Editing Iwate Prefecture (section)

== History ==
{{See also|Historic Sites of Iwate Prefecture}}
While the entire island of Honshū was claimed by the Japanese, or Yamato, government from earliest times, the imperial forces were unable to occupy any part of what would become Iwate until 802 when two powerful [[Emishi]] leaders, [[Aterui]] and More, surrendered at Fort Isawa.

The area now known as Iwate Prefecture was inhabited by the [[Jōmon period|Jōmon]] people who left their artifacts throughout the prefecture. For example, a large number of burial pits from the Middle Jōmon Period (2,800–1,900 BC) have been found in Nishida. Various sites from the Late Jōmon Period (1,900–1,300 BC) including Tateishi, Makumae and Hatten contain clay figurines, masks and ear and nose shaped clay artifacts. The Kunenbashi site in Kitakami City has yielded stone "swords", tablets and tools as well as clay figurines, earrings and potsherds from the Final Jōmon Period (1,300–300 BC).

The earliest mention of a Japanese presence dates to about 630 when the Hakusan Shrine was said to have been built on Mt. Kanzan in what is now Hiraizumi. At this time various Japanese traders, hunters, adventurers, priests and criminals made their way to Iwate. In 712 the province of [[Mutsu Province|Mutsu]], containing all of [[Tōhoku region|Tōhoku]], was divided into [[Dewa Province]], the area west of the [[Ōu Mountains]] and Mutsu Province. In 729 Kokuseki-ji Temple was founded in what is now Mizusawa Ward, Oshu City by the itinerant priest [[Gyōki]].

Little is known about relations between these Japanese frontiersmen and the native [[Emishi]] but in 776 they took a turn for the worse when large forces of the Yamato army invaded Iwate attacking the Isawa and Shiwa tribes in February and November of that year. More fighting occurred the next and following years but mostly in Dewa and the area south of present-day Iwate prefecture. This situation continued until March 787 when the Yamato army suffered a disastrous defeat in the Battle of Sufuse Village in what is now Mizusawa Ward, Oshu City. There the Emishi leaders and [[Aterui]] leading a large cavalry force trapped the Yamato infantry and pushed them into the Kitakami River where their heavy armour proved deadly. Over 1,000 soldiers drowned that day. The Japanese general Ki no Asami Kosami was "rebuked" by the [[Emperor Kanmu]] when he returned to Kyoto.

Since the Japanese could not win on the battlefield they resorted to other means to conquer the Emishi. Trade for superior quality iron wares and sake made the Emishi dependent on the Japanese for these valuable goods. Bribes were offered to the Emishi leaders in the form of Japanese citizenship and rank if they would defect. Finally a campaign of burning crops and kidnapping the Emishi women and children and relocating them to Western Japan was adopted. 

In 801, [[Sakanoue no Tamuramaro]] began a new campaign against the Isawa Emishi having moderate success. Finally on 15 April 802 the Emishi leaders More and Aterui surrendered with some 500 warriors. The captives were taken to Kyoto for an audience with the emperor and beheaded at Moriyama in Kawachi Province against the wishes of General Sakanoue. This act of cruelty enraged the Emishi leading to another twenty or more years of fighting.

After the surrender numerous forts were built on the Chinese model along the Kitakami River. In 802, Fort Isawa was built in what is now Mizusawa Ward, Oshu City, in 803, Fort Shiwa was built in what is now Morioka City, and in 812 Fort Tokutan was built also in Morioka.

In the latter part of the [[Heian period]], the town of [[Hiraizumi]] in what is now southern Iwate became the capital of the [[Northern Fujiwara]]. The warrior [[Minamoto no Yoshitsune]] fled here after the [[Genpei War]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pref.iwate.jp/~hp0909/koto/densetu/syosai/syosai.htm |title=言い伝えられた平泉 |publisher=Iwate Prefectural Office |access-date=7 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131013111330/http://www.pref.iwate.jp/~hp0909/koto/densetu/syosai/syosai.htm |archive-date=13 October 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Until the [[Meiji Restoration]], the area of Iwate prefecture was part of [[Mutsu Province]].<ref>Frédéric, "Provinces and prefectures" in {{Google books|p2QnPijAEmEC|Japan Encyclopedia|page=780}}, p. 780.</ref>

Iwate Prefecture was created in 1876, in the aftermath of the [[Boshin War|Boshin Civil War]], which heralded the beginning of the Meiji Restoration.