was a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of Japan, which today comprises the southeastern part of Hyōgo Prefecture and the northern part of Osaka Prefecture. It was also referred to as or .

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

and

Osaka Castle is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks and it played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi-Momoyama period. Layout The main tower ...

were the main center of the province. Most of Settsu's area comprises the modern day cities of Osaka and

Kōbe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, which ...

History

During the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

, the Miyoshi clan ruled Settsu and its neighbors, Izumi and Kawachi, until they were conquered by Oda Nobunaga. The provinces were ruled subsequently by

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

. The

regents A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state ''pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy, ...

of Hideyoshi's son soon quarreled, and when Ishida Mitsunari lost the Battle of Sekigahara, the area was given to relatives of

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fello ...

. It was from then on divided into several domains, including the Asada Domain.

Sumiyoshi taisha , also known as Sumiyoshi Grand Shrine, is a Shinto shrine in Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It is the main shrine of all the Sumiyoshi shrines in Japan. However, the oldest shrine that enshrines the Sumiyoshi sanjin, the thr ...

was designated as the chief Shinto shrine (''

ichinomiya is a Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a province. Shrines of lower rank were designated , , , and so forth. ''Encyclopedia of Shinto'' ''Ichi no miya'' retrieved 2013-5-14. The term gave rise t ...

'') for the province. "Nationwide List of ''Ichinomiya''," p. 3.
retrieved 2011-08-09 During the Sengoku period Settsu became the main exporting centre of matchlock firearms to the rest of Japan. The of

sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...

brewing was practiced at the in the

Amagasaki Domain 250px, Reconstructed Amagasaki Castle tenshu was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Settsu Province in what is now the southeastern portion of modern-day Hyōgo Prefecture. It had its administrative ...

of Settsu Province during the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

Historical districts

* Osaka Prefecture ** Higashinari District (東成郡) - absorbed Sumiyoshi District on April 1, 1896; dissolved on April 1, 1925 ** Nishinari District (西成郡) - dissolved on April 1, 1925 ** Nose District (能勢郡) - merged with Teshima District to become Toyono District (豊能郡) on April 1, 1896 ** Shimakami District (島上郡) - merged with Shimashimo District to become Mishima District (三島郡) on April 1, 1896 ** Shimashimo District (島下郡) - merged with Shimakami District to become Mishima District on April 1, 1896 ** Sumiyoshi District (住吉郡) - merged into Higashinari District on April 1, 1896 ** Teshima District (豊島郡) - merged with Nose District to become Toyono District on April 1, 1896 * Hyōgo Prefecture ** Arima District (有馬郡) - dissolved on July 1, 1958 ** Kawabe District (川辺郡) ** Muko District (武庫郡) - absorbed Ubara and Yatabe Districts on April 1, 1896; dissolved on April 1, 1954 ** Ubara District (菟原郡) - merged into Muko District (along with Yatabe District) on April 1, 1896 ** Yatabe District (八部郡) - merged into Muko District (along with Ubara District District) on April 1, 1896

Notes

References

* Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005)
''Japan encyclopedia.''
Cambridge:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

.
OCLC 58053128

External links

Former provinces of Japan History of Hyōgo Prefecture History of Osaka Prefecture {{Osaka-geo-stub