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::''"Kokka" redirects here. For the Meiji period journal, see [[Kokka (journal)]].''
*''Japanese'': 国 ''(kuni, koku)''
*''Japanese'': 国 ''(kuni, koku)''
However, ''kuni'' was also used to refer to a ''daimyô's'' domain, at the same time that terms like ''Nihonkoku'', ''Nihon no kuni'', ''Wagakuni'', and ''Shinkoku'' remained in use, referring to the Imperial realm as a whole, under the shogunate, or to the "Land of the Gods." Though some domains, such as [[Tosa han]], were largely contiguous with a province, and thus their use of the term ''kuni'' could be said to be simply referring to the territory of the province, other domains also used the term, indicating that it did indeed refer to the political geography of their lord's territory. In accordance with the notion of [[uchi and omote|''uchi'' and ''omote'']] as articulated by Luke Roberts,<ref>Roberts, ''Performing the Great Peace''.</ref> communications and documents meant for internal domain matters used ''kuni'' to refer to the domain as the most relevant "state" or "country," while documents meant for external consumption, such as communications with shogunate officials, used ''kuni'' to refer to Japan as a whole, while referring to the domain as the ''daimyô's'' personal territory (私領, ''shiryô'') or by a variety of other terms that played down a sense of it being an autonomous "state" and instead emphasized its identity as private territory, or as a fief granted to the lord by the shogunate within the Imperial & feudal realm. Recognizing the state-like character of other domains within the realm, the term ''takoku'' (他国, "another state," "another country") was often used to refer to other domains or other provinces, while ''ikoku'' (異国, "foreign state," "differing country") was used to refer to lands under other authorities, such as the [[Netherlands]], [[Joseon|Korea]], and the [[Kingdom of Ryukyu|Kingdom of Ryûkyû]].<ref name=merc56/>
However, ''kuni'' was also used to refer to a ''daimyô's'' domain, at the same time that terms like ''Nihonkoku'', ''Nihon no kuni'', ''Wagakuni'', and ''Shinkoku'' remained in use, referring to the Imperial realm as a whole, under the shogunate, or to the "Land of the Gods." Though some domains, such as [[Tosa han]], were largely contiguous with a province, and thus their use of the term ''kuni'' could be said to be simply referring to the territory of the province, other domains also used the term, indicating that it did indeed refer to the political geography of their lord's territory. In accordance with the notion of [[uchi and omote|''uchi'' and ''omote'']] as articulated by Luke Roberts,<ref>Roberts, ''Performing the Great Peace''.</ref> communications and documents meant for internal domain matters used ''kuni'' to refer to the domain as the most relevant "state" or "country," while documents meant for external consumption, such as communications with shogunate officials, used ''kuni'' to refer to Japan as a whole, while referring to the domain as the ''daimyô's'' personal territory (私領, ''shiryô'') or by a variety of other terms that played down a sense of it being an autonomous "state" and instead emphasized its identity as private territory, or as a fief granted to the lord by the shogunate within the Imperial & feudal realm. Recognizing the state-like character of other domains within the realm, the term ''takoku'' (他国, "another state," "another country") was often used to refer to other domains or other provinces, while ''ikoku'' (異国, "foreign state," "differing country") was used to refer to lands under other authorities, such as the [[Netherlands]], [[Joseon|Korea]], and the [[Kingdom of Ryukyu|Kingdom of Ryûkyû]].<ref name=merc56/>
Domains also employed the term "''kokka''" to refer to their domain; whereas ''kuni'' often refers more so to a political geographic territory, i.e. the actual geographic space of the domain, ''kokka'' refers perhaps more abstractly to the "state." [[Uesugi Harunori]], lord of [[Yonezawa han]], is famously quoted as writing that "the lord exists for the sake of the state and the people; the state and the people do not exist for the sake of the lord," writing too of the lord as caretaker of the state inherited from his ancestors, and which he will pass on to his heirs.<ref>Ravina, ''Land and Lordship'', 1.</ref> In this sense, Harunori speaks of the state as something separate from, and larger than, the lord, the lord's household, or the domain's government & administration or body of retainers. Harunori draws too upon the writings of [[Mencius]] and the ''[[Spring and Autumn Annals]]'', implying a connection, or an equivalence, between the obligations of a samurai lord to his domain, and the obligations rulers have to their ancient Chinese kingdoms according to the [[Confucian classics|Chinese classics]]. Furthermore, Mark Ravina suggests, Harunori's use of the term ''kokka'' refers too to a lord's obligations to the shogunate,<ref>Ravina, ''Land and Lordship'', 13.</ref> and/or, perhaps, to the realm ("Japan") as a whole.
==Meiji Period & Modern Japan==
==Meiji Period & Modern Japan==
