was an
old province of
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
covering
Awaji Island, between
Honshū and
Shikoku.
[ Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Awaji''" in .] Today it is part of
Hyōgo Prefecture. It is sometimes called . Awaji is divided into three municipal sections: Awaji is the northernmost section, Sumoto is the most urban and central section, and four southern towns make up the city of Minamiawaji.
It was founded in the 7th century as a part of
Nankaidō. In Nankaidō, Awaji Province was between
Kii Province and
Awa Province. Awaji means literally "Road to Awa", that is, the road to Awa Province from the central part of Japan. Awaji Province was divided into two districts: Tsuna no Kōri in the northern part and Mihara no Kōri in the southern part.
The provincial government was presumably in modern
Minamiawaji, Hyōgo but its relics have not been found yet.
Awaji Province was a common destination for political exiles.
Emperor Junnin was exiled in Awaji after his abdication until his death.
In the
Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...
, Awaji Province was governed by the Hachisuka clan in
Tokushima
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Tokushima Prefecture has a population of 728,633 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,146 km2 (1,601 sq mi). Tokushima Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the nort ...
,
Awa Province. When the
han system were abolished and prefectures were organized, the inhabitants of Awaji Province preferred to belong to Hyōgo Prefecture, not to
Tokushima Prefecture, because of political conflict between Tokushima and Awaji.
Historical districts
*
Hyōgo Prefecture
**
Mihara District (三原郡; southern Awaji) – dissolved; now the city of
Minamiawaji (南あわじ市)
**
Tsuna District (津名郡; northern Awaji) – dissolved; now the cities of
Awaji (淡路市) and
Sumoto (洲本市)
Notes
References
*
Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005)
''Japan encyclopedia.''Cambridge:
Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...
.
OCLC 58053128
External links
Former provinces of Japan
States and territories established in the 7th century
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