The area around Takayama was part of traditional Hida Province and was settled as far back as the Jōmon period. During the Sengoku period, Kanamori Nagachika ruled the area from Takayama Castle and the town of Takayama developed as a castle town. During the Edo period, the area was tenryō under the direct control of the Tokugawa shogunate. In the post-Meiji Restoration cadastral reforms, Ōno District in Gifu prefecture was created, and the town of Takayama was established in 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. At the time, it was the most populous municipality in Gifu Prefecture. On November 1, 1936, Takayama merged with the town of Onada, forming the city of Takayama.[1] Takayama annexed the village of Josue in 1943 and the village of Ohachiga in 1955. On February 1, 2005, the town of Kuguno and the villages of Asahi, Kiyomi, Miya, Nyūkawa, Shōkawa, and Takane (all from Ōno District), the town of Kokufu, and the village of Kamitakara (both from Yoshiki District) were absorbed to create the expanded city of Takayama.[1] This made Takayama both the largest city and largest municipality in Japan by area.