The movement to create Aimi Prefecture (会見県設置運動)
The movement to create Aimi Prefecture was a movement that people requested to create a new prefecture, and the movement was centered in Yonago City, Tottori Prefecture from 1890 to 1891.
Background
The west part of Tottori Prefecture, especially the district called 'Nishi Hoki' in Hoki Province (old provincial name) had close relationship with Izumo Province and people there speak the same dialect so called Unpaku dialect today. In 1881, by 'the movement to request to reconfigure the territory of Tottori prefecture' supported by shizoku (family or person with samurai ancestors) in Tottori city, Tottori Prefecture was reconfigured with Inaba Province and Houki Province, however people lived in Yonago district wished incorporation of the district into Shimane Prefecture because they considered the relationship with people in Shimane Prefecture was important. In that period, because the prefectural system was issued and 'the right of petition' was introduced through the establishment of the Imperial Diet, the movement to create a new prefecture was growing.
Approach to and result of the movement to create Aimi Prefecture
The previously-existing conception of creating a new prefecture grew rapidly after the right of petition was obtained, and in the summer of 1890, 2 ideas such as 'incorporating Aimi, Aseri and Hino counties into Shimane Prefecture' and 'incorporating Tottori and Shimane Prefecture and create Aimi Prefecture' were presented. Especially, because the latter idea was to incorporate Iwami Province in Shimane Prefecture into Hiroshima Prefecture and establish the Prefectural Office in Yonago town, Aimi County, and at the same time, a request was made by residents in Iwami district to incorporate the district into Hiroshima Prefecture, a lot of petitions were made to the parliament and cabinet.
The leaders of the movement were former chief retainers of Tottori Domain and a castellan of Yonago-jo castle, 荒尾成勲, Heibei SAKAGUCHI (founder), Haruhiko ENDO, 清太 KONISHI, Mosaburo NOSAKA, 小倉直人 and Shigeo KADOWAKI, and they were prominent figures in Yonago district. On February 1, 1891, a council meeting was held by 146 of voluntary members, then Haruhiko ENDO was elected as a chairman and they hit the ground running using 400 yen funded by donations of 1sen(hundredth of a yen) by each family in Aimi and Aseri counties.
As a benefit of creating a new prefecture, reduction of local tax by 30,000 to 40,000 yen was expected (at that time, the amount of land tax and load per household in Shimane Prefecture were cheaper than those in Tottori Prefecture, for example, the difference was 8 sen for land tax, and 48 sen for load per household). In October 1891, a petition was made again but the movement was held only in Yonago district and other districts such as Tottori and Kurayoshi didn't show much interest, and the petition was not accepted because the movement didn't grow in all districts in the prefecture,.
Later situations
After that, the conception of creating a new prefecture was not abolished, and a proposal requesting incorporation of two prefectures was submitted to the prefectural assembly in Taisho Period. Today, there is a movement to incorporate Yonago City, Sakaiminato City and Matsue City to create a new city called Nakaumi City at the introduction of a regional system, and it would appear that this movement came from the conception of 'Aimi Prefecture'.