Hekikai

Hekikai lies in western Mikawa, where the Mizuno family held Kariya Castle. Mizuno Katsunari, a cousin of Tokugawa Ieyasu, became its lord in 1600 after succeeding his father. Kariya later passed through several houses of hereditary Tokugawa retainers, forming a small domain whose rulers changed frequently. The castle town stood near the Tōkaidō and the waterways of Mikawa, connecting its lords' lands with the traffic of the region.