| Rikuō Province 陸奥国 | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Province of Japan | |||||||||||||||||
| 1869–1871 | |||||||||||||||||
.svg) Map of Japanese provinces (1869) with Rikuō Province highlighted | |||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||
• Established | 1869 | ||||||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1871 | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| Today part of | Iwate Prefecture Aomori Prefecture | ||||||||||||||||
Mutsu Province (陸奥国,Mutsu no kuni), officially calledRikuō Province (陸奥国,Rikuō no kuni) was anold province ofJapan in the area ofIwate andAomoriprefecture.[1]
It was also known asŌshū (奥州) orRikushū (陸州). In the Meiji era, the province was cut down to cover only present-day Aomori and given the new nameRikuō Province, which retained the original kanji.[2]
On December 7, 1868 (January 19, 1869 in theGregorian calendar), four additional provinces (Rikuchū,Rikuzen,Iwaki, andIwashiro) were separated fromMutsu, leaving only a rump corresponding to today'sAomori Prefecture (withNinohe District ofIwate Prefecture). At the same time, while the characters of the name were unchanged, the official reading was changed to theon'yomi version "Rikuō".[2]
Mutsu (Rikuō) Province consisted of nine districts:
Media related toMutsu Province (1868) at Wikimedia Commons
