Owari Province

Early records mention a powerful “Owari clan”, vaguely related to, or allied with the Yamato clan, who built massive kofun burial mounds in several locations within the province, from which archaeologists have recovered bronze artifacts and mirrors dating from the 4th century.

[citation needed] Under the Engishiki classification system, Owari was divided into eight counties, which persisted as administrative units into the Edo period.

[citation needed] During the Heian period, the province was divided into numerous shōen controlled by local samurai clans.

[2] and many of his retainers (who later became daimyōs under the Tokugawa shogunate) were natives of Owari, including Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Katō Kiyomasa.

Yoshinao was founder of the Owari Tokugawa clan, one of the Gosanke, which had the hereditary right of succession to the position of shōgun should the main line fail.