Mikawa Province

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Mikawa Province was an old region in what is now eastern Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Its short name was Sanshū. It bordered Owari, Mino, Shinano, and Tōtōmi Provinces and was part of the Tōkaidō group of provinces. In the Engishiki, Mikawa was ranked as a “superior country” and a “near country” to the capital.

Mikawa is mentioned in the Taika Reform records of 645 and in Nara period chronicles like the Kujiki, although people had lived there since the Paleolithic era. Early records talk about Nishi-Mikawa no kuni (Western Mikawa) and Higashi-Mikawa no kuni (Eastern Mikawa, also known as Ho no kuni). The Engishiki treated Mikawa as one unit, but the area functioned with informal divisions into the Edo period.

The exact capital’s location is unknown. Tradition points to Ko-machi in today’s Toyokawa, but excavations in Toyota (Hakuho-machi) found ruins that suggest the capital might have been there, near the Kokubun-ji ruins found nearby.

The Ichinomiya (main shrine) of Mikawa is Toga Jinja, in present-day Toyokawa, which also has a temple claiming to be the successor of the original provincial temple.

In the Heian period Mikawa was divided into many shōen controlled by local samurai. In the Kamakura and Muromachi periods it was controlled by Adachi Morinaga, then the Ashikaga, and later the Isshiki clan. By the Sengoku period it was split into many small territories fought over by the Matsudaira, Imagawa, and Oda clans. It was united under Tokugawa Ieyasu after the Imagawa were defeated at the Battle of Okehazama.

Under the Tokugawa shogunate, parts of Mikawa were given to loyal hereditary retainers as fudai daimyō, while other areas were administered directly by the shogunate as hatamoto territories. Mikawa was the only region in Japan allowed to produce gunpowder, helping it become famous for fireworks.

In 1871 the han system was abolished, and the provinces were reorganized into districts. In 1872 Mikawa became part of the new Aichi Prefecture. After World War II, the region grew as a center of Japan’s automobile industry. Mikawa Province consisted of nine districts.