Circuit (political division): Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

A circuit is an appellate judicial district among the courts of many nations. The name comes from an era in which justices would ride within a area hearing cases.

Circuit (道 ; Chinese: dào; Japanese: dō) was a Chinese political division, and is a Japanese one. In Korea, the same word 道 (도; Do) is translated as "Province."

China

It originated in China in 627, when Emperor Taizong subdivided China into ten circuits. Emperor Xuanzong further added 5. During the Jinn and Song, it was renamed lu (路, still translated "circuit", since lu and dao did not simultaneously co-exist). Both lu and dao literally means "road/path". Dao was revived in the Yuan and Qing. Circuits were the highest of the three-tier system (三級制), the next two are prefectures (州) and districts (縣). They are simultaneously inspection areas (監察區 jian1 cha2 qu1).

It was abolished as the highest administrative divisions when the Qing Empire collapsed in 1911. However, circuits still existed as high-level, though not top-level, divisions of the Republic of China, such as Qionyai Circuit (now Hainan Province). In 1928, all circuits were replaced with committees or just completely abandoned.

During the pre-modern era, Japan was divided into seven circuits encompassing the islands of Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu. The seven defunct circuits spread all over the three islands:

• Tōkaidō (東海道) "East Sea Circuit": 15 provinces (kuni)
• Nankaidō (南海道) "South Sea Circuit": 6 provinces
• Saikaidō (西海道) "West Sea Circuit": 8 provinces
• Hokurikudō (北陸道) "North Mainland Circuit": 7 provinces
• San'indo (山陰道) "Mountain-north Circuit": 8 provinces
• San'yōdō (山陽道) "Mountain-south Circuit": 8 provinces
• Tōsandō (東山道) "East Mountain Circuit": 13 provinces

(For the mountain south-north reference with in and yo, see Yin Yang.)

In the mid-1800's, the northern island of Ezo was settled, and renamed Hokkaido ("North Sea Circuit"). However, Hokkaido was never a "circuit" in the classical sense. It is essentially a prefecture with a different name from the other prefectures.

See also: Prefectures of Japan, Old provinces of Japan

Since the late 10th century, the Do ("Province") has been the primary administrative division in Korea. See Provinces of Korea for details.