Echigo Province

• See also: List of Provinces

Echigo Province

Echigo Province (越後国) was an old Province of Japan, located in what is now Niigata Prefecture, established in the early 8th Century.¹

The folktale called The Mirror of Matsuyama is set in this province.⁴

Legendary Period

It is mentioned in the nihongi alongside that of Echizen Province and Etchu Province. However, they are grouped together and given the name of Koshi. Koshi being the fifth island of Japan created by Izanami and Izanagi.²

7th Century onwards

Echigo was created in the 7th Century when the Province of Koshi was broken into Echigo, Etchizen and Etchu and was ruled over by the Uesugi family between the 12th to 16th century.¹ The Province was attacked by Takeda Shingen in a series of battles between 1553-1564 against Uesugi Kenshin with Shingen being the victor.³

During the Edo Period it was divided into a number of domains.

The outposts of Nutari no Ki and Iwafune no Ki were constructed here to hold troops to aid in the control of the Ezo people.¹

Footnotes

1. Kodansha. (1993) ”Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia”. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.
2. Aston. W.G. (1896) “Nihongi Volume 1: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to AD697”. Tuttle Publishing.
3. Louis Frederic, translated by Kathe Roth (2002) “Japan Encyclopedia”. London: Harvard University Press.
4. Ozaki, Y.T. (2015) “Japanese Fairy Tales” USA: Cavalier Classics.

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