Old provinces

From the 7th century until 1871, Japan was divided into provinces (国, kuni), about sixty-six of them. They were replaced by prefectures, but their names are still everywhere: in place names, local specialties, old texts… and on the pilgrimage. “Shikoku” itself means “the four provinces.”

These provinces gave their names to the four “dōjō” of the pilgrimage. Each had its provincial temple, the kokubun-ji: temples 15, 29, 59 and 80.

Note: there was another province of Awa (安房), in present-day Chiba prefecture near Tōkyō, written differently.

Provinces mentioned in old texts about the pilgrimage: Yamashiro (山城, Kyōto area), Settsu (摂津, Osaka and Kōbe), Yamato (大和, Nara), Kii (紀伊, Wakayama, home of Kōya-san), Harima (播磨, western Hyōgo), Bizen and Bitchū (備前・備中, Okayama), Mimasaka (美作, northern Okayama), Aki and Bingo (安芸・備後, Hiroshima), Suō (周防, Yamaguchi), Mikawa and Owari (三河・尾張, Aichi), Echizen (越前, Fukui), Hitachi (常陸, Ibaraki), Shimōsa (下総, Chiba and Ibaraki), Bungo (豊後, Ōita).