Kamiura

Kamiura was a historical name for the Ogachi and Hiraka country in southern Dewa, rather than a single coastal village. During the Sengoku period these two districts were collectively called Kamiura. After Toyotomi Hideyoshi's northern settlement of 1590, documents grouped the Senboku country into Kitaura, Nakagun and Kamiura, preserving a regional identity across changing administrative divisions.

Within this country, castles and markets gave separate communities their own centres. The Onodera built up Yokote as a castle town; in 1602 its castle and territory passed to Satake Yoshinobu. Farther south, Masuda stood where the Naruse and Minase rivers meet. Its medieval castle was associated with the Ogasawara and later the Doi, who are said to have governed until around 1600. Under Satake rule, commerce grew, and Masuda's morning market is traditionally dated to 1643. Kamiura's early modern landscape thus joined former warrior strongholds with the market settlements of the southern Yokote basin.