Kozuke Province

Kōzuke Province (上野国, Kōzuke-no kuni^?) was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Gunma Prefecture. Kōzuke bordered by Echigo, Shinano, Musashi and Shimotsuke Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was Jōshū (上州^?). Under the Engishiki classification system, Kōzuke was ranked as one of the 13 "great countries" (大国) in terms of importance, and one of the 30 "far countries" (遠国) in terms of distance from the capital. The provincial capital is located in what is now the city of Maebashi; however, its exact location remains uncertain. The Ichinomiya of the province is located in what is now the city of Tomioka.

During the 4th century AD, (Kofun period) the area of modern Gunma and southern Tochigi prefectures were known as Keno or Kenu (毛野^?). At some unknown point in the 5th century, the area was divided at the Kinugawa River into Kamitsuteno (上毛野^?) and Shimotsuteno (下毛野^?). Per the Nara period Taihō Code, these provinces became Kamitsuteno-no-kuni (上毛野国^?) and Shimotsuteno-no-kuni (下毛野国^?). In 713, with the standardization of province names into two kanji, these names became Kōzuke (上野^?) and Shimozuke (下野^?).

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