Miyagi District, Miyagi

Miyagi District (宮城郡, Miyagi-gun^?) is a district located in past Mutsu Province and today's Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. The name of the prefecture was from this district.

The original territory was east-west long from the Ōu Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, including current Sendai, Shiogama and Tagajō cities. As of 2003, the district has an estimated population of 69,567 and a density of 620.80 persons per km². The total area is 112.06 km².

The Minami-Koizumi site had been a village or town site since the fifth century A.D. Miyagi District first appeared in historical documents occurred in 766, in the Shoku Nihongi. Archaeologists presume that Miyagi District was established by eighth century, based on the presence of square field system remains between Hirose River and Nanakita River. The province capital of Mutsu was moved to Taga (modern Tagajō) from the Koriyam site of Natori District in 724. Its residential area extended beyond the wall of Taga. In 785, Taga District and Shinakami District were separated from Miyagi, but later annexed.

Taga continued to be the capital in the Kamakura Period, but the city center moved to west Iwakiri. In 1190 Isawa Iekage was appointed as the Governor Acting in Absence of Mutsu Province, charged with restoring order after the Revolt of Ōkawa Kanetō. His descendants established a fiefdom around Taga and changed their name to Rusu, which means, literally, acting in absence.

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