or is an
old province of
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
that is now
Nagano Prefecture
is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the ...
.
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
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
''Shinano'' was named after this old province.
Historical record
In 713, the road that traverses
Mino and Shinano provinces 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 fiefs and 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.
"Nationwide List of ''Ichinomiya''," p. 2.
retrieved 2011-08-010
In 1871, during the Meiji period, with the abolition of the han system
The in the Empire of Japan and its replacement by a system of prefectures in 1871 was the culmination of the Meiji Restoration begun in 1868, the starting year of the Meiji period. Under the reform, all daimyos (, ''daimyō'', feudal lords) ...
and the establishment of prefecture
A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...
s (''Haihan Chiken'') after the Meiji Restoration, Shinano Province's ex-domains/1871 prefectures and ex-shogunate territories/1868 prefectures (mainly Ina Matsumoto">Matsumoto_Domain.html" ;"title="merger of several shogunate demesne administrations with parts of Matsumoto Okutono, Iwamurada, Komoro Domain">Komoro, Ueda Domain">Ueda, Matsushiro Domain">Matsushiro
is the capital and largest city of Nagano Prefecture, located in the Nagano Basin (Zenkoji Daira) in the central Chūbu region of Japan. Nagano is categorized as a core city of Japan. Nagano City is the highest prefectural capital in Japan, with ...
, Shinano-Iida Domain">Iida, Matsumoto Domain">Matsumoto) and Takayama Prefecture">Takayama/Hida which covered Hida Province">Takatō Domain">Takatō, Shinano-Iida Domain">Iida, Matsumoto Domain">Matsumoto) and Takayama Prefecture">Takayama/Hida which covered Hida Province were administratively merged into Nagano (initially Nakano Prefecture in 1870) and Chikuma Prefecture, Chikuma Prefectures of Japan, prefectures. The seat of the prefectural government of Nakano was Nakano town from
from 1907). In the second wave of prefectural mergers in 1875/76, Chikuma was split again: the Western part covering Hida Province was merged into Gifu, and the Eastern part in Shinano became part of Nagano. Since that time, Nagano is essentially contiguous to Shinano.