Sanriku - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

is a historical region of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

on the northeastern side of the island of Honshu

Honshu

is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...

, corresponding to today's Aomori

Aomori Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku Region. The capital is the city of Aomori.- History :Until the Meiji Restoration, the area of Aomori prefecture was known as Mutsu Province....

, Iwate

Iwate Prefecture

is the second largest prefecture of Japan after Hokkaido. It is located in the Tōhoku region of Honshū island and contains the island's easternmost point. The capital is Morioka. Iwate has the lowest population density of any prefecture outside Hokkaido...

and parts of Miyagi Prefecture

Miyagi Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku Region on Honshu island. The capital is Sendai.- History :Miyagi Prefecture was formerly part of the province of Mutsu. Mutsu Province, on northern Honshu, was one of the last provinces to be formed as land was taken from the indigenous Emishi, and became the...

. It was sometimes called .

The 36 bays of this irregular coastline tend to amplify the destructiveness of tsunami waves which reach the shores of Sanriku, as demonstrated in the damage caused by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami

The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter approximately east...

History

On January 19, 1869, in the aftermath of the Boshin War

Boshin War

The was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....

, the provinces of Mutsu

Mutsu Province

was an old province of Japan in the area of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori prefecture and the municipalities of Kazuno and Kosaka in Akita Prefecture...

and Dewa

Dewa Province

is an old province of Japan, comprising modern-day Yamagata Prefecture and Akita Prefecture, except for the city of Kazuno and the town of Kosaka. It was sometimes called .-Historical record:...

were split. Mutsu was split into new five provinces: Rikuō

Mutsu Province (1868)

, also called was an old province of Japan in the area of Iwate and Aomori prefecture.It was also known as or . In the Meiji era, the province was cut down to cover only present-day Aomori and given the new name Rikuō Province, which retained the original kanji.（岩手大学教育学部）-History:On December 7,...

(also read Mutsu), Rikuchū

Rikuchu Province

was an old province in the area of Iwate and Akita prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Rikuzen and Mutsu Provinces.Rikuchu covered most of modern-day Iwate Prefecture, with the exceptions of Kesen District, Rikuzentakata City, Ōfunato City, and Kamaishi City, and also including Kazuno City...

, Rikuzen

Rikuzen Province

is an old province of Japan in the area of Miyagi and some parts of Iwate prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Rikuchū and Mutsu Provinces.-History:...

, Iwashiro

Iwashiro Province

is an old province in the area of Fukushima Prefecture. It was sometimes called .The province occupies the western half of the central part of Fukushima Prefecture; the eastern half is Iwaki Province. More precisely, Date and Adachi Districts in the north belong to Iwashiro and Higashishirakawa and...

and Iwaki

Iwaki Province (1868)

thumb|Map of the former Japanese provinces with Iwaki highlighted was an old province in the area that is today Fukushima Prefecture. It was sometimes called .-History :This iteration of Iwaki Province was established in Meiji Era...

. The first three of these collectively known as the "Three Riku", or Sanriku.

The new provinces were shortlived, being abolished in July 1871 when the abolition of the han system

Abolition of the han system

The was an act, in 1871, of the new Meiji government of the Empire of Japan to replace the traditional feudal domain system and to introduce centralized government authority . This process marked the culmination of the Meiji Restoration in that all daimyo were required to return their authority...

redivided Japan into its present prefectures

Prefectures of Japan

The prefectures of Japan are the country's 47 subnational jurisdictions: one "metropolis" , Tokyo; one "circuit" , Hokkaidō; two urban prefectures , Osaka and Kyoto; and 43 other prefectures . In Japanese, they are commonly referred to as...

. However, the label lives on in common usages such as the Sanriku Coast

Sanriku Coast

The is a coastal region on the Pacific Ocean, extending from southern Aomori prefecture, through Iwate prefecture and northern Miyagi prefecture in northeastern Honshū, which is Japan's main island...

, which extends along Japan's Pacific coastline from Aomori in the north down to the Oshika Peninsula

Oshika Peninsula

The Oshika Peninsula is a peninsula which projects southeast into the Pacific Ocean from the coast of Miyagi Prefecture in northeast Honshu, the main island of Japan....

in Miyagi.

History

See also