The short-lived Kokura Prefecture (小倉県 Kokura-ken) of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 was founded separately from Fukuoka prefecture

Fukuoka Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located on Kyūshū Island. The capital is the city of Fukuoka.- History :Fukuoka Prefecture includes the former provinces of Chikugo, Chikuzen, and Buzen....

 in December 1871 after the clan system was abolished

Abolition of the han system

The was an act, in 1871, of the new Meiji government of the Empire of Japan to replace the traditional feudal domain system and to introduce centralized government authority . This process marked the culmination of the Meiji Restoration in that all daimyo were required to return their authority...

 earlier that year. It was made up of three separate han territories (Buzen, Kokura and Nakatsu) which were each for a short while in 1871 themselves called 'prefectures'.

Kokura prefecture included Moji, Kokura and other areas to the south and was formerly called Buzen Province

Buzen Province

was an old province of Japan in northern Kyūshū in the area of Fukuoka Prefecture and Ōita Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Bungo Province. Buzen bordered on Bungo and Chikuzen Provinces....

. In 1876 Kokura prefecture was absorbed by Fukuoka prefecture. The city of Kokura

Kokura

is an ancient castle town and the center of Kitakyūshū, Japan, guarding, via its suburb Moji, the Straits of Shimonoseki between Honshū and Kyūshū. Kokura is also the name of the penultimate station on the southbound Sanyo Shinkansen line, which is owned by JR Kyūshū and an important part of the...

 was founded in 1900.

Kokura prefectural office (kencho)

The old wooden-built Kokura prefectural office (小倉県庁）is still standing in Kokura Kita ward, Kitakyushu though in a dilapidated condition. Used as a medical clinic and previously as a law court and a police station, it is opposite the ultra-modern Riverwalk Kitakyushu

Riverwalk Kitakyushu

is a prestigious shopping centre near the Murasaki river and Kokura Castle in Kokura Kita ward, Kitakyushu, Japan. It was opened as part of the Kitakyushu Renaissance policy on April 19, 2003 and includes theatres, restaurants, a multiplex cinema, NHK studios, the head offices of Zenrin Co...

and is in stark contrast to it.