Bungo Province

It is believed that the kokufu Bungo was located in the Furugō (古国府), literally "old capital," section of the city of Ōita, but as of 2023 no archaeological evidence has been found.

Referred to as the "King of Bungo" in the Jesuit records, Sōrin sent political delegations to Goa in the 1550s, and the Tenshō embassy to Rome in 1582.

[3] In 1578, he came into conflict with the Shimazu clan to the south and after being defeated in a series of battles turned to Toyotomi Hideyoshi for assistance.

Following Hideyoshi's expulsion of foreign missionaries and edicts against the Kirishitan faith, he recanted his baptism and began a vigorous campaign to exterminate Christianity in the province.

Unlike many of the provinces of Kyūshū, Bungo was not dominated by a single daimyō; rather, it was divided into tenryō territory directly governed by the Tokugawa shogunate and a number small feudal domains.

[4] Per the early Meiji period Kyudaka kyuryo Torishirabe-chō (旧高旧領取調帳), an official government assessment of the nation's resources, Bungo Province had 1812 villages with a total kokudaka of 466,611 koku.