.jpg?width=1600)
City guide · 名古屋 Nagoya
Nagoya
Castle town of the Owari Tokugawa — Nagoya Castle with its golden shachihoko, and the legend of the Kusanagi sword at Atsuta Jingū
Nagoya is the largest city of Japan's Chūbu region and the heart of Owari, the shared homeland of the three great unifiers of the Warring States age: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Nagoya Castle with its glittering golden shachihoko, Atsuta Jingū which enshrines the Kusanagi sword, and the National Treasure Genji Monogatari scrolls of the Tokugawa Art Museum give the city its historical weight; while hitsumabushi eel rice served three ways, miso pork cutlet, and the café "morning service" culture found nowhere else in the country have made it just as famous in travellers' mouths.
History
How the city came to be
The Nōbi Plain, where Nagoya stands, has been a crossroads of east–west traffic since ancient times, and worship at Atsuta Jingū has continued for a thousand years. In the Warring States period the Oda clan rose here: Nobunaga set out from Kiyosu and made his name at the Battle of Okehazama. In 1610 Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered Nagoya Castle built on the Nagoya plateau and moved the entire castle town of Kiyosu into it — the famous "Kiyosu-goshi" relocation — and Nagoya was founded; the Owari Tokugawa, first among the three collateral houses of the shogunate, held their 620,000-koku domain from here. After the Meiji Restoration the city grew on textiles, ceramics and automobiles into an industrial centre, and after the war it became the core of the Chūkyō industrial zone and Japan's third-largest metropolitan area.
- 1560Battle of Okehazama: Oda Nobunaga, vastly outnumbered, defeats Imagawa Yoshimoto
- 1610Tokugawa Ieyasu orders the building of Nagoya Castle; the "Kiyosu-goshi" great relocation of the castle town begins
- 1615Nagoya Castle's keep completed; the Owari Tokugawa become the first of the Gosanke
- 1889Nagoya established as a city
- 1945Air raids burn down Nagoya Castle's keep and Honmaru Palace
- 1959The keep rebuilt in reinforced concrete
- 2018Honmaru Palace restoration completed and opened in full
Stories
Stories of the city
The castle Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered built
History · Nagoya Castle
In 1609 Tokugawa Ieyasu, having won control of the country, decided to build a castle at Nagoya and ordered daimyō from across the land to help. Work began in 1610 and the keep was completed in 1612. In the 1945 air raids on Nagoya most of Nagoya Castle was destroyed; reconstruction and restoration have gone on since 1957.
Okehazama Battlefield Park — the historical setting
History · Okehazama Battlefield Park
In 1560, Oda Nobunaga defeated the much larger westward army of Imagawa Yoshimoto at Okehazama; Yoshimoto was killed, and the victory launched Nobunaga's unification campaigns.
Must see
Places you shouldn’t miss
.jpg?width=800)
Nagoya Castle
The 'pinnacle of early-modern castles', ordered built by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1610: golden shachihoko gleam against the sky, and the painted panel…
Okehazama Battlefield Park
A small memorial park in the Toyoake area, Aichi Prefecture, near the traditionally identified site of Imagawa Yoshimoto's camp; a nationally de…
Local life
Food and local daily life
Nagoya Castle
Must-try
- Miso katsu
- Hitsumabushi (eel three ways)
- Tebasaki (chicken wings)
Miso katsu (with red-miso sauce), hitsumabushi (eel rice eaten three ways), tebasaki (fried chicken wings), Taiwan ramen (a Nagoya speciality), ogura toast (red-bean toast, a breakfast speciality)
| Where to eat | Kinshachi Yokochō (the food area below the castle), the underground malls at Nagoya Station / the miso-katsu area of Yabachō, the Sakae shopping district |
|---|---|
| Dining etiquette | Staff will show you the three ways to eat hitsumabushi (plain / with condiments / as chazuke) |
| Typical price per person | JPY 2,000–3,500 ≈ CNY 90–158 |
| Tips | Famous eel restaurants have lunchtime queues, while branch shops in the castle-town yokochō are faster; miso is rich — shredded cabbage cuts through it. |
Prices are typical rates as of October 2026, not exact quotes; CNY equivalents are approximate where exchange rates fluctuate.
Evelyn-rose · CC0
Before you go
Rules to know in Nagoya
There is no tipping in Japan
Do
- Say thank you with 'arigatō gozaimashita'
Don’t
- Pressing loose change on staff
Japan is a no-tipping country and bills usually include service; if you press a tip on staff, some will politely refuse.
Verified Oct 19, 2026Source: JNTO: Japanese table manners
Take off your shoes when you see a genkan (entrance step)
Do
- Take off your shoes at the entrance of homes, some restaurants, temples and hot-spring facilities
- If unsure, look for a shoe rack or slippers at the entrance
Don’t
- Stepping onto tatami or indoor wooden floors in shoes
It is seen as very rude.
Verified Oct 19, 2026Source: JNTO: Japanese etiquette
No phone calls on trains and the shinkansen; queue to board
Do
- Put your phone on silent; on the shinkansen, take calls in the area between carriages
- Queue at the marked spots on either side of the train door, and let people off before you get on
- Give priority seats to older people, pregnant women and passengers with limited mobility
Don’t
- Talking on the phone or playing sound aloud in the train
Not illegal, but you will get looks and a reminder from the conductor.
Verified Oct 19, 2026Source: JNTO: Japanese etiquette