Early history During the
Kofun period, the area of Bungo had three main power centers: the
Kunisaki Peninsula, the area around what is now
Ōita District and the area around
Hita District, each of which was ruled by a
kuni no miyatsuko. By the
Asuka period, the area had been consolidated into a single province called
Toyo Province, also called
Toyokuni no Michi no Shiri. After the
Taika Reforms and the establishment of the
Ritsuryō system in 701, Toyo Province was divided into Bungo and Buzen Provinces. The
Bungo no Kuni Fudoki, which was compiled in the first half of the 8th century, is one of only five
fudoki in Japan that remains in almost complete form. It is believed that the
kokufu Bungo was located in the
Furugō (古国府), literally "old capital," section of the city of
Ōita, but as of 2023 no archaeological evidence has been found. Two shrines vie for the title of
ichinomiya of Bungo Province: the
Yusuhara Hachimangū and the
Sasamuta Shrine, both of which are located in the city of Ōita, as is the
Bungo Kokubun-ji.
Usa Jingū, commonly known as "Usa Hachimangū", is often mistakenly stated to be the
ichinomiya of the province, but it is located in former Buzen Province and not Bungo. In 1185, at the end of the
Heian period, after the
Heike clan was destroyed in the
Genpei War,
Minamoto no Yoritomo established the
Ōtomo clan as
shugo over Bungo Province in order to suppress the pro-Taira clan samurai in Kyushu. The Ōtomo ruled the area from the
Kamakura period into the
Muromachi period and over the course of many conflicts expanded their control into neighboring provinces. The area saw an influx of western culture and technology with the influx of Portuguese traders in the
Sengoku period, together with the introduction of firearms and Christianity. The
Funai area became a center of
Jesuit activity.
Ōtomo Sōrin met personally with
Francis Xavier in 1551, and later converted to Christianity. Referred to as the "King of Bungo" in the Jesuit records, Sōrin sent political delegations to
Goa in the 1550s, and the
Tenshō embassy to
Rome in 1582. He also forced his subjects to convert. and ordered the destruction of
Buddhist temples and
Shinto shrines in his domains. In 1578, he came into conflict with the
Shimazu clan to the south and after being defeated in a series of battles turned to
Toyotomi Hideyoshi for assistance. In 1587, following Hideyoshi's
iconquest of Kyūshū, Sōrin's son,
Ōtomo Yoshimune was restored to control over Bungo. Following Hideyoshi's expulsion of foreign missionaries and edicts against the
Kirishitan faith, he recanted his baptism and began a vigorous campaign to exterminate Christianity in the province. However, he subsequently was accused of cowardice during the
Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598) and was dispossessed. Bungo was divided into small holdings.
Edo Period and early modern period Unlike many of the provinces of Kyūshū, Bungo was not dominated by a single
daimyō; rather, it was divided into
tenryō territory directly governed by the
Tokugawa shogunate and a number small
feudal domains. Following the
Meiji restoration, each of the feudal domains briefly became prefectures. These were merged on December 25, 1871 to form Ōita Prefecture. Per the early
Meiji period , an official government assessment of the nation's resources, Bungo Province had 1812 villages with a total
kokudaka of 466,611
koku. Bungo Province consisted of: } || 81,339
koku || 207 villages ||
Tenryō, Kitsuki, Nobeoka, Shimabara ==Gallery==