Two types of villages surrounded Akita Fort. Official villages (gō) were for immigrant farmers with household registrations and naturalized Emishi people. Emishi villages (Emishi-mura) were traditional Emishi communities.
1. Emishi Villages
When Akita Fort (as Ideha Fort) was established, Emishi communities surrounded it. They were collectively called “Akita Village.” In the Heian era, the jurisdiction of Akita Fort stretched beyond the county of Akita. The villages of the Emishi people were under the relative control of tributary relations. On the plateau of Goshono, in the southern part of the present-day city of Akita, ruins of more than ten communities have been found, including Shimozutsumi C Site. They consisted mostly of dugout houses. In Akita Plain, burial tombs and relatively small mound tombs (with surrounding ditches) have been found. Presumably, the Emishi people from those villages were engaged in agriculture and fishery in a close relationship with Akita Fort.
2. Standardized Local Administrative System
By the beginning of the Heian era, the County-Village system was introduced in this northernmost area of the ancient Japanese state. The county (gun) of Akita was divided into several villages (gō). According to “Wamyō-Ruijūshō (Encyclopedia of Japanese names)” from the early 10th century, the county of Akita had five villages, which included Soekawa, Isoura, Katakami, Nariai, and Takashimizu. On a wooden tablet, excavated from Akita Fort, the village of Hiro-omote is mentioned. There may have been more villages.
3. The Naturalization of the Emishi People and Household Registrations
During the Heian era, the number of communities with productive facilities, such as charcoal kilns and iron bloomeries, increased in the northern part of Akita Plain and the east shore of Hachirōgata Lake. The Ishizaki site was directly linked to Akita Fort. These are indications that the county of Akita expanded northward. In the ninth century, the ancient Japanese state pursued further control of the region, and, with more immigrants and more naturalized Emishi people, the number of settlements increased. The growth in migration and naturalization was confirmed by lacquer-permeated documents of household records and Emishi records. The ancient Japanese state may have tried to secure financial resources, which would have been necessary for the expansion of the network with northern people.
