Tango Province

Map of Japanese provinces (1868) with Tango Province highlighted

Tango Province (丹後国 Tango no Kuni) was an old province in the area that is today northern Kyoto Prefecture facing the Sea of Japan.^[1] Together with Tamba Province, Tango was sometimes called Tanshū (丹州). Tango bordered on Tajima, Tamba, and Wakasa provinces.

At various times both Maizuru and Miyazu were the capital and chief town of the province.

History

In the 3rd month of the 6th year of the Wadō era (713), the land of Tango Province was administratively separated from Tamba Province. In that same year, Empress Gemmei's Daijō-kan continued to organize other cadastral changes in the provincial map of the Nara period.

In Wadō 6, Mimasaka Province was sundered from Bizen Province, and Hyūga Province was divided from Ōsumi Province.^[2] In Wadō 5 (712), Mutsu Province had been severed from Dewa Province.^[2]

Maps of Japan and Tango Province were reformed in the 1870s when the prefecture system was introduced.^[3] At the same time, the province continued to exist for some purposes. For example, Tango is explicitly recognized in treaties in 1894 (a) between Japan and the United States and (b) between Japan and the United Kingdom.^[4]

The 1927 Kita Tango earthquake caused major damage in the region and killed around 3,000 people.

This area is still known as Tango Peninsula, some parts of it are in Tango Quasi-National Park. A town in this region was likewise named Tango. It is now defunct and part of Kyōtango (Kyō + Tango) since 2004.

Historical districts

• Kyoto Prefecture
  • Kasa District (加佐郡) - dissolved; now part of the city of Maizuru
  • Yosa District (与謝郡) - now the towns of Yosano and Ine and the city of Miyazu
  • Naka District (中郡) - dissolved; now part of the city of Kyōtango
  • Takeno District (竹野郡) - dissolved; now part of the city of Kyōtango
  • Kumano District (熊野郡) - dissolved; now part of the city of Kyōtango

Notes

1. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Tango" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 948, p. 948, at Google Books.
2. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 64., p. 64, at Google Books
3. Nussbaum, "Provinces and prefectures" at p. 780.
4. US Department of State. (1906). A digest of international law as embodied in diplomatic discussions, treaties and other international agreements (John Bassett Moore, ed.), Vol. 5, p. 759.

References

• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128
• Papinot, Edmond. (1910). Historical and Geographic Dictionary of Japan. Tokyo: Librarie Sansaisha. OCLC 77691250
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon (Nihon Odai Ichiran). Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691.

External links

Media related to Tango Province at Wikimedia Commons

• Murdoch's map of provinces, 1903