OKAZAKI

city, Aichi Prefecture (ken), central Honshu, Japan, in the Mikawa plain, on the Yahagi-gawa (gawa, river). It developed around Okazaki Castle after its construction in 1455. During the Tokugawa period (16031867) it prospered as one of the post towns on the Tokaido (Eastern Sea Highway) route. Okazaki refused to allow the Tokaido Line (railway) to pass through the city in 1888. The town then declined until it was connected with Nagoya and Toyohashi by rapid-transit lines. Now an industrial centre, it produces textiles, foods, machinery, chemicals, and fabricated metals. Pop. (1985 est.) 284,996.