Kumamoto Prefecture is the eastern half of Hinokuni (meaning "land of fire"), and corresponds to what was once called Higo Province.

The history of Kumamoto is characterized by kofuns in natural beauties or volcanic activities, the ritsuryō and the following rise of samurais, the arrival of Katō Kiyomasa from Nagoya, wars around the Bakumatsu including the Satsuma Rebellion, and public problems concerning Minamata disease.

In the Yayoi period, there appeared dwellings in ring-formed groups in which onggis, tsubo jars, and stone axes were found.

In the Nihon Shoki, Japan's earliest official document, the early countries of Yamato Ouken, Wa (Japan), appointed a king of a small area which came under the Yamato Ouken, a head of Agata Nushi (an agata was an autonomous district under the leadership of a chieftain or warlord).

In another kofun in Uto city, the burial of a woman in her thirties was confirmed, suggesting the presence of miko, a "female shaman, spirit medium" who conveyed oracles from kami.

Today, it can be seen only on one day or so, and it is an optical phenomenon on the horizon of seeing moving spots of fire caused by fishing boats through heated air layers.

As the heads of Higo Province, there were Ki Natsui, Fujiwaha Yasumasa and Kiyohara no Motosuke; the last one was a nobleman, waka poet, and the father of Sei Shōnagon who wrote The Pillow Book.

In the latter half of the Heian period, samurai had waged wars in almost all areas of Japan, and Shirakawa Jokyo in cloistered rule started to control kokushis; the situation became very complex.

When Taira no Kiyomori had power, smaller groups of samurai had to choose either to side with the Heike clan or resist.

The Rebellion of Chinzei was recorded in the Azuma Kagami, The Tale of the Heike, Genpei Jōsuiki, and it coincided with the uprising of Minamoto no Yoritomo.

Samurais in east Japan occupied the post of Soujitou, and the Kikuchi clan sided with Gotoba-joko, and lost to some extent.

Suenaga commissioned the Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba, a pictorial scroll showing his own valor in war, composed in 1293.

Suenaga sold his horses and saddles in order to finance a trip to Kamakura, where he reported his deeds in battle to the shogunate.

In Kyūshū, Katō Kiyomasa, and other samurai lords such as Kuroda, Nabeshima, Hosokawa took the side of Tokugawa Ieyasu; while Konishi Yukinawa, Shimazu, Ōtomo, Tachibana acted on behalf of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

After the meeting of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyori, he became ill on a ship on his way to Kumamoto, and died shortly after arrival in 1611.

His child, Katō Tadahiro, was transferred to Dewa Maruoka-han in the Tōhoku region in 1632, for fear of his becoming too powerful and thus the Kato clan came to an end.

He proposed that Amakusa and Tsurusaki (Ōita Prefecture) be exchanged[clarification needed] when he obtained the land of Kumamoto, and this was realized.

In the wake of the Matsukura clan's construction of a new castle at Shimabara, taxes were drastically raised, which provoked anger from local peasants and lordless samurai (rōnin).

Executed in the aftermath of the fall, his head was displayed on a pike in Nagasaki for a long time afterward as a warning to any other potential Christian rebels.

Katō Kiyomasa and the Hosokawa clan increased the productivity of Kumamoto han by various means, such as the control of rivers and land reclamation by drainage on the sea.

Then, Hori was successful in borrowing a huge sum of money from Kajimaya in return for the 100,000 koku of rice from Kumamoto Han.

This tribute was no longer the percentage of the actual quantity of rice harvested, but was assessed based on the quality and size of the land.

These cases were characterized by small numbers of participants, less than 300 people, and their claims were the reduction of taxation, about the instability of han money, request for the resignation of the shoya and employees.

In 1877, Sano Tsunetami　(1823–1902) created the Hakuaisha, a relief organization to provide medical assistance to soldiers wounded in the Satsuma Rebellion.

The army's Yamasaki Training Area, placed after the Satsuma Rebellion, blocked traffic and the development of Kumamoto City.

In consideration of public opinion, other military buildings were transferred to Toroku and Oe Mura, but the Yamasaki Training place was still there.

Infrastructure such as construction of roads, water supply (1924), streetcar lines were completed, which was the basis of development for Kumamoto City.

Near the end of World War II, Kumamto experienced several air raids, and the greatest one on the night of June 30 to July 1, 1945.

After the war, there were a considerable number of floods due to typhoons, possibly exacerbated by deforestation and delay in river control.

The symptoms of the disease include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, narrowing of the field of vision, and damage to hearing and speech capability.