Shinano Province

Map of Japanese provinces (1868) with Shinano Province highlighted.

Shinano Province (信濃国, Shinano no kuni) or Shinshū (信州) is an old province of Japan that is now present day Nagano Prefecture.

Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, which became an important city of the province.

The World War II–era Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano was named after this old province.

Historical record

In 713, the road which traverses Mino Province and Shinano Province was widened to accommodate increasing numbers of travelers through the Kiso District of modern Nagano Prefecture.

In the Sengoku Period, Shinano Province was often split among several fiefs and several other castle towns developed, including Komoro, Ina, and Ueda. Shinano was one of the major centers of Takeda Shingen's power during his wars with Uesugi Kenshin and others.

Suwa taisha was designated as the chief Shinto shrine (ichinomiya) for the province.

In 1871, during the Meiji period, with the abolition of the han system and the establishment of prefectures (Haihan Chiken) after the Meiji Restoration, Shinano Province was administratively separated in 1871 into Nagano and Chikuma prefectures. These two tentative governmental and territorial units were then reconfigured together again in 1876. This became the modern prefecture of Nagano, which remains substantially unchanged since that time.

Former districts

Shinano Province contained the following districts:

• Azumi District (安曇郡): became Kitaazumi and (the now dissolved) Minamiazumi districts
• Chiisagata District (小県郡)
• Chikuma District (筑摩郡): became Higashichikuma and Nishichikuma (now Kiso) districts
• Hanishina District (埴科郡)
• Ina District (伊那郡): became Kamiina and Shimoina districts
• Minochi District (水内郡): became Kamiminochi and Shimominochi districts
• Saku District (佐久郡): became Kitasaku and Minamisaku districts
• Sarashina District (更級郡)
• Suwa District (諏訪郡)
• Takai District (高井郡): became Kamitakai and Shimotakai districts

References

• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 10-ISBN 0-674-01753-6; 13-ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Odai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691.

External links

• Hokusai, A View of Mount Fuji across Lake Suwa, circa 1831