Historical geography of Japan

historical aspects of the capital cities of Japan

were the capitals of the historical Provinces of Japan from the Nara period to the Heian period.

Hitakami () is a country name found in ancient Japanese texts. There are different theories as to which country the word "Hitakami" may have represented. According to , the word "Hitakami" represented the country of Yamato because the full name of Yamato is . However, in works such as the the word "Hitakami" was used to represent the northeastern regions of what is now Japan.