Dazaifu (government)

The Dazaifu (大宰府 or 太宰府) is a Japanese term for the regional government in Kyushu from the 8th to the 12th centuries.[1] The name may also refer to the seat of government which grew into the modern city of Dazaifu in Fukuoka Prefecture.[2]

Site of the former Dazaifu headquarters in Dazaifu, Fukuoka

History

The Dazaifu was established in northwest Kyushu the late 7th century.[3] The town of Dazaifu grew up around the civil and military headquarters of the regional government.[4]

During the 8th and 9th centuries, records refer to Dazaifu as "the distant capital".[3]

In 1268, envoys bearing letters from Kublai Khan appeared at the Dazaifu court. There were a series of envoys which came before the unsuccessful invasion of 1274.[5]

In the Muromachi period the political center of the region was moved to Hakata.[4]

The city of Dazaifu was the center of the Shōni clan and later the Ōuchi clan. In the Edo period, Dazaifu was a part of Kuroda domain until the han system was abolished in 1873.[4]

Usage

The flexible term refers to the regional government for all of Kyūshū and nearby islands.

From the 7th through the 13th century, the governor and vice-governor of Dazaifu had civil and military functions.[6] The titles of the vice governors were Dazai dani and Dazai shoni. Among the Dazai shoni was Fujiwara no Hirotsugu in 740 who started a rebellion in the same year.[7]

Sometimes there was an official Absentee Governor (Dazai-no-sotsu). This title was only given to Imperial princes. Among those holding this office was Takaharu-shinnō who would later become Emperor Go-Daigo.[8]

City

Dazaifu is the name of the place where regional government was centered in the late Nara period through the Muromachi period.[9] It is the town which grew up around the government center in the 7th through the 12th centuries. It is also the name of the small city which continued to grow even after the regional government center was moved.

Region

Dazaifu refers to the region which includes all the provinces on the island of Kyūshū and other nearby islands.[10]

Government

The Dazaifu is the name of the civil government on the island of Kyūshū.[11] As it grew and developed, a large complex of government offices (都府楼跡, Tofuro-ato) was built for the use of the hierarchy of bureaucrats. The many buildings were arranged along a symmetrical grid,[12] not far from the Buddhist temple complex at Kanzeon-ji (観世音寺).[13]

Dazaifu is a metonym of the official position at the head of the regional government. It is also a metonym for the person who fills this leadership role.

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See also

Notes
  1. Adolphson, Mikael S. et al. (2007). Heian Japan, Centers and Peripheries, pp. 5-6., p. 5, at Google Books; excerpt, "... the Dazaifu -- the governmental headquarters in northern Kyushu -- was a center in its own right ... earned the epithet 'the capital of the western periphery' (saikyoku no daijō)"
  2. "Dazaifu" at Japan-guide.com; retrieved 2013-3-5.
  3. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Dazaifu" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 150.
  4. "Dazifu" at GoJapan.com Archived 2013-03-14 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2013-3-5.
  5. Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan, p. 92.
  6. Conlan, Thomas D. "The Two Paths of Writing and Warring in Medieval Japan," Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine Taiwan Journal of East Asian Studies, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Issue 15), June 2011, pp. 91 (PDF 7 of 43).
  7. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon, p. 71.
  8. Ponsonby-Fane, p. 204.
  9. Turnbull, Stephen R. (2013). The Mongol Invasions of Japan 1274 and 1281, p. 35.
  10. Sansom, George Bailey. (1958). A History of Japan to 1334, p. 443.
  11. Embry, Charles R. (2011). Voegelinian Readings of Modern Literature, p. 71; excerpt, "Dazaifu, a reference to both a city in Kyushu and the ancient headquarters of Kyushu government."
  12. "Government Office Ruins" at Japan-guide.com; retrieved 2013-3-5.
  13. "Kanzeonji" at Japan-guide.com; retrieved 2013-3-5.

References
  • Adolphson, Mikael S. et al. (2007). Heian Japan, Centers and Peripheries. Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824830137; OCLC 260109801
  • Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 194887
  • Sansom, George Bailey. (1958). A History of Japan to 1334. Stanford: Stanford University Press. OCLC 256194432
  • 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

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