Kamihei

Kamihei belongs to the southern Hei country of northeastern Honshu, linking the inland basin of Tono with the Sanriku coast around Otsuchi and Kamaishi. Mountain roads connected these districts across steep terrain, while coastal communities drew on the fisheries of the Pacific. The area's political history joined inland lordship to control of the shore.

The Asonuma family governed Tono for roughly four centuries after the Kamakura period. Following a political upheaval in 1600, the territory came under the Morioka Nanbu in 1601. In 1627 Nanbu Toshinao ordered the Hachinohe branch of his family to move to Tono, where it administered a holding assessed at 12,500 koku. On the coast, the Otsuchi family disappeared in 1616; in 1632 a magistrate replaced the castle governor. These changes consolidated Nanbu administration along the routes between inland settlements and maritime resources. The coast also faced forces beyond any lord's command: the great earthquake and tsunami of 1611 devastated Sanriku, with heavy loss of life recorded at Otsuchi and Tsugaruishi.