Ōsumi Province
Historian Kuroshima Satoru questions this dominant view, arguing that the Amami Islands are likely to have had a closer connection to Ōsumi Province than to Satsuma Province. He notes that Hōjō Tokinao of the Kanesawa branch of the Hōjō clan served as the military governor of Ōsumi Province in the early 14th century. The military governor of Ōsumi Province had a limited power because a large portion of the province was under the jurisdiction of the Shimazu Estate, which was then controlled by the rival Nagoe branch of the Hōjō clan. To consolidate power, Hōjō Tokinao incorporated the officials of the military government as his retainers and relabeled their lands as the "private terrotories of the military governor" (守護私領). The otherwise enigmatic phrase "privately-owned district" (私領郡) can be interpreted in this context.