Yamashiro Province - History

History

“Yamashiro” was formerly written with the characters meaning “mountain” (山) and “area” (代); in the 7th century, there were things built listing the name of the province with the characters for “mountain” and “ridge”/“back” (山背国). On 4 December 794 (8 Shimotsuki, 13th year of Enryaku), at the time of the christening of Heian-kyō, because of the resultant scenic beauty when Emperor Kammu made his castle utilizing the natural surroundings, the shiro was finally changed to “castle” (山城国).

Just from Nara Period writings, it is apparent that the “area” (山代国) and “ridge” (山背国) listings coexisted.

The provincial capital, according to the Wamyō Ruijushō, was Kaya Imperial Villa (河陽離宮, Kaya Rikyū?).

In the Shūgaishō, Otokuni District is mentioned as the seat, as well as in the Setsuyōshū.

As for the shugo’s mansion, at first, Yamashiro Province shugo and Kyoto shugo were concurrent posts, so the Kyoto shugo’s kogenin’s mansion had to be allotted. Afterwards, the Rokuhara tandai came to be an additional post, and that became the shugo as well. In the Muromachi Period, Yamashiro Province was divided with the Uji River as the border into two districts, and each came to be assigned a shugo, so one shugo resided in Uji Makishima, whereas the other resided in various places around Yodo and such.

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