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Fuhanken sanchisei
The Fuhanken Sanchisei ( 府藩県三治制 , "Fu, Han and Ken three-tiered Governance System")
was the subnational government structure in early Meiji Japan. It lasted from the Boshin War, the
start to the Meiji Restoration, in 1868 until the replacement of all remaining feudal domains (-han)
府
with prefectures (-ken) in 1871. During this period, prefectures, urban prefectures ( , fu) and rural
県
prefectures ( , ken), controlled by the new central government, and daimyō Domains ( , han), 藩
still under their pre-restoration feudal rulers, formed the primary administrative subdivisions of
the country. The exact numbers varied continually as adjustments to the feudal territorial
divisions, mergers and splits started to take up pace, but very roughly there were about >250 -han
and about <50 -fu/-ken in total during this time.

As the political borders changed all the time, ancient ritsuryō provinces, essentially static except for
some modernizing adjustments in the North where the giant provinces of Mutsu and Dewa (both
Tōsan Circuit) were split up and a new circuit (Hokkai Circuit) with 10 provinces was added on
Ezo, remained the primary geographic frame of reference even in Meiji Japan until around the turn
of the century – just as they had been throughout the late Middle Ages and early modern period.

Background
Ignoring minor territories such as Imperial Court lands or spiritual (shrine/temple) holdings, pre-
restoration Japan was subdivided two types of territories: 1. the bakufu/shogunate territories
(baku-ryō, subsequently also called ten-ryō, "Imperial territories") held by the Tokugawa directly
through local administrators (daikan, bugyō, etc.) or the shogunate's minor vassals (sometimes
grouped separately as hatamoto-ryō) and 2. other families' feudal domain holdings (han-ryō). In
the Boshin War and the beginning Meiji Restoration, the conquered/surrendered shogunate lands
and a few rebel/shogunate loyalist domains such as Aizu/Wakamatsu or Morioka/Morioka were
organized in prefectures (urban -fu and rural -ken) while all other feudal domains (-han) were
allowed to continue to exist until 1871. Some domains were only newly created in the restoration,
such as Shizuoka Domain which was granted to the Tokugawa after their fall and submission to the
new government, or Tonami Domain which was created from parts of Morioka and left to a child
heir of Aizu after the main territory of Aizu had been vanquished. The subnational administration
in this period from 1868 to 1871 when centrally governed prefectures coexisted as primary
subdivision of the country with domains, pledged into submission to the new Satsuma-Chōshū-
dominated Imperial government, but still governed by their Tokugawa period feudal rulers,
constitutes the -fu/-han/-ken system.

Territorial composition and naming

Some of the current prefectures of Japan were created in this period, but they looked very different
from what they are today, still with many disjoint feudal period ex- and enclaves as the domains
remained mostly untouched and only the ex-shogunate/Imperial lands became prefectures. Some
examples:

Nagasaki Prefecture in 1868, successor to the Nagasaki bugyō, covered less than what is
today Nagasaki City and surrounding shogunate lands, was later expanded to include even
what is today Saga Prefecture to recede to its current borders in 1883.
Osaka Prefecture, successor to the Osaka machi-bugyō, covered less than what is today
Osaka City plus former shogunate territories mostly in Settsu Province, it was later expanded

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to include even what is today Nara Prefecture, it reached its current borders in 1887 (see the
List of mergers in Osaka Prefecture)
The first Nara Prefecture of 1868 covered shogunate territories in Yamato Province; in the
1871/72 first wave of prefectural mergers which followed the replacement of all feudal domains
(-han) with prefectures (-ken) (called "abolition of -han & establishment of -ken" [haihan-chiken]
in Japan, Abolition of the han system in the English Wikipedia), it was merged with the other
prefectures in Yamato to cover all of Yamato. Nara ceased to exist in the second wave of
prefectural mergers in 1876 when it was merged into Sakai Prefecture ( 堺県
). (see Nara
Prefecture#The establishment of Nara Prefecture)
Shogunate territories in Ōmi Province which had been governed by the Ōtsu bugyō became
Ōtsu Prefecture ( 大津県
) in 1868. In the replacement of domains with prefectures in 1871 and
the subsequent prefectural mergers, Ōtsu was enlarged and several of the new, other
prefectures/ex-domains in Ōmi Province (Hikone, Ōmi-Miyagawa, Yamakami, Asahiyama)
were merged to become Inukami Prefecture ( 犬上県 ), then, in 1872, Ōtsu and Inukami were
merged to become Shiga Prefecture, it reached its present borders in 1881. (see Shiga
Prefecture#History)
The port town of Niigata had come under direct shogunate control in the 1840s, it was a
(planned) treaty port forced open under the unequal treaties with the European colonial powers
(Harris Treaty 1858); in 1868, the Shogunate controlled town (much less than what is today
Niigata City which reached its current extent in 2005) and the scattered surrounding shogunate
holdings in Echigo Province became Echigo Prefecture ( 越後府 ), later renamed to Niigata. The
shogunate administration of fully Shogunate-controlled Sado Province became Sado
Prefecture ( 佐渡県
) in the restoration, later renamed to Aikawa. The fiefdoms in Echigo held by
other families stayed fiefdoms in Echigo until fiefdoms were replaced with prefectures in 1871.
Another prefecture to be created in Echigo Province was Kashiwazaki Prefecture ( ). 柏崎県
After a series of repeated mergers, name changes and splits (see the individual articles for
details), the prefectures in Echigo and Sado were ultimately merged to become one single
prefecture, present-day Niigata Prefecture. It reached essentially its current borders in 1886
when East Kanbara County was transferred from Fukushima to Niigata.

Other prefectures only existed under the fu/han/ken system.

For example, Nirayama-ken replaced the Nirayma daikan, the
shogunate administrator of shogunate possessions in Izu,
Suruga, Sagami and Musashi provinces, seated in Nirayama in
Izu Province. Its main part was merged into Ashigara
Prefecture in 1871/72 while exclaves went to other prefectures.
Since the 1880s, Nirayama's former territory is split between
Shizuoka, Yamanashi, Tokyo, Kanagawa and Saitama.

It was the convention to name prefectures and han after the Residence of the Egawa family that
location of their [actual or in some cases: planned] held the position of Nirayama daikan
in the Edo period; an Egawa
prefectural/domain government, either by town/village or later
subordinate, Kashiwagi Tadatoshi,
often by ritsuryō district (e.g. Mie, Saitama, Inba, Gunma). ken
went on to serve as prefectural
created in 1871 are generally named after their precursor han.
governor of Nirayama and Ashigara
for the new Meiji government; but in
History many other places local Tokugawa-
era leaders were replaced with
In June 1868, an interim constitution called the Seitaisho ( 政体 Satsuma-Chōshū nobles.
書 ) was proclaimed, drafted by Fukuoka Takachika and
Soejima Taneomi, which established central government in
Japan under the Meiji government. The act dissolved the Tokugawa era court houses, creating
government controlled prefectural governors called chifuji ( 知府事
) and chikenji ( ). All other知県事
areas still under the power of a daimyo, han, were left as they were with no structure changes, and
an independent justice system.[1]
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On June 14, 1868, Hakodate-fu and Kyoto-fu were established as the first two prefectures under
the new changes. At the time, the Imperial government army forces were fighting the Republic of
Ezo in the Battle of Hakodate, and despite the proclamation, the city of Hakodate had not fallen
yet. By end of June, 11 prefectures had been created, including Edo-fu.

In July and August 1869 during the abolition of the han system, the government issued hanseki
hokan ( 版籍奉還) to the remaining Han, asking them to voluntarily return their domains, and later
were ordered to by the Court, on threat of military action. The Daimyo who agreed to this were
appointed as chihanji ( 知藩事
, "domain governors"), who had to follow the laws and instructions of
the central government.

Many territories that became the first prefectures were territories confiscated from domains in the
Boshin War, especially domains part of the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei alliance.

Areas in Kanto did not initially receive a proper prefecture name and suffix, even though they had
appointed officials for the areas.

Establishment of urban prefectures

When initially creating prefecture suffixes, the Seitaisho proclaimed all areas with a jōdai (castle
minder), namely Osaka, Sunpu and Kyoto, the shoshidai or a bugyō were given the prefectural
府
suffix fu, while any other area was designated ken. The first two urban prefectures ( , fu) were
created on June 14, 1868: Kyoto-fu and Hakodate-fu. By the end of 1868, ten fu had been
established: Kyoto, Hakodate, Osaka, Nagasaki, Edo (later Tokyo), Kanagawa, Watarai, Nara,
Echigo (later Niigata) and Kōfu. Due to some prefectures gaining non-urban land or being
amalgamated into other territories, in 1869 three remained: Kyoto-fu, Osaka-fu and Tokyo-fu. This
remained the same until 1943, when Tokyo-fu and Tokyo-shi were merged to form Tokyo-to.

Aftermath

After three major merger/reorganization waves and many smaller mergers, splits and border
changes between the initially >300 prefectures (down to 75 by 1872, to <40 in the late 1870s), they
took generally their present forms in the 1890s. The last change involving an entire prefecture was
the separation of Kagawa from Ehime in 1888, a very late large territorial change was the transfer
of the Tama area from Kanagawa to Tokyo in 1893. (Comparatively smaller changes through cross-
prefectural municipal mergers or transfers of single neighbourhoods, border corrections through
land changes, etc. continue to the day.) After the 1871/72 mergers, prefectures are contiguous,
compact territories resembling or even identical to the ritsuryō provinces in many places.

Established prefectures
The prefectures (-fu/-ken) listed below were all established before the replacement of all domains
(-han) with prefectures (-ken), i.e. under the fu/han/ken system. Disestablishment is only listed if
prior to August 29, 1871, the time when all remaining domains were turned into prefectures. For
the >300 prefectures immediately after that, look somewhere else. For the 75 prefectures after the
1871/72 wave of prefectural mergers, see the List of Japanese prefectures.

For a complete list of not only -fu/-ken, but all -fu/-han/-ken at two points in time, see the List of
Japanese prefectures by population#1868 to 1871, it also indicates the (often disjoint) territorial
extent of the prefectures and domains in this period by listing the provinces the
prefectures/domains extended to and the number of exclaves.

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Hokkaido and Tōhoku

Region Establishment Disestablishment Notes

Enlarged into Hakodate-ken on
Hakodate-fu June 14, 1868 August 15, 1869 February 8, 1882, became part of
Hokkaido on January 26, 1886.
Wakamatsu-
ken ( 若松県
)
June 13, 1869

Mono'u-ken Renamed Ishinomaki-ken ( 石巻県) on

(桃生県 )
August 27, 1869
October 22, 1870 September 18, 1869. Absorbed into
Fukushima.
Fukushima-
ken
Sakata-ken September 2, 1869 October 17, 1870 Absorbed into Yamagata.

Renamed Hachinohe-ken ( 八戸県 )

from October 17 to October 23, 1869,
Kunohe-ken
(九戸県 )
December 30, 1869 until the area was redrawn and
amalgamated into Sannohe-ken ( 三戸
県). Absorbed into Esashi.
Tome-ken ( 登
米県) September 12, 1869
Esashi-ken
(江刺県 )

Shiroishi-ken
白石県
Amalgamated Kakuda on December
( ) 23, 1869.

Shirakawa-
白河県
ken ( )

Isawa-ken (胆
沢県) September 17, 1869

Morioka-ken
盛岡県
Established after the demise of the
July 10, 1870
( ) Morioka Domain

After the Daimyo of the northern domains were stripped of their social status in the Boshin War,
the following Prefectures were created. These were mostly in name only, and did not function as
proper entities.[2]

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Region Establishment Disestablishment Notes

Hanamaki-ken Former Morioka and Sendai Domains'

(花巻県 )
September 23, 1869 area administered by the Matsumoto
Domain. Absorbed into Esashi.
Former Morioka Domain area
administered by Matsushiro Domain.
Morioka-ken
Absorbed into Esashi. (different from
January 19, 1869 September 12, 1869 Morioka-ken established in 1870)

Wakuya-ken Former Morioka Domain area

(涌谷県 )
administered by Tsuchiura Domain.
Absorbed into Tome.

Koori-ken ( 桑 Former area part of seven different

折県) August 27, 1869 domains, administered by Sōma
Domain.

Kurihara-ken Former Sendai Domain administered

(栗原県 )
February 4, 1869 by the Utsunomiya Domain. Absorbed
into Isawa.
September 12, 1869
Hokuō-ken ( 北 Former Morioka Domain administered
奥県) March 20, 1869 by the Kurohane Domain. Absorbed
into Kunohe.

伊
Former Morioka, Sendai and
Isawa-ken ( Ichinoseki Domains administered by
沢県) April 11, 1869 September 23, 1869 the Maebashi Domain. Absorbed into
Isawa (胆沢 ).

Kantō region

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Region Establishment Disestablishment Notes

Edo-fu ( 江戸 On September 3, 1868 renamed

府) June 30, 1868
Tōkyō-fu (東京府 )

On November 5, 1868 renamed to its

Kanagawa-fu
神奈川府 current name Kanagawa-ken ( 神奈川
( )
August 5, 1868 県)
Iwahana-ken
(岩鼻県 )

Renamed Ōmiya-ken ( 大宮県 ) on

August 7, 1868 March 10, 1869. Split into Urawa-ken
Musashi
(浦和県 ) on November 2, 1869.
Chikenji ( 武蔵 品川県) on
知県事)
Split into Shinagawa-ken (
August 17, 1868
March 21, 1869.

August 27, 1868

Split into Kosuge-ken ( 小菅県) on
February 23, 1869.
Hitachi
Chikenji ( 常陸 August 15, 1868
Renamed Wakamori-ken ( 若森県) on
知県事) March 21, 1869.

Kazusa Awa
安
Chikenshi ( August 19, 1868
Renamed Miyazaku-ken ( 宮谷県) on
房上総知県事) March 21, 1869.

Shimōsa
Chikenji ( 下総 September 23, 1868
On February 23, 1868 renamed
葛飾県
知県事) Katsushika-ken ( )

Mooka
Chikenji ( 真岡 July 12, 1868
Amalgamated into Nikkō-ken ( 日光県)
知県事) on March 27, 1869.

Chūbu region

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Region Establishment Disestablishment Notes

Kasamatsu-
笠松県
ken ( )
June 15, 1868 South part of Gifu

Hida-ken (飛 Renamed Takayama-ken ( 高山県) on

騨県) July 12, 1868
July 21, 1868

Echigo-fu (越 Renamed Niigata-fu on November 5,

後府) (first) July 18, 1868 September 3, 1869 1868. Renamed Niigata-ken (first) on
April 3, 1869.
Mikawa-ken
(三河県 )
July 28, 1868 August 1, 1869 Absorbed into Ina in 1869.

Nirayama-ken
(韮山県 )
August 17, 1868

Kashiwayama-
ken ( 柏崎県
) September 13, 1868 December 18, 1869
Separated from Echigo-fu, later added
to Niigata-fu.
(first)

Ina-ken ( 伊那
県) September 17, 1868 Renamed Nagano in 1870.

Incorporated into Niigata-fu on

佐
December 18, 1868. During the split of
Sado-ken ( Echigo-fu on August 30, 1869,
渡県) October 17, 1868 became a prefecture again. Renamed
Aikawa-ken ( 相川県 ) in 1871, merged
into Niigata Prefecture in 1876.

Fuchū-ken ( 府
中県)
Ichikawa-ken
(市川県 )
October 19, 1868 December 11, 1869 Merged into Kai-fu

Isawa-ken ( 石
和県)
甲斐府)
Renamed Kai-ken on August 27,
Kai-fu ( December 11, 1868 1868. Renamed Yamanashi
Prefecture in 1871.
Echigo-fu Re-established after the split of
March 20, 1869 September 3, 1869
(second) Niigata-fu.
Established after joining Echigo-fu and
Suibara-ken
水原県
Niigata-ken. Merged and renamed as
September 3, 1869
( ) Niigata Prefecture (second) on April 7,
1870.
Kashiwayama- Re-established after splitting from
September 30, 1869
ken (second) Suibara-ken.

Nakano-ken Established after splitting from Ina.

(中野県 )
October 11, 1870 Borders redrawn and renamed
Nagano Prefecture on August 8, 1871.
Hombo-ken
(本保県 )
February 11, 1871

Kansai region

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Region Establishment Disestablishment Notes

Kyoto-fu June 14, 1868

Ōtsu-ken ( 大
津県) June 15, 1868 Renamed Shiga in 1872.

Osaka-fu June 21, 1868

Kumihama-
ken ( 久美浜 June 28, 1868
Areas split into Ikuno-ken in 1969,
県) merged into Toyooka-ken in 1871.

Renamed Nara-fu on September 15,

Nara-ken July 8, 1868 1868. On August 24, 1869, name
changed back to Nara-ken.
Hyōgo-ken July 12, 1868

Sakai-ken ( 堺
県) August 10, 1868 Merged into Osaka-fu in 1881.

Watarai-fu ( 度 On August 24, 1869 renamed Watari-

会府) August 23, 1868
ken.

Settsu-ken ( 摂 Renamed Toyosaki-ken ( 豊崎県 ) on

津県)
June 19, 1869. Merged into Hyōgo-
ken in 1869, later merged into Osaka-
March 2, 1869 September 7, 1869 fu in 1871.
Kawachi-ken
(河内県 )
Merged into Sakai-ken.

Ikuno-ken ( 生
野県) September 15, 1869

Gojō-ken ( 五
條県) March 28, 1870

Chūgoku region, Shikoku

Region Establishment Disestablishment Notes

Kurashiki-ken Split into Fukatsu-ken, Hiroshima-ken

(倉敷県 )
July 15, 1868 and Tsuyama-ken (currently Kagawa-
ken).

Territory rearranged into Ōmori-ken ( 大

Oki-ken ( 隠岐 森県) on September 7, 1869.
県) April 6, 1869
Rearranged again into Hamada-ken
(浜田県) on February 9, 1870.

Kyushu

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Region Establishment Disestablishment Notes

Tomioka-ken Renamed Amakusa-ken ( 天草県 ) on

(富岡県 )
October 14, 1868 July 29, 1868. Merged into Nagasaki-
fu.

Hita-ken ( 日田 June 15, 1868

県)
Tomidaka-ken
(富高県 )
October 2, 1868 Merged into Hita-ken.

Renamed Nagasaki-ken on July 28,

Nagasaki-fu June 23, 1868
1869.

External links
Ishida Satoshi: Lists of prefectures and domains under the fu/han/ken system between the
restoration and the replacement of domains with prefectures by region (http://www.tt.rim.or.jp/~i
shato/tiri/huken/huhanken.htm); lists & maps of Japan's prefectures after the fu/han/ken system
had ended and the first wave of mergers 1871/72 had taken place (http://www.tt.rim.or.jp/~ishat
o/tiri/huken/map/1871/map1871.htm), after the second wave of prefectural mergers in 1876 (htt
p://www.tt.rim.or.jp/~ishato/tiri/huken/map/1876/map1876.htm) and in January 1889 briefly
before prefectures were subdivided into cities, towns and villages (http://www.tt.rim.or.jp/~ishat
o/tiri/huken/map/1889/map1889.htm)

References
1. Foote, Daniel H. (2011). Law in Japan: A Turning Point. Washington: University of Washington
Press. ISBN 0295801352.
2. Senda, Minoru; Matsuo, Masato (1977). 明治維新研究序説 維新政権の直轄地
― ― [An
introduction to research of the Meiji Restoration: The powers of the government]. Tokyo, Japan:
Kaimei Shoin.

Fujino, Tamotsu; Iwasaki, Takuya; Abe, Takeshi; Minegishi, Sumio (2012). 日本史事典 [History
of Japan Encyclopedia]. Shinjuku, Tokyo: Asakura Shoten. ISBN 4254530196.
旺文社日本史事典 [Obunsha Encyclopedia of the History of Japan]. Shinjuku, Tokyo: Obunsha.
2000. ISBN 4010353139.

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