Tōsandō (東山道; Japanese pronunciation: [toː.saꜜn.doː, toꜜː.san.doː], lit. 'Eastern Mountain Circuit') is a Japanese geographical term. It means both an ancient division of the country and the main road running through it. It is part of the Gokishichidō system. It was situated along the central mountains of northern Honshu, specifically the Tōhoku region.
This term also refers to a series of roads that connected the capitals (国府, kokufu) of each of the provinces that made up the region.
The Fuhanken Sanchisei (府藩県三治制; "Fu, Han and Ken three-tiered Governance System") was the subnational government structure in early Meiji Japan. It lasted from the Boshin War, the start to the Meiji Restoration, in 1868 until the replacement of all remaining feudal domains (-han) with prefectures (-ken) in 1871. During this period, prefectures, urban prefectures (府, fu) and rural prefectures (県, ken), controlled by the new central government, and daimyō Domains (藩, han), still under their pre-restoration feudal rulers, formed the primary administrative subdivisions of the country. The exact numbers varied continually as adjustments to the feudal territorial divisions, mergers and splits started to take up pace, but very roughly there were about >250 -han and about <50 -fu/-ken in total during this time.
As the political borders changed all the time, ancient ritsuryō provinces, essentially static except for some modernizing adjustments in the North where the giant provinces of Mutsu and Dewa (both Tōsan Circuit) were split up and a new circuit (Hokkai Circuit) with 10 provinces was added on Ezo, remained the primary geographic frame of reference even in Meiji Japan until around the turn of the century – just as they had been throughout the late Middle Ages and early modern period.
Ōmi Province (近江国, Ōmi no Kuni; Japanese pronunciation: [oꜜː.mʲi (no kɯ.ɲi)]) was a province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō circuit. Its nickname is Gōshū (江州). Under the Engishiki classification system, Ōmi was ranked as one of the 13 "great countries" (大国) in terms of importance, and one of the "near countries" (近国) in terms of distance from the imperial capital Kyoto.
Ōmi bordered on Wakasa and Echizen Provinces to the north, Mino and Ise Provinces to the east, Iga and Yamato Provinces to the south, and Yamashiro and Tanba Provinces to the west. Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake, is located at the center of the province.
Hida Province (飛騨国, Hida no Kuni; Japanese pronunciation: [çiꜜ.da (no kɯ.ɲi)]) was a province of Japan in the area that is today the northern portion of Gifu Prefecture in the Chūbu region of Japan. Hida bordered on Echizen, Mino, Shinano, Etchū, and Kaga Provinces. It was part of Tōsandō Circuit. Its abbreviated name was Hishū (飛州). Under the Engishiki classification system, Hida was ranked as an "inferior country" (下国) and a middle country (中国) in terms of its importance and distance from the capital. Currently, the entire area of the former Hida Province consists of the cities of Hida, Takayama and most of the city of Gero, and the village of Shirakawa, in Ōno District .