Owari

Owari refers primarily to Owari Province, a former province of Japan located in the area of what is today western Aichi Prefecture. The region includes the core of modern Nagoya and surrounding municipalities. In historical maps, Owari was one of the provinces of the old ritsuryo and Sengoku periods, and its province name is written 尾張国.

In the Edo period, the territory that had been Owari Province was organized as the Owari Domain (尾張藩), a feudal domain centered on Nagoya Castle. It was governed by the Owari-Tokugawa clan, one of the gosanke, the three senior branches of the Tokugawa clan that held considerable influence in early Tokugawa politics. The domain played a central role in regional administration and politics during the early Edo era and maintained substantial economic and military strength within the shogunate system.

Historically, Owari played a significant role in the Sengoku period as a power base for the Oda clan. Oda Nobunaga, who began his rise to prominence in the region, used Kiyosu as a strategic stronghold and built the foundations for his later campaigns that reshaped Japanese politics.

Following the Meiji Restoration, the han system was abolished in 1871 and the territory of Owari Province was absorbed into the new prefectural framework, ultimately becoming part of modern Aichi Prefecture. Today, the name Owari survives mainly in historical references and in local place names and cultural associations within western Aichi.