Satsuma was one of the most powerful ''[[han]]'' in the [[Edo period]], and played a major role in the [[Meiji Restoration]] and in the government of the [[Meiji period]] which followed. Controlled throughout the Edo period by the ''[[tozama]] [[daimyo|daimyō]]'' of the [[Shimazu clan]], its territory spanned the [[Provinces of Japan|provinces]] of [[Satsuma province|Satsuma]], [[Osumi province|Osumi]] and the south-west region of [[Hyuga province|Hyūga]] on the island of [[Kyushu|Kyūshū]], and had the [[Kingdom of Ryukyu|Ryūkyū Kingdom]] as a vassal state. The territory is largely contiguous with today's Kagoshima prefecture, plus parts of Miyazaki prefecture. | Satsuma was one of the most powerful ''[[han]]'' in the [[Edo period]], and played a major role in the [[Meiji Restoration]] and in the government of the [[Meiji period]] which followed. Controlled throughout the Edo period by the ''[[tozama]] [[daimyo|daimyō]]'' of the [[Shimazu clan]], its territory spanned the [[Provinces of Japan|provinces]] of [[Satsuma province|Satsuma]], [[Osumi province|Osumi]] and the south-west region of [[Hyuga province|Hyūga]] on the island of [[Kyushu|Kyūshū]], and had the [[Kingdom of Ryukyu|Ryūkyū Kingdom]] as a vassal state. The territory is largely contiguous with today's Kagoshima prefecture, plus parts of Miyazaki prefecture. |