Early history According to the
Shoku Nihongi, the
Izumi and
Hine Districts were separated from
Kawachi Province on 23 April 716; moreover, on 8 May that same year, the
Ōtori District was also separated from Kawachi, and the three districts were made into a province named . The name "Izumi" means , but is written with two characters, the character for being prepended due to an imperial edict in 713. This character does not play into the reading. An imperial villa, was in the area, and it seems that this has something to do with the unusual classification of :
Yoshino-gen was the only other province with this designation. Afterwards, on 15 September 740, Izumi was abolished and merged back into Kawachi province. On 30 May 757, it was re-established with a normal province designation . According to the
Nihon Kiryaku, on 21 April 825, four counties from
Settsu Province:
Higashinari,
Nishinari,
Kudara, and
Sumiyoshi were incorporated into Izumi Province, but the local residents were opposed to this change, so the area was restored to Settsu on 8 August the same year. The
provincial capital of Izumi was located in what is now the Fuchu neighborhood of the city of
Izumi, Osaka. ) The site has been
excavated and is marked with a stone monument. The
provincial temple of Izumi, the
Izumi Kokubun-ji was also located in the city of Izumi. There is no record of a provincial nunnery. The
Engishiki record of 927 AD lists one major and 52 minor
Shinto shrines in the province. The major shrine is the
Ōtori taisha, located in what is now
Nishi-ku, Sakai. This was also the
ichinomiya of the province. During the
Heian period, Izumi was dominated by
shōen landed estates, the largest of which was the
Hine shōen, which was controlled by the aristocratic
Kujō family. During the
Muromachi period, the
Ashikaga clan appointed the
Hosokawa clan as
shugo of Izumi Province. In the early 15th century, the
Miyoshi clan (from
Awa Province in
Shikoku) invaded and defeated the Hosokawa clan and their proxies, and became rulers over a large portion of the
Kansai region.
Miyoshi Yoshikata (1527-1562), the younger brother of
Miyoshi Nagayoshi made
Kishiwada Castle his base and extensively rebuilt its fortifications. The Miyoshi also developed
Sakai into an international port and profited greatly from trade. Miyoshi rule proved to be short-lived and by the 1560s the clan was in eclipse and Izumi Province had collapsed into a patchwork of local strongmen. It became a battleground between the forces of
Oda Nobunaga and the followers of the
Saiga Ikki, local followers of the
Ikkō-ikki movement, who sought to overthrow the feudal system and establish a theocratic republic, and later under
Toyotomi Hideyoshi was the base for his conquest of Kii Province. During this period, Sakai was ruled by a councilor oligarchs, and became very rich on trade with China and the Europeans. It was also a center for
matchlock rifle production.
Edo Period Under the
Tokugawa shogunate, the port of Sakai came under the rule of the
Osaka machi-bugyō, and the province itself was divided into a patchwork of holdings directly by the shogunate (
tenryō) or various
daimyō ==Meiji period==