Fuhanken sanchisei

The 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, and , controlled by the new central government, and , 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.
Background.
Ignoring minor territories such as Imperial Court lands or spiritual (shrine/temple) holdings, pre-restoration Japan was subdivided two types of territories: 1. the bakufu/shogunate territories ("baku-ryō", subsequently also called "ten-ryō", "Imperial territories") held by the Tokugawa directly through local administrators ("daikan", "bugyō", etc.) or the shogunate's minor vassals (sometimes grouped separately as "hatamoto-ryō") and 2. other families' feudal domain holdings ("han-ryō"). In the Boshin War and the beginning Meiji Restoration, the conquered/surrendered shogunate lands and a few rebel/shogunate loyalist domains such as Aizu/Wakamatsu or Morioka/Morioka were organized in prefectures (urban "-fu" and rural "-ken") while all other feudal domains "(-han)" were allowed to continue to exist until 1871. Some domains were only newly created in the restoration, such as Shizuoka Domain which was granted to the Tokugawa after their fall and submission to the new government, or Tonami Domain which was created from parts of Morioka and left to a child heir of Aizu after the main territory of Aizu had been vanquished. The subnational administration in this period from 1868 to 1871 when centrally governed prefectures coexisted as primary subdivision of the country with domains, pledged into submission to the new Satsuma-Chōshū-dominated Imperial government, but still governed by their Tokugawa period feudal rulers, constitutes the -fu/-han/-ken system.
Territorial composition and naming.
Some of the current prefectures of Japan were created in this period, but they looked very different from what they are today, still with many disjoint feudal period ex- and enclaves as the domains remained mostly untouched and only the ex-shogunate/Imperial lands became prefectures. Some examples:
Other prefectures only existed under the fu/han/ken system. For example, Nirayama-ken replaced the Nirayma daikan, the shogunate administrator of shogunate possessions in Izu, Suruga, Sagami and Musashi provinces, seated in Nirayama in Izu Province. Its main part was merged into Ashigara Prefecture in 1871/72 while exclaves went to other prefectures. Since the 1880s, Nirayama's former territory is split between Shizuoka, Yamanashi, Tokyo, Kanagawa and Saitama.
It was the convention to name prefectures and "han" after the location of their [actual or in some cases: planned] prefectural/domain government, either by town/village or later often by ritsuryō district (e.g. Mie, Saitama, Inba, Gunma). "ken" created in 1871 are generally named after their precursor "han".
History.
In June 1868, an interim constitution called the was proclaimed, drafted by Fukuoka Takachika and Soejima Taneomi, which established central government in Japan under the Meiji government. The act dissolved the Tokugawa era court houses, creating government controlled prefectural governors called and . All other areas still under the power of a daimyo, "han", were left as they were with no structure changes, and an independent justice system.
On June 14, 1868, Hakodate-fu and Kyoto-fu were established as the first two prefectures under the new changes. At the time, the Imperial government army forces were fighting the Republic of Ezo in the Battle of Hakodate, and despite the proclamation, the city of Hakodate had not fallen yet. By end of June, 11 prefectures had been created, including Edo-fu.
In July and August 1869 during the abolition of the han system, the government issued to the remaining Han, asking them to voluntarily return their domains, and later were ordered to by the Court, on threat of military action. The Daimyo who agreed to this were appointed as , who had to follow the laws and instructions of the central government.
Many territories that became the first prefectures were territories confiscated from domains in the Boshin War, especially domains part of the "Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei" alliance.
Areas in Kanto did not initially receive a proper prefecture name and suffix, even though they had appointed officials for the areas.
Establishment of urban prefectures.
When initially creating prefecture suffixes, the "Seitaisho" proclaimed all areas with a "" (castle minder), namely Osaka, Sunpu and Kyoto, the "shoshidai" or a "bugyō" were given the prefectural suffix "fu", while any other area was designated "ken". The first two were created on June 14, 1868: Kyoto-fu and Hakodate-fu. By the end of 1868, ten "fu" had been established: Kyoto, Hakodate, Osaka, Nagasaki, Edo (later Tokyo), Kanagawa, Watarai, Nara, Echigo (later Niigata) and Kōfu. Due to some prefectures gaining non-urban land or being amalgamated into other territories, in 1869 three remained: Kyoto-fu, Osaka-fu and Tokyo-fu. This remained the same until 1943, when Tokyo-fu and Tokyo-shi were merged to form Tokyo-to.
Aftermath.
After three major merger/reorganization waves and many smaller mergers, splits and border changes between the initially >300 prefectures (down to 75 by 1872, to <40 in the late 1870s), they took generally their present forms in the 1890s. The last change involving an entire prefecture was the separation of Kagawa from Ehime in 1888, a very late large territorial change was the transfer of the Tama area from Kanagawa to Tokyo in 1893. (Comparatively smaller changes through cross-prefectural municipal mergers or transfers of single neighbourhoods, border corrections through land changes, etc. continue to the day.) After the 1871/72 mergers, prefectures are contiguous, compact territories resembling or even identical to the ritsuryō provinces in many places.
Established prefectures.
The prefectures "(-fu/-ken)" listed below were all established before the replacement of all domains "(-han)" with prefectures "(-ken)", i.e. under the "fu/han/ken" system. Disestablishment is only listed if prior to August 29, 1871, the time when all remaining domains were turned into prefectures. For the >300 prefectures immediately after that, look somewhere else. For the 75 prefectures after the 1871/72 wave of prefectural mergers, see the List of Japanese prefectures.
For a complete list of not only "-fu/-ken", but all "-fu/-han/-ken" at two points in time, see the List of Japanese prefectures by population#1868 to 1871, it also indicates the (often disjoint) territorial extent of the prefectures and domains in this period by listing the provinces the prefectures/domains extended to and the number of exclaves.
Hokkaido and Tōhoku.
After the Daimyo of the northern domains were stripped of their social status in the Boshin War, the following Prefectures were created. These were mostly in name only, and did not function as proper entities.