After its conquest, the ancient
Kingdom of Kibi became
Kibi Province. It was divided into Bizen (備前),
Bitchū (備中), and
Bingo (備後) Provinces in the
Ritsuryō administrative reforms in the late 7th century, with "Bizen" taking the first
kanji of its name from "Kibi" and the second from its geographic position closest to the capital. Bizen Province at this time included the territory of what would later become
Mimasaka Province, Tsurashima (Torago, Kojima County),
Shōdoshima, and the northern part of the
Naoshima Islands. In 713, the six northern counties of Eita, Katsuta, Tomata, Kume and Mashima were separated from Bizen to form Mimasaka Province. Bizen, with much flat land and many rivers of reasonable size for flood control and water transportation, has been suitable for agriculture since ancient times. It has been an iron production area since the
Kofun period, and also had salt fields along its coast with the
Seto Inland Sea, which also provided for convenience of marine transportation to the
Kinai region Shikoku and
Kyushu. The province was economically prosperous, and although its area as not large, it was ranked as a "superior country" under the
Ritsuryō classification system. The location of the Bizen
kokufu is uncertain. Per the
Wamyō Ruijushō it was located in Mino District. However, ruins discovered in Joto District in what his now the Kokufuichi neighborhood of
Naka-ku, Okayama ( have been officially designated by the government as an Okayama Prefectural Historic Site. The designation is controversial as it was largely based on the geographic name of the site, which may or may not date to the Nara period. The location of the
Bizen Kokubun-ji is well defined, and is located in the city of
Akaiwa, Okayama. It is located about 6.5 kilometers northeast of the estimated location of Bizen
Kokufu. The foundations of the main temple buildings have been discovered, and the site is a
National Historic Site. The presumed ruins of the Bizen Kokubun-niji are located 300 meters south of the monastery site. The details are not clear because no full-scale investigation has been conducted and the site is not covered by the National Historic Site designation, The
ichinomiya of the province is
Kibitsuhiko Shrine, located in
Kita-ku, Okayama. Many
shōen landed estates developed in the province during the
Heian and
Kamakura periods, and during this time the province also became famous for its production of
Japanese swords, especially that of the Osafune school and the Ichimonji schools.
Bizen ware pottery also developed during this period, but did not reach national prominence for several centuries. In the
Muromachi period, the
Akamatsu clan, based in
Harima Province, came to serve as
shugo. When the power of the Akamatsu clan declined, the power of the
Yamana clan increased, and Bizen gradually became a battlefield between the two clans and their proxies. During the
Sengoku period, the Urakami clan, the
shugodai, tried to rule Bizen Province by usurping the power of the Akamatsu clan, but were defeated by
Amago Haruhisa, a powerful warlord from the
San'in region. However, when the
Amago clan declined,
Ukita Naoie, a vassal of the Urakami clan, drove out the remnants of Urakami clan, and conquered Mimasaka Province and parts of Bitchū and Bizen Province to become a
daimyō of the Sengoku period. He established Okayama as his stronghold. His successor,
Ukita Hideie was defeated at the 1600
Battle of Sekigahara and dispossessed by
Tokugawa Ieyasu, who awarded Okayama to
Kobayakawa Hideaki. When Kobayakawa Hideaki died without heir,
Okayama Castle and all of Bizen Province was awarded to
Ikeda Tadatsugu, the second son of
Ikeda Terumasa. The
Ikeda clan continued to rule all of Bizen Province until the
Meiji restoration. Under the
Meiji government, on August 29, 1871, Bizen Province became part of
Okayama Prefecture, with the exception of its islands in the Seto Inland Sea, which were transferred to
Kagawa Prefecture and
Ehime Prefecture. A small area of former Bizen Province was transferred to
Akō, Hyōgo in 1963 at the request of is local inhabitants. Per the early
Meiji period , an official government assessment of the nation’s resources, the province had 680 villages with a total
kokudaka of 423,379
koku. ==Gallery==