Kii Province

The old name of a province that covers the entire area of ​​present-day Wakayama Prefecture and the southern part of Mie Prefecture. Kishu. It borders Izumi Province and Kawachi Province to the north, Yamato Province and Shima Province to the east, and is surrounded by the sea to the west, south and southeast. In ancient times it was also written as Kinokuni and Ki Province, and in 713 (Wado 6), the provinces decided to use two favorable characters, and it became "Kino Province." There is also a theory that there were originally two provinces, Kumano and Kii, which were merged during the Taika Reforms to become Kii Province. It was divided into seven districts: Ito, Naga, Nagusa, Ama, Ate (later Arita), Hidaka, and Muro. It belongs to the Nankaido, but it seems that part of Ito District was once included in Kinai. The provincial capital is thought to have been near present-day Fuchu in Wakayama City. According to the Engishiki, the province was ranked as Upper Country, with advanced production techniques for textiles such as aya, and salt also drew attention. Around 1107 (Kasho 2), it was said that up to 90% of Ito and Naka counties were manors, which, although perhaps an exaggeration, shows that the area was quite advanced. The Kaido (Nankaido) linking the capital with the Nankaido ran parallel to the north bank of the Kinokawa River, with Hagihara, Namakusa, and Kata stations established there. The provincial temple is thought to have been located in what is now Higashikokubun in Kinokawa City.

In the Middle Ages, at the beginning of the Kamakura period, a Shugo was appointed, and Yoshitsura Sawara, who also served as Shugo of Izumi Province, was appointed. After that, in 1207 (Shogen 1), the government decided not to appoint a Shugo unless there was something important, as they had made Izumi and Kii Provinces bear the burden of running chores for Emperor Gotoba's pilgrimage to Kumano, but after the Jōkyū War (1221), Shugo was appointed again. The Shugosho was thought to have been located in or near present-day Fuchū, Wakayama City. Most of the Jito (land stewards) were retainers from the eastern provinces, but at the end of the Kamakura period, local samurai also became Jito. The famous medieval samurai groups were the Sumida Party and the Yuasa Party. The Sumida clan was based in Sumida-sho (near Hashimoto City) and Kanshofu-sho (northwest of Hashimoto City, near the old Koyaguchi-cho town), while the Yuasa clan was based in Yuasa-sho (Yuasa-cho) downstream of the Arida River. The Kumano Navy, led by the Kumano betto, was also active. Since the Heian period, Mount Koya has attracted the faith of the emperor, aristocrats, and samurai. As Kumano was not off-limits to women, women from aristocratic families and samurai families, along with lord-level samurai, also made pilgrimages to Kumano, and this came to be known as the "Ari's pilgrimage to Kumano."

A distinctive feature of the Sengoku period in Kishu is that, although there were powerful local forces such as the Saikashu and Negoroshu, no Sengoku daimyo emerged. This was because each had a different religion and there were internal conflicts among the shugo (military governors). Negoro-ji Temple (Iwade City), which opposed Toyotomi Hideyoshi's unification of the country, was set on fire, and Ota Castle (Wakayama City) was defeated by a water siege. Construction of Wakayama Castle began in April 1585 (Tensho 13), and the Taiko land survey ended with the Kumano region in 1590 and the Koyasan Temple territory in 1591. In 1600 (Keicho 5), Asano Yoshinaga entered the area, and in 1619 (Genwa 5), ​​he was transferred to Aki Province. Later, Tokugawa Ieyasu's 10th son, Yorinobu, became the lord of Kii Domain with 555,000 koku of rice, and it became one of the Tokugawa Gosanke (three branches of the Tokugawa clan). Koyasan surrendered to Hideyoshi, and all temple land was confiscated, but instead 21,000 koku was given, and it controlled the temple land like a feudal lord in the early modern period. Kii Domain's famous special products include Kishu mandarin oranges, Yuasa soy sauce, Kokawa vinegar, and Kuroe lacquerware. In the early modern period, both Koyasan and Kumano were centered on pilgrimages by common people. In 1869 (Meiji 2), Tsuda Izuru carried out reforms in the domain government, and created a Western-style military with conscription before the new government. In February of the same year, a petition was submitted for the return of land and people to the Emperor, and in June, the three domains of Wakayama, Tanabe, and Shingu were formed. In July 1871, Wakayama, Tanabe, and Shingu prefectures were established, and in November of the same year, they were unified into Wakayama prefecture. In modern times, Kishu cotton flannel became a specialty product.

[Seiichi Ando]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

現在の和歌山県全域と三重県南部を占める旧国名。紀州。北は和泉(いずみ)国・河内(かわち)国、東は大和(やまと)国・志摩国に接し、西から南・南東は海に囲まれる。古くは木国(きのくに)、紀国とも書かれ、713年（和銅6）に諸国、2字の好字を用いることになり、「紀伊国」となった。もとは熊野と紀伊の2国であったのが、大化改新のときに統合されて紀伊国となったとの説もある。伊都(いと)、那賀(なが)、名草(なぐさ)、海部(あま)、阿諦(あて)（のち在田(ありた)）、日高、牟婁(むろ)の7郡に分けられた。南海道に属するが、伊都郡の一部は畿内(きない)に含まれていたこともあるようである。国府は現在の和歌山市府中(ふちゅう)付近ではなかったかと考えられる。国の等級は『延喜式(えんぎしき)』では上国で、綾(あや)などの生産技術は高く、塩も注目されていた。1107年（嘉承2）ごろには伊都・那賀郡の9割までが荘園(しょうえん)といわれ、誇張があるにしても、かなり進んでいたことがわかる。都と南海道とを結ぶ海道（南海道）は紀ノ川北岸に並行して走り、萩原(はぎはら)、名草、賀太(かた)駅が置かれた。国分寺は現在の紀の川市東国分にあったとみられている。

　中世に入り、鎌倉時代初めには守護が置かれ、和泉国守護を兼ねた佐原義連(よしつら)が就任した。その後、1207年（承元1）和泉・紀伊両国に後鳥羽院(ごとばいん)の熊野詣(もう)での駅家雑用を負担させたことによって、重要なことがない限り守護を置かないことにしたが、承久(じょうきゅう)の乱（1221）後にはふたたび守護が置かれることとなった。守護所は現在の和歌山市府中か、その近辺ではないかとされている。地頭(じとう)の多くは東国出身の御家人(ごけにん)であったが、鎌倉時代末には在地の武士も地頭になった。中世武士団として有名なのは隅田(すだ)党と湯浅(ゆあさ)党である。隅田党は隅田庄(しょう)（橋本市付近）、官省符庄（橋本市北西部、旧高野口(こうやぐち)町付近）など、湯浅党は有田(ありだ)川下流の湯浅庄（湯浅町）を中心とした。熊野別当に率いられた熊野水軍も活躍した。高野山は平安時代以来、天皇や貴族さらに武士の信仰を集めた。熊野も地頭級の武士とともに、女人禁制でなかったので貴族・武家の女性も参り、「蟻(あり)の熊野詣で」とよばれるようになった。

　紀州の戦国時代の特色は、雑賀衆(さいかしゅう)・根来衆(ねごろしゅう)など有力な在地勢力がありながら戦国大名が生まれなかったことである。それは、おのおのが宗教が異なり、守護の内紛などがあったからである。豊臣(とよとみ)秀吉の天下統一に反対した根来寺（岩出(いわで)市）は火攻めされ、太田城（和歌山市）は水攻めで敗れた。1585年（天正13）4月和歌山城の築城が始められ、太閤(たいこう)検地は90年の熊野地方、91年の高野山寺領をもって終わった。1600年（慶長5）浅野幸長(よしなが)が入国し、1619年（元和5）安芸(あき)国に転封となったが、その後に徳川家康の第10子頼宣(よりのぶ)が55万5000石の紀伊藩主となってから、徳川御三家の一つとなった。高野山は秀吉に全面降伏し、全寺領を没収されたかわりに2万1000石を与えられ、近世大名のように寺領を支配した。紀伊藩の特産物は紀州ミカン、湯浅醤油(しょうゆ)、粉河酢(こかわす)、黒江漆器などが有名である。近世には高野山、熊野ともに庶民が参詣(さんけい)の中心となった。1869年（明治2）に津田出(いずる)が藩政改革を実施し、新政府に先駆けて徴兵制の西洋式軍隊をつくった。同年2月に版籍奉還を奏上、6月に和歌山・田辺・新宮(しんぐう)の3藩となり、1871年7月に和歌山・田辺・新宮県を設置、同年11月和歌山県に統一した。近代に入り紀州綿ネルが特産となる。

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