Bizen Province
Bizen Province was a province of Japan on the Inland Sea side of Honshū, in what is today the southeastern part of Okayama Prefecture. It was sometimes called Bishū, with Bitchū and Bingo Provinces. Bizen borders Mimasaka, Harima, and Bitchū Provinces.
Bizen's original center was in the modern city of Okayama. From an early time Bizen was one of Japan's main centers for sword smithing.In the 3rd month of the 6th year of the Wadō era, the land of Bizen-no kuni was administratively separated from Mimasaka Province. In that same year, Empress Genmei's Daijō-kan continued to organize other cadastral changes in the provincial map of the Nara period.
In Wadō 6, Tanba Province was sundered from Tango Province ; and Hyūga Province was divided from Ōsumi Province. In Wadō 5, Mutsu Province had been severed from Dewa Province.
In the Muromachi period, Bizen was ruled by the Akamatsu clan from Mimasaka, but by the Sengoku period the Urakami clan had become dominant and settled in Okayama city. They were later supplanted by the Ukita clan, and Ukita Hideie was one of the regents Toyotomi Hideyoshi appointed for his son. After Kobayakawa Hideaki helped Tokugawa Ieyasu to win the Battle of Sekigahara over Ukita and others, he was granted Ukita's domains in Bizen and Mimasaka.
Bizen passed through a variety of hands during the Edo period before being incorporated into the modern prefecture system.Shrines and temples
Kibitsuhiko jinja was the chief Shinto shrine of Bizen.Historical districts
