信濃

Shinano was an ancient Japanese province in what is now Nagano Prefecture. It bordered on Echigo, Etchu, Hida, Kai, Kozuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Totomi provinces, and thus was an almost constant battleground for most of its history, as various warlords had to cross it to attack other provinces. The two great Sengoku warlords Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen clashed five times between 1553 and 1564 on the same spot at Kawanakajima in northern Shinano province.