The name "Hizen" dates from the
Nara period Ritsuryō Kokugunri system reforms, when the province was divided from
Higo Province. The name appears in the early chronicle
Shoku Nihongi from 696 AD. The ancient
provincial capital of Hizen was located near
Yamato City. During the late
Muromachi period, the province was the site of much early contact between Japan and
Portuguese and
Spanish merchants and missionaries.
Hirado, and later
Nagasaki became major foreign trade centers, and a large percentage of the population converted to
Roman Catholicism.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi directed the
invasion of Korea from the city of
Nagoya, in Hizen, and after the
suppression of foreign contacts and prohibition against the
Kirishitan religion, the
Shimabara Rebellion also took place in Hizen province.
List of han During the
Edo period, Hizen Province was divided among several
daimyōs, but dominated by the
Nabeshima clan, whose domain was centered at the castle town of
Saga. At the end of the
Tokugawa shogunate, Hizen was divided between the following
han: During this period, the port of Nagasaki remained a
tenryō territory, administered for the Tokugawa government by the
Nagasaki bugyō, and contained the
Dutch East India Company trading post of
Dejima. After the
Meiji Restoration in 1868 came the
abolition of the han system in 1871, whereby all daimyo were obliged to surrender their domains to the new
Meiji government, which then divided the nation into numerous
prefectures, which were consolidated into 47 prefectures and 3 urban areas by 1888. The former Hizen province was divided into modern
Saga Prefecture and a portion of
Nagasaki Prefecture. At the same time, the province continued to exist for some purposes. For example, Hizen is explicitly recognized in treaties in 1894 (a) between Japan and the
United States and (b) between Japan and the
United Kingdom. ==Historical districts==