Prefecture

Prefecture

The root of this word ‘prefect’ is familiar to me. During my school days we had a ‘monitor’ or a ‘class pupil leader’ who used to sort of take the lead to enforce discipline among the other lot. It was when I bumped on a boy from a leading public school I came to hear from him that they did not use the word ‘monitor’ or ‘leader’ and instead used ‘prefect’. The word ‘prefecture’ used in the Japanese context however puzzled me. A search for the meaning clarified my doubt.

A ‘Prefecture’ is a district within a state of a country. It is governed by a prefect appointed by the head of state. It looks like a term used in case of a monarchy.

A good description is available in this website:

http://www.japan-101.com/geography/prefecture.htm

“Japanese sense of prefecture

In the Japanese system, the word prefecture is used for translating references to an administrative district, ken(県), which is about the size of a county.

The local self-governing system of Japan consists of 2 classes: prefectures as the large area local governing units and municipalities the basic local governing units. In the Eastern sense, the administrative segregation of a unified nation is usually trifold: the nation, large area local governing units, and basic local governing units. Japan fits this pattern.

Japan is divided into 47 prefectures and each prefecture is further divided into municipalities. These prefectures and municipalities have no overlapping districts or uncovered areas. In short, all the residents in Japan are sure to belong to one prefecture and one municipality.

These prefectures and municipalites are not merely set up as the nation's administrative section, but also as corporate bodies independent from the country that possesses their own basic governing areas and local residents as their constituents. They hold administrative power within the districts in question. In Okinawa, Nagasaki and Hokkaido, sub prefectures are used as special administrative unites because such regions are too large or remote to govern for a prefectural government.

The current prefecture system in Japan was settled in Meiji era after the new government abolished feudal clans or Han. That is called "Abolition of the Han system". See Meiji era in History of Japan for historical background of this event.”

Apart from Japan we find the word in common use in China and France. Historically, prefectures can be traced to the time of Constantine I of the Roman Empire.

P.Uday Shankar

Coimbatore-India.