OwariTokugawa

OwariTokugawa refers to the Owari-Tokugawa family, a cadet branch of the Tokugawa clan that administered the Owari Domain in the Edo period of Japan. Based in the area around Nagoya, in what is today Aichi Prefecture, the Owari-Tokugawa were one of the gosanke, the three privileged branches established to secure succession within the Tokugawa dynasty.

The Owari Domain was a significant feudal domain located along the central Honshu region and the Tōkaidō corridor. The Owari-Tokugawa were the ruling family of this domain for generations, exercising governance, administration, and patronage of culture and education. As a major house within the Tokugawa shogunate’s feudal framework, the Owari line played an influential role in regional and national affairs through appointments, alliances, and ceremonial duties.

With the Meiji Restoration and the subsequent abolition of the han system in 1871, the feudal domain structure was dissolved. Members of the Owari-Tokugawa line, like many other former ruling families, were incorporated into the new kazoku (peerage) and often pursued roles in government, industry, and public life. The legacy of the Owari-Tokugawa remains notable in the historical record of the Edo period and in the cultural and urban development of Nagoya and the surrounding region.