Owari Province

Owari Province (尾張国, Owari no kuni^?) was a province of Japan in the area that today forms the western half of Aichi Prefecture, including the modern city of Nagoya. The province was created in 646. Owari bordered on Mikawa, Mino, and Ise Provinces. Owari and Mino provinces were separated by the Sakai River, which means "border river." Its abbreviated form name was Bishū (尾州^?).

Owari is classified as one of the provinces of the Tōkaidō. Under the Engishiki classification system, Owari was ranked as a "superior country" (上国) and a "near country" (近国), in relation to its distance from the capital.

Owari is mentioned in records of the Nara period, including the Kujiki, although the area has been settled since at least the Japanese Paleolithic period, as evidenced by numerous remains found by archaeologists. Early records mention a powerful “Owari clan”, vaguely related to, or allied with the Yamato clan, who built massive kofun burial mounds in several locations within the province, from which archaeologists have recovered bronze artifacts and mirrors dating from the 4th century. Atsuta Shrine is of very ancient origin, ranking with Ise Shrine in importance, and is the repository of one of the Imperial Regalia of Japan, the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi.

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