji Restoration left the central Meiji Government and returned to Kagoshima, with dissatisfied samurais. In 1877, Satsuma Rebellion army went up to Kumamoto, but could not invade the Kumamoto Castle and Saigō committed seppuku at his native place Kagoshima. In 1883, Kagoshima Prefecture was founded after the re-establishment of Miyazaki Prefecture. In 1914, Mt. Sakurajima erupted and the island of Sakurajima connected with the Osumi Peninsula.

Saigō Takamori

The city of Kagoshima was covered by deep ash during the 1914 eruption of the Sakurajima volcano, in the distance across the bay.

World War Ⅱ and after

On June 17, 1945, Kagoshima city was attacked by B-29 bombers with 2316 persons killed, while in the same year, suicide attack planes departed from Kagoshima Prefecture. At the end of the war, islands southernmore than 30 parallel went into American control. In 1953, Amami islands were returned to Kagoshima Prefecture. In 1972, the Kamoike Airport was abolished and a new airport was established in Kirishima City. In 1993, 1993 Kagoshima Heavy Rain occurred, with the death toll of 71, but about 2,500 people who were either in 1200 cars or busses, including those on the trains and inhabitants were saved by fishing boats and ferries which carried them to Kagoshima through the Sakurajima Bay. In 1996, the Kagoshima Prefectural buildings were completed in the present place. In 2004, Kyushu Shinkansen partially opened between Shin-Yatsushiro and Kagoshima Chuo Station which opened fully in 2011.

Footnotes