Kyushu Island: Nine Lands and the Gate Through Which the Foreign Entered
Kyushu is the southernmost and third-largest of Japan's four main islands: about 37,000 km², seven prefectures led by Fukuoka. The name 九州 means "nine lands" — after the number of provinces before the 19th-century reform. For centuries it was through Kyushu that the foreign entered the country: arquebuses in 1543, Christian preaching, and later Dutch trade through Dejima in Nagasaki.
Let's look at why the name 九州 contains "nine" even though there are seven prefectures, and what stands behind the word "gate": how arquebuses from Tanegashima, the preaching of Christianity, and nearly two centuries of trade with Holland in a closed country all passed through the island. Along the way — what remains of that path in the cuisine, porcelain, and dialect of Kyushu, and we'll sort out what the "Kyushu dynasty" that turns up in search results actually is.
Kyushu on the Map: Seven Prefectures in the Southwest of the Archipelago
Kyushu lies at the southwestern tip of Japan, south of Honshu and west of Shikoku. The island's area is about 37,000 km² — the third-largest of the country's four main islands. About 12.6 million people live in its seven prefectures, and counting administratively attached Okinawa, about 14 million.
| Prefecture | Writing | Capital | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fukuoka | 福岡県 | Fukuoka | Hakata merchant district, the island's business center |
| Saga | 佐賀県 | Saga | Arita porcelain |
| Nagasaki | 長崎県 | Nagasaki | Dejima island, Catholic history |
| Kumamoto | 熊本県 | Kumamoto | Kumamoto Castle, Aso caldera |
| Oita | 大分県 | Oita | Beppu and Yufuin hot springs |
| Miyazaki | 宮崎県 | Miyazaki | the mythological coast of Hyuga |
| Kagoshima | 鹿児島県 | Kagoshima | Sakurajima volcano |
How Kyushu Differs from Honshu
Kyushu's climate is milder and more southern than Honshu's: winters are shorter, summers more humid, and subtropical crops grow in the south of the island. The land here is volcanic — Kyushu has more active calderas and hot springs than any of the other four main islands. And its distance to the continent is the shortest in the country: that is precisely why the island spent centuries receiving what came into Japan from outside.
九州: How Nine Lands Became Seven Prefectures
The name 九州 is made of 九 "nine" and 州 "land, province" — "nine lands." The island was named after the number of provinces it was divided into by the early 8th century: Chikuzen, Chikugo, Buzen, Bungo, Hizen, Higo, Hyuga, Satsuma, and Osumi. The word is built the same way as the name of the neighboring island 本州 (Honshu) — "modifier plus 州": there 本 means "main," here 九 means "nine."
州 — значение: land, province, region — онъёми: シュウ、ス — кунъёми: す — 6 штрих(ов). 州 — "land, province": on'yomi シュウ (Shū), kun'yomi す (su). In 九州 it stands second and carries the sense of an old land-province — the same character appears in 本州 (Honshu, "main land") and in 欧州 (Ōshū) — "Europe."
| Japanese | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| 九州 | Kyūshū · Kyūshū | Kyushu — "nine lands" |
| 本州 | Honshū · Honshū | Honshu — the main island of the archipelago |
| 福岡 | Fukuoka · Fukuoka | Fukuoka — the largest city on Kyushu |
| 博多 | Hakata · Hakata | Hakata — the old merchant district of Fukuoka |
| 南 | minami · minami | South — the direction from which the foreign blew in |
Write 州 along the guides — the character for "land, province" that took second place in the name of Kyushu.
Nine Lands and Seven Prefectures
In 1871 the Meiji authorities replaced the old provinces with prefectures throughout the country, and on Kyushu the nine lands were consolidated into fewer administrative units — today there are seven. The island's name was not changed with this reform: 九州 still means "nine lands," even though they can no longer be counted within the current borders.
The Country's Gate: What Passed Through Kyushu and When
At the end of the 7th century the Dazaifu (大宰府) administration was established on Kyushu: it was responsible for diplomacy and the defense of the country's western edge and also handled the internal affairs of the local nine lands. Embassies to China passed through Dazaifu, and to receive foreign guests at Hakata harbor a guest house, Korokan (鴻臚館), was built.
In 1543 a ship with Portuguese aboard was wrecked off the coast of Tanegashima, south of the main island — and so firearms first reached Japan. The local ruler Tanegashima Tokitaka ordered the making of arquebuses to be learned, and within a few years similar matchlock guns were being made by smiths throughout the country.
By the same route, in 1549 the Jesuit Francis Xavier landed at Kagoshima and began the first Christian preaching in Japan — from this begins a separate and long history of faith, persecution, and two centuries of underground practice.
Two centuries later, when the country had almost closed itself off from the world, the only window onto the West remained the artificial island of Dejima in Nagasaki harbor. From 1641 to 1859 a trading post of the Dutch East India Company was kept there, through which European books, instruments, and medicines entered Japan.
What Remains of That Path Today
The era of the gate endures longest in things: the porcelain that relocated Korean masters taught, the market culture of the port district of Hakata, and the city of Nagasaki itself, where Catholic churches still stand next to Buddhist temples.
Signs of Kyushu: Volcanoes, Hot Springs, Porcelain, and Dialect
- Sakurajima — an active volcano near Kagoshima: the city stands on the shore of the bay directly opposite the crater and is used to ash on its streets.
- The Aso caldera in the center of the island — 18 km from west to east and 25 km from north to south, one of the largest in the world, and people still live inside it.
- The Beppu and Yufuin hot springs in Oita Prefecture — two resort towns of different character: Beppu is known for the number and variety of its springs, Yufuin for quiet onsen at the foot of a mountain.
- Tonkotsu ramen — a pork bone broth invented in Hakata; today it is one of the most recognizable types of ramen in the country.
- Arita porcelain, in Saga, is Japan's first porcelain: in 1616 the relocated Korean master Yi Sam-pyeong found kaolin clay here and built the Tengudani kiln.
- Satsuma ware, in Kagoshima, is another trace of Korean masters brought to Kyushu at the end of the 16th century.
- Hakata-ben — the dialect of Fukuoka with its own distinctive sentence endings, recognizable in local humor and advertising.
What These Signs Have in Common
Volcanic land and sea gates to the mainland are not two separate stories but one. The mountains gave springs and clay for firing, and proximity to Korea and China gave the masters who turned that clay into porcelain and ceramics known throughout the country today.
FAQ
- Where is Kyushu Island located?
- Kyushu is the southernmost and third-largest of Japan's four main islands, about 37,000 km² southwest of Honshu. About 12.6 million people live on the island in seven prefectures, and together with administratively attached Okinawa, about 14 million.
- How many prefectures are on Kyushu Island?
- Today Kyushu has seven prefectures: Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Oita, Miyazaki, and Kagoshima. The island's largest city and business center is Fukuoka, which grew up next to the old merchant district of Hakata.
- Why does Kyushu mean "nine lands" if there are seven prefectures?
- The name 九州 was inherited from the nine provinces the island was divided into before the 19th-century reforms: Chikuzen, Chikugo, Buzen, Bungo, Hizen, Higo, Hyuga, Satsuma, and Osumi. In 1871 the provinces were replaced by prefectures and some were merged — seven administrative units remained on the island, but the old name with the nine at its base was not changed.
- How is "Kyushu" written in Japanese?
- 九州, read きゅうしゅう (Kyūshū). The first character 九 means "nine," the second 州 — "land, province"; together — "nine lands," as the island was called after the number of old provinces before the administrative reform.
- Did a "Kyushu dynasty" ever exist?
- As a state in history — no. This refers to the hypothesis 九州王朝説: according to it, until the end of the 7th century a dynasty separate from Yamato ruled on Kyushu with its capital at Dazaifu. The hypothesis was put forward by the independent researcher Furuta Takehiko; in academic Japanese history it is rarely discussed and mostly critically.
- What is Kyushu's cuisine known for?
- The island's main flavor is tonkotsu ramen, a rich pork bone broth invented in Hakata. Besides ramen, Kyushu is known for sweet potato shochu and for the fresh seafood of the southern prefectures — Nagasaki and Kagoshima.
Sources
Updated: 2026-09-22