Kōzuke Province in the context of "Echigo Province"

Musashi Province (武蔵国, Musashi no Kuni; Japanese pronunciation: [mɯꜜ.sa.ɕi (no kɯ.ɲi)]) was a province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo Metropolis, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called Bushū (武州). The province encompassed Kawasaki and Yokohama. Musashi bordered on Kai, Kōzuke, Sagami, Shimōsa, and Shimotsuke Provinces.

Musashi was the largest province in the Kantō region.

Shimotsuke Province (下野国, Shimotsuke no Kuni; Japanese pronunciation: [ɕi.moꜜ.tsɯ̥.ke (no kɯ.ɲi)]) was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Tochigi Prefecture. Shimotsuke was bordered by Kōzuke, Hitachi, Mutsu and Shimōsa Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was Yashū (野州). Under the Engishiki classification system, Shimotsuke 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 Tochigi. The Ichinomiya of the province is the Futarasan jinja located in what is now the city of Utsunomiya.

Shinano Province (信濃国, Shinano no Kuni; Japanese pronunciation: [ɕiꜜ.na.no (no kɯ.ɲi), ɕi.na.noꜜ-]) or Shinshū (信州; [ɕiꜜɰ̃.ɕɯː]) is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture.

Shinano bordered Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, which became an important city of the province.

The Nitta clan (新田氏, Nitta-shi; Japanese pronunciation: [ɲiꜜt.ta(.ɕi)]) was one of several major families descended from the Seiwa Genji, and numbered among the chief enemies of the Hōjō clan regents, and later the Ashikaga shogunate. The common ancestor of the Nitta, Minamoto no Yoshishige (1135–1202), was the elder brother of Minamoto no Yoshiyasu, the common ancestor of the Ashikaga clan. Yoshishige was a landowner in the Nitta District of Kōzuke Province in present-day Gunma Prefecture. Yoshishige supported Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147–1199) in the Battle of Ishibashiyama of 1180 against the Taira clan.

The Nitta clan rose to importance in the early 13th century; they controlled Kozuke Province, and had little influence in Kamakura, the capital of the Kamakura shogunate, because their ancestor, Minamoto no Yoshishige had not joined his fellow clansmen in the Genpei War a century earlier.

The Nakasendō (中山道, Central Mountain Route), also called the Kisokaidō (木曾街道), was one of the centrally administered five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected the de facto capital of Japan at Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto. There were 69 stations (staging-posts) between Edo and Kyoto, crossing through Musashi, Kōzuke, Shinano, Mino and Ōmi provinces. In addition to Tokyo and Kyoto, the Nakasendō runs through the modern-day prefectures of Saitama, Gunma, Nagano, Gifu and Shiga, with a total distance of about 534 km (332 mi).

Unlike the coastal Tōkaidō, the Nakasendō traveled inland, hence its name, which can be translated as "中 = central; 山 = mountain; 道 = route" (as opposed to the Tōkaidō, which roughly meant "eastern sea route"). Because it was such a well-developed road, many famous persons, including the haiku master Matsuo Bashō, traveled the road. In the late 1830s Hiroshige also walked the Nakasendo, contributing 46 designs to a series of 69 views of the Nakasendo, which was later completed by Keisai Eisen.

Shimōsa Province (下総国, Shimōsa no Kuni; Japanese pronunciation: [ɕi.moꜜː.sa (no kɯ.ɲi), ɕi.moː.saꜜ-]) was a province of Japan in the area of modern Chiba Prefecture and Ibaraki Prefecture as well as the bordering parts of Saitama Prefecture and Tokyo (the parts that used to be located east of the lower reaches of the old Tone River prior to the river's eastward diversion, i.e. the parts of the former Katsushika District of Shimōsa that have been transferred to North Katsushika District of Saitama Prefecture and Sumida, Kōtō, Edogawa, and Katsushika wards of Tokyo). It lies to the north of the Bōsō Peninsula (房総半島), whose name takes its first kanji from the name of Awa Province and its second from Kazusa and Shimōsa Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was Sōshū (総州) or Hokusō (北総).

Shimōsa is classified as one of the provinces of the Tōkaidō. It was bordered by Kazusa Province to the south, Musashi and Kōzuke Provinces to the west, and Hitachi and Shimotsuke Provinces to the north. Under the Engishiki classification system, Shimōsa was ranked as a "great country" (大国) and a far country (遠国).