was a

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

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, which today comprises the southeastern part of

Hyōgo Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to th ...

and the northern part of

Osaka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nara ...

. It was also referred to as or .

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

and

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

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

History

During the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

, the Miyoshi clan ruled Settsu and its neighbors, Izumi and Kawachi, until they were conquered by

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...

. 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, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

. The

regents In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

of Hideyoshi's son soon quarreled, and when Ishida Mitsunari lost the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was an important battle in Japan which occurred on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu Prefecture, ...

, the area was given to relatives of

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

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

Asada Domain 270px, Aoki Shigeyoshi, final daimyo of Tsuyama was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now northern Osaka Prefecture. It was located in Teshima and Kawabe Districts of Settsu Province and was centere ...

. Sumiyoshi taisha was designated as the chief Shinto shrine ('' ichinomiya'') 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 brewing was practiced at the in the Amagasaki Domain of Settsu Province during the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

Historical districts

** 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 *

** 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

Notes

References

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

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

.
OCLC 58053128

External links

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