Natori District, Miyagi Explained

was a district located in Rikuzen Province (formerly in the central part of Mutsu Province) in Miyagi Prefecture.

History

From Ancient Establishment to Pre-modern Alignment (7C - 19C)

Many kofuns had been built in the area of the future Natori district since the 5th century. Especially Raijinyama Kofun was the largest in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.

The district was founded in the 7th century. Kōriyama Site had been the capital of Mutsu province since the end of the 7th century until 724.

Natori Dan (Natori Battalion) had been long maintained as one of two, six or seven battalions of the province.

Heijō-kyō excavation team discovered a wood tag attaching kombu (sea grass) tribute in 729 from "Natori district of Mutsu province" to the palace.[1] And although date and year are unknown, a word Notori was written on a cup excavated at the Kōriyama Site.[2] The first appearance in reliable literature is in Shoku Nihongi when Kimikobe Okina, a person of Natori District, was permitted to change his family name (kabane) in 769.[3]

Northern border with Miyagi District changed several times. Originally Natori River and its branch Hirose River were the border of their east side. Sendai Domain fixed the district borders in the end of the 16th century or the beginning of the 17th century. Then the boundary around Sendai are changed to Tatsunokuchi River, where is a small branch of the Hirose. This arrangement gave the Sendai Castle to the Miyagi district. Natori district was divided to 61 villages. The Nagamachi office (Nagamachi daikansho) administrated 31 villages of Northern (Kitakata, 北方) Natori and the Masuda office did 30 villages of Southern (Minamikata, 南方) Natori.

Start of the Municipal Law System (1886)

When Municipal Law was enforced to Natori on April 1 of 1889, 1 town and 14 villages' municipalities were established from 61 old villages.

Merging History to Dissolve (1886 - 1988)

Japanese district exclude city status municipality. So the Natori district had gradually diminished with incorporation or promotion of its municipalities to cities . Finally the original area had been divided to three cities of Sendai, Natori and Iwanuma by 1988.

Table of Merging

- 1889April 1, 18891889 - 19261926 - 19551955 - 19891989 - present
MogasakiFebruary 1, 1915
renamad town
Nagamachi
April 1, 1928
merged to Sendai
SendaiSendaiSendaiSendai
Nishi-tagaNishi-tagaOctober 1, 1932
merged to Sendai
NakadaNakadaSeptember 15, 1941
merged to Sendai
RokugōRokugōSeptember 15, 1941
merged to Sendai
OideOideOideApril 1, 1956
merged to Sendai
AkiuAkiuApril 1, 1955
Nikkawa was trsnsferd to Miyagi
Akiu
April 1, 1967
town
March 1, 1988
merged to Sendai
MasudaJune 30, 1896
town
MasudaApril 1, 1955
Natori
October 1, 1958
city
NatoriNatori
Higashi-TagaHigashi-tagaApril 1, 1928
town
Yuriage
TakadateTakadateTakadate
MedeshimaMedeshimaMedeshima
TatekoshiTatekoshiTatekoshi
Shimo-masudaShimo-masudaShimo-masuda
IwanumaIwanumaJanuary 11, 1947
亘理郡逢隈村の一部を
岩沼町に編入
April 1, 1955
Iwanuma
November 1, 1971
city
IwanumaIwanuma
TamauraTamauraTamaura
SenganSenganSengan

See also

References

  1. November 15 of Tempyō first.
  2. Nagayama, Koriyakma Iseki, p164-165.
  3. March 13 of Jingokeiun third. Pages 234-235 in the fourth book of the Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei's edition.

Bibliography

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