Iwami Province

Iwami Province (石見国, Iwami-no kuni) was an old province of Japan in the area that is today the western part of Shimane Prefecture. It was sometimes called Sekishū (石州). Iwami bordered Aki, Bingo, Izumo, Nagato, and Suō provinces.

In the Heian period (794–1192) the capital was at modern-day Hamada. In the Kamakura period (1192–1333) the Masuda clan belonged to the Minamoto clan (Genji) and conquered Iwami Province. From the sixteenth century onwards it played an important role in the economic history of East Asia as a major source of silver.