Shinano Province facts for kids

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 in the area of Nagano Prefecture on the island of Honshū. Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces.

The ancient capital city of the province was near Matsumoto.

History

View of Lake Suwa in Shinano Province, woodblock print by Hokusai, 1830

The boundaries of Mutsu were formally established during the reigns of Empress Genshō and Empress Kōken.

In 713, the road between Mino Province and Shinano Province was widened. There were increasing numbers of travelers on this road.

In the Meiji period, the provinces of Japan were converted into prefectures. Maps of Japan and Shinano Province weres reformed in the 1870s.

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

Suwa taisha was the chief Shinto shrine (ichinomiya) of Shinano.