Okazaki City is located roughly the center of Aichi Prefecture, and it plays an important role as the central city of the Nishimikawa region. Topographically speaking, it is composed of hills linked with the Nishimikawa highlands and the plains spreading along the basins of the Yahagi and the Otogawa rivers. Okazaki has prospered as an important town for traffic such as Kamakura-kaido and Tokaido from old times, and it boasts the fragrance of history and culture as a hometown of the Mikawa Samurai and Shogun Iyeyasu Tokugawa who was born at Okazaki Castle.