Kawachi Province
In December 720, the Katashimo (堅下郡, Katashimo-gun) and Katakami (堅上郡, Katakami-gun) districts were combined to become Ōagata (大縣郡, Ōagata-gun).
A provincial temple for monks was constructed in the Tenpyō era; they were at modern Kokubuhiganjō in Kashiwara, but they went out of use in sometime around the Nanboku-chō period.
"After the death of Chikafusa the Southern Court moved from Anau to Amano in the province of Kawachi, making the Kongoji its headquarters.
Masanaga was attacked at Shōgaku-ji (正覚寺, Kami-Shōgaku-ji, Hirano-ku, Osaka) by Hosokawa Masamoto and Hatakeyama Yoshitoyo, but his son Hisayoshi was in Kishū attempting to recoup for another attack; finally, they succeeded in making a comeback as the shugo of Kawachi and Kishū, and Hisayoshi's son Tanenaga ultimately managed to destroy Yoshihide of Yoshinari's line, once again consolidating the house of Hatakeyama.
By the Sengoku period, the consolidated Kawachi was the asset of Hatakeyama Tanenaga, but the real power was imbued in the shugodai, a title that passed into the hands of Yusa Naganori: the shugo came to be reduced to a mere figurehead.
However, being in opposition later on, Nagayoshi would fight his father's cousin in Harumoto's faction, Miyoshi Masanaga, in dispute over Kawachi Jū Nana Kasho at places like Enami Castle, going on to break down Harumoto's controlled political power; the shōgun was reduced to a figurehead and along with seizing the real power of the bakufu, he transferred the stronghold from Akutagawa Mountain Castle in Settsu to Iimori Mountain Castle in Kawachi (Shijōnawate, Osaka).
But even Nagayoshi had to pass away at the age of 42, and afterwards retainers were in conflict (the Miyoshi triumvirate and Matsunaga Hisahide), making a battleground of Kawachi and Yamato.
When Oda died in the Incident at Honnō-ji, Hashiba Hideyoshi, who attacked Akechi Mitsuhide at the battle of Yamazaki, as a result of the Kiyosu Conference, came to control the province.
After the death of Hideyoshi, the Battle of Sekigahara ensued, and Tokugawa Ieyasu became ruler of all Japan: the Sei-i Taishōgun; he opened his bakufu, but as Kawachi was Toyotomi Hideyori's fiefdom, it was not entered into the bakuhan taisei.
Date Masamune, Matsudaira Tadateru, and Mizuno Katsunari; Sanada Yukimura, Kitagawa Nobukatsu, and Susukida Kanesuke vs.
Date Masamune, Matsudaira Tadateru, and Mizuno Katsunari) and the battle of Yao and Wakae (Kimura Shigenari vs. Ii Naotaka; Chōsokabe Morichika vs. Tōdō Takatora).
Though Kawachi was a very small province, many important people in ancient and medieval Japan had to do with the area and the decisive moments in Japanese history that took place there or around it.
