title: Shimotsuke Province
text: is an old province of Japan in the area of Tochigi Prefecture on the island of Honshū. It was sometimes called  or . 
  
  The ancient capital city of the province was near Tochigi.
  
  Tokugawa Ieyasu's tomb and shrine is at Nikkō, in Shimotsuke.
  
  History
  
  In the Nara period, Shimotsuke was part of Keno Province.  This was changed in the reforms of the Taihō Code in 701.
  
  Parts of Shimotsuke were held by a several daimyo during the Sengoku period.
  
  Timeline
   1150 (Kyūan 6, 12th month): Minamoto-no Yoshikane, the head of the Ashikaga clan, was established in Shimotsuke Province.
  
   1627 (Kan'ei 4): Inaba Masanari took control of Mōka Domain in Shimotsuke.
  
   1672 (Kanbun 12): Itakura Shigenori was given the fief of Kasuyama Domain in Shimotsuke.
  
   1725 (Kyōhō 10): A cadet branch of the Ōkubo clan was established in Karasuyama Domain in Shimotsuke, where they stayed until the Meiji Restoration.
   
  In the Meiji period, the provinces of Japan were converted into prefectures.  Maps of Japan and Shimotsuke Province were reformed in the 1870s.
  
  Shrines and Temples
  Futarasan jinja was the chief Shinto shrine (ichinomiya) of Shimotsuke.
  
  Related pages
   Provinces of Japan
   Prefectures of Japan
   List of regions of Japan
   List of islands of Japan
  
  References
  
  Other websites 
  
    Murdoch's map of provinces, 1903
  
  Former provinces of Japan
  Tochigi Prefecture