Owari Province

Owari Province
Map of Japanese provinces (1868) with Owari Province highlighted

Owari Province (尾張国 Owari no Kuni?) was an old province of Japan that is now the western half of present day Aichi Prefecture,[1] including much of modern Nagoya. Its abbreviation is Bishū (尾州).

Contents

History

The province was created in 646.[1]

The ancient capital of Owari was near Inazawa in the western part of the province. Two of the most famous warlords of Japan's Sengoku Period, Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, were natives of Owari Province, as was Katō Kiyomasa. Nobunaga held Kiyosu Castle in Kiyosu for some time.[2] Chikamatsu Shigenori, warrior and tea ceremony enthusiast, was born in Owari Province in 1695.

Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa Shogunate at Nagoya Castle in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, and placed one of his sons in charge of the Owari Domain, the largest domain in the Tokugawa family holdings outside of the shogunate itself.

In 1871, with the abolition of feudal domains and the establishment of prefectures (廃藩置県 Haihan Chiken) after the Meiji Restoration, the provinces of Owari and Mikawa were combined to eventually establish Aichi Prefecture in late 1872.

Geography

Owari and Mino provinces were separated by the Sakai River, which means "border river."

Notes

  1. ^ a b Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Owari" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 767 at Google Books; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, see Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File.
  2. ^ "Kiyosu Castle". Kiyosu City. http://www.city.kiyosu.aichi.jp/en/sightseeing01.html. Retrieved 2010-11-07. 

References