was a province of Japan in the area that is today the eastern part of Yamaguchi Prefecture.[1] Suō bordered on Aki, Iwami, and Nagato Provinces.
Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō system, Suō was one of the provinces of the San'yōdō circuit. Under the Engishiki classification system, Suō was ranked as one of the "superior countries" (上国) in terms of importance, and one of the "far countries" (遠国) in terms of distance from the capital. The provincial capital was located in what is now the city of Hōfu, Yamaguchi. The ichinomiya of the province is the Tamanooya Shrine also located in Hōfu. [2]
Before the establishment of the Ritsuryō system, the area of Suō was under control of various semi-independent kuni no miyatsuko: Ōshima Kuni (Suō-Ōshima), Suō Kuni (Kumage County, Kuga County), Hakuki Kuni (Kishiki County), Tsunu Kuni (Tono County), and Sawa Kuni (Sawa County) . These were united to form the Ritsuryo province, which initially consisted of five counties: Oshima, Kumage, Tsuno, Sawa, and Kisiki. Kuga County was divided from Kumage in 721 to form the sixth counties. In the Asuka period, the Iwakisan Kōgoishi mountain fortification was constructed against a possible invasion by Tang dynasty China and the Kingdom of Silla in Korea. Wooden tally strips bearing the name of 'Suho Province', 'Shuyō Province' and 'Suō Province' have been found at the ruins of Fujiwara-kyō and Heijō-kyō and the names were used interchangeably in Nara period records, such as the Nihon Shoki.
During the Kamakura period, the Hōjō clan were the shugo of the province, and were replaced in the Muromachi period by the Ōuchi clan. During the Sengoku period, the Mōri clan supplanted the Ōuchi, and the province became part of the holdings of Chōshū Domain in the Edo Period. Following the Meiji restoration, the province became part of Yamaguchi Prefecture. The area of former Suo Province is now divided between the cities of Hōfu, Kudamatsu, Iwakuni, Hikari, Yanai, Shūnan, Ōshima District, Kuga District, Kumage District, and most of Yamaguchi city (excluding the former Ato Town), and a portion of Ube.
| Name | Clan | Type | kokudaka |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tozama | 369,000 koku | ||
| Tozama | 40,000 koku | ||
| Tozama | 60,000 koku | ||
Following the Meiji restoration, Suō was divided into six districts. [3] Per the early Meiji period, an official government assessment of the nation’s resources, the province had 295 villages with a total kokudaka of 548,861 koku.
| District | kokudaka | Controlled by | at present | Currently | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35,446 koku | |||||
| 119,966 koku | 112 villages: Chōshū, Iwakuni | Iwakuni, Waki | |||
| 87,846 koku | 39 villages: Chōshū, Tokuyama | Hikari, Kaminoseki, Tabuse, Hirano, parts of Shūnan, Yanai | |||
| 103,817 koku | 47 villages: Chōshū, Tokuyama | dissolved | Kudamatsu, most of Shūnan | ||
| 90,192 koku | 41 villages: Chōshū, Tokuyama | dissolved | most of Hofu, part of Yamaguchi, Shūnan | ||
| 111,591 koku | 35 villages: Chōshū | dissolved | most of Yamaguchi, part of Hōfu, Ube |