Aki

Aki district lies near Hiroshima Bay, on the old San'yōdō road through western Honshu. At Fuchū stood the provincial offices of Aki, which had been established there by the middle of the Heian period. Eastward, the road crossed Ōyama Pass toward neighbouring Kamo, a difficult stretch that remained a noted obstacle for travellers on the later Saigoku highway. The district's name recalls both its local administration and the wider province it once served.