Shimotsuke Province

During the 4th century AD, (Kofun period) the area of modern Gunma and southern Tochigi prefectures were known as Keno or Kenu (毛野).

At some unknown point in the 5th century, the area was divided at the Kinugawa River into Kamitsukeno (上毛野) and Shimotsukeno (下毛野).

Per the Nara period Taihō Code, these provinces became Kamitsukeno-no-kuni (上毛野国) and Shimotsukeno-no-kuni (下毛野国).

A large Buddhist temple complex, the Shimotsuke Yakushi-ji, located in what is now the city of Tochigi, dates from the Nara period.

Tokugawa Ieyasu and Tokugawa Iemitsu chose the sacred site of Nikkō to be the location of their tombs, and thus the area prospered as a site of pilgrimage through the end of the Edo period.

Map of Japanese provinces (1868) with Shimotsuke Province highlighted
ukiyo-e " Shimotsuke " in "The Famous Scenes of the Sixty States" (六十余州名所図会), depicting Mount Nikkō, Urami Waterfall (Shimotsuke, Nikkōsan, Urami no taki)
Shimotsuke province map (1838)