Higo Province

Encyclopedia : H : HI : HIG : Higo Province

Higo (肥後国; Higo no kuni) was an old province of Japan in the area that is today Kumamoto prefecture on the island of Kyushu. Higo bordered on Chikugo, Bungo, Hyuga, Osumi, and Satsuma.

The castle town of Higo was usually at Kumamoto city. During the Muromachi period, Higo was held by the Kikuchi clan, but they were dispossessed during the Sengoku period, and the province was occupied by neighboring lords, including the Shimadzu of Satsuma, until Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Kyushu and gave Higo to his retainers, first Sasa Narimasa and later Kato Kiyomasa.

During the Sengoku period, Higo was a major center for Christianity in Japan, and it is also the location where Miyamoto Musashi stayed at the daimyo's invitation while completing his The Book of Five Rings.

The article incorporates text from OpenHistory.

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