, one of the old provinces of Japan, encompassed part of modern-day Gifu Prefecture

Gifu Prefecture

is a prefecture located in the Chūbu region of central Japan. Its capital is the city of Gifu.Located in the center of Japan, it has long played an important part as the crossroads of Japan, connecting the east to the west through such routes as the Nakasendō...

. It was sometimes called . Mino Province bordered Echizen

Echizen Province

was an old province of Japan, which is today the northern part of Fukui Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Etchū and Echigo Provinces.Echizen is famous for washi . A text dated AD 774 mentions the washi made in this area. Echizen-produced Washi is still the most commonly sold traditional...

, Hida

Hida Province

is an old province located in the area of Gifu Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province was in the Tōsandō area of central Honshu.-History:...

, Ise

Ise Province

or was a province of Japan including most of modern Mie Prefecture. Ise bordered Iga, Kii, Mino, Ōmi, Owari, Shima, and Yamato Provinces.The ancient provincial capital was at Suzuka...

, Mikawa

Mikawa Province

is an old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Mikawa bordered on Owari, Mino, Shinano, and Tōtōmi Provinces....

, Ōmi

Omi Province

is an old province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō circuit. It is nicknamed as .Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake, is located at the center of the province...

, Owari

Owari Province

was an old province of Japan that is now the western half of present day Aichi Prefecture, including much of modern Nagoya. Its abbreviation is Bishū .-History:The province was created in 646....

, and Shinano

Shinano Province

or is an old province of Japan that is now present day Nagano Prefecture.Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces...

 Provinces.

Although the ancient provincial capital was near Tarui

Tarui, Gifu

is a town located in Fuwa District, Gifu, Japan.As of July 2011, the town has an estimated population of 28,461. The total area is 57.14 km².- Railroad :*JR Tōkai**Tōkaidō Main Line - Tarui Station-External links:*...

, the main castle town was at Gifu

Gifu, Gifu

is a city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. During the Sengoku period, various warlords, including Oda Nobunaga, used...

, the home of Inabayama Castle

Gifu Castle

is a castle located in the city of Gifu, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Along with Mount Kinka and the Nagara River, it is one of the main symbols of the city.-History:Gifu Castle was first built by the Nikaidō clan between 1201 and 1204 during the Kamakura Period....

.

Historical record

In 713, the road crossing through Mino and Shinano provinces was widened to accommodate increasing numbers of travelers.

Mino Province served an important military and political role as the path to Kyoto as well as to Tokaido.

During the Kamakura and Muromachi Period, Mino Province was governed by Toki clan

Toki clan

The was a powerful clan that ruled in Japan from the Kamakura period to the Edo period. It descended from Emperor Seiwa by Minamoto no Yorimitsu from the Minamoto clan and used Toki in Mino Province as their hometown...

 and later in Azuchi period controlled by Oda Nobunaga

Oda Nobunaga

was the initiator of the unification of Japan under the shogunate in the late 16th century, which ruled Japan until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was also a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. His opus was continued, completed and finalized by his successors Toyotomi...

. His heirs continued to control it after Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

was a daimyo warrior, general and politician of the Sengoku period. He unified the political factions of Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle...

 took power.

The Battle of Sekigahara

Battle of Sekigahara

The , popularly known as the , was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 which cleared the path to the Shogunate for Tokugawa Ieyasu...

 took place at the western edge of Mino, near the mountains between the Chūbu Region

Chubu region

The is the central region of Honshū, Japan's main island. Chūbu has a population estimate of 21,886,324 as of 2008.Chūbu, which means "central region", encompasses nine prefectures : Aichi, Fukui, Gifu, Ishikawa, Nagano, Niigata, Shizuoka, Toyama, Yamanashi, and often Mie.It is located directly...

 and the Kinki Region.

Shugo

Below is an incomplete list of the shugo

Shugo

was a title, commonly translated as "Governor," given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the shogun to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan...

who controlled Mino Province and the years of their reign:

Kamakura shogunate

• Ōuchi Koreyoshi (大内惟義), 1187–1211
• Ōuchi Korenobu (大内惟信), until 1221
• Utunomiya Yasutsuna (宇都宮泰綱), from 1252
• Hōjō clan
  Hojo clan
  See the late Hōjō clan for the Hōjō clan of the Sengoku Period.The in the history of Japan was a family who controlled the hereditary title of shikken of the Kamakura Shogunate. In practice, the family had actual governmental power, many times dictatorial, rather than Kamakura shoguns, or the...
  
  , from 1285
• Hōjō Tokimura (北条時村), 1296–1300
• Hōjō Masataka (北条政高), until 1333

Muromachi shogunate

• Toki Yorisada (土岐頼貞), 1336–1339
• Toki Yoritō (土岐頼遠), 1339–1342
• Toki Yoriyasu (土岐頼康), 1342–1387
• Toki Yasuyuki (土岐康行), 1387–1389
• Toki Yoritada (土岐頼忠), 1390–1394
• Toki Yorimasu (土岐頼益), 1395–1414
• Toki Mochimasu (土岐持益), 1422–1465
• Toki Shigeyori
  Toki Shigeyori
  was a leading military commander during the Muromachi period in Mino Province , Japan. The characters for his name can also be read as Toki Nariyori. He became the eighth head of the Toki clan at the age of 15 and was the adopted son of Toki Mochimasu. His sons included Toki Masafusa and Toki...
  
   (土岐成頼), 1468–1495
• Toki Masafusa
  Toki Masafusa
  was the governor of Mino Province during the latter years of the Sengoku period of Feudal Japan. He was the son of Toki Shigeyori....
  
   (土岐政房), 1495–1519
• Toki Yorinari
  Toki Yorinari
  was a son of Toki Masafusa and final ruling head of the Toki clan during the latter years of the Sengoku period of feudal Japan. As daimyo of Mino Province, he had hired Saito Dosan as his retainer in the 1520s, but was overthrown and expelled from the province by Dosan in a coup d'état in 1542...
  
   (土岐頼芸), 1519–1542

Geography

Mino and Owari provinces were separated by the Sakai River

Sakai River (Gifu)

The is a river in Japan which flows through Gifu Prefecture. It is part of the Kiso River system.-Geography:The river originates in Kakamigahara, then flows through Gifu, Ginan, Kasamatsu and Hashima, where it flows into the Nagara River.-History:...

, which means "border river."