was a province of Japan in the area that is today the northern part of

Ishikawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu island. Ishikawa Prefecture has a population of 1,140,573 (31 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,186 km2 (1,616 sq mi). Ishikawa Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to ...

in Japan, including the

Noto Peninsula The Noto Peninsula (能登半島, ''Noto-hantō'') is a peninsula that projects north into the Sea of Japan from the coast of Ishikawa Prefecture in central Honshū, the main island of Japan. The main industries of the peninsula are agricultur ...

(''Noto-hantō'') which is surrounded by the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

. Noto bordered on Etchū and Kaga provinces to the south, and was surrounded by the

to the east, north and west. Its abbreviated form name was . The Famous Scenes of the Sixty States 33 Noto

History

In 718 A.D., four

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Echizen Province was a province of Japan in the area that is today the northern portion of Fukui Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Echizen bordered on Kaga, Wakasa, Hida, and Ōmi Provinces. It was part of Hokurikudō Circuit. Its abbreviated form ...

, Hakui District, Noto District (also called Kashima District), Fugeshi District and Suzu District, were separated into Noto Province. However, in the year 741, the province was abolished, and merged into Etchū Province. Noto Province was subsequently re-established in 757. The province disappears from history until the ''

Wamyō Ruijushō The is a 938 CE Japanese dictionary of Chinese characters. The Heian period scholar Minamoto no Shitagō (源順, 911–983 CE) began compilation in 934, at the request of Emperor Daigo's daughter. This ''Wamyō ruijushō'' title is abbreviate ...

'' of 930 AD, in which

Minamoto no Shitagō was a mid Heian '' waka'' poet, scholar and nobleman. He was also a male-line descendant of Emperor Saga. He was the original compiler of the ''Wamyō Ruijushō'', the first Japanese dictionary organized into semantic headings. He was designate ...

is named as ''Kokushi'' of the province. The

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the cap ...

provincial capital A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the g ...

and

provincial temple were Buddhist temples established in each of the provinces of Japan by Emperor Shōmu during the Nara period (710 – 794). History Shōmu (701 – 756?) decreed both a ''kokubun-ji'' for monks and a for nuns to be established in each ...

were located in what is now the city of

Nanao, Ishikawa is a city located in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 49,660 people in 21,809 households. The total area of the city was . Nanao is the fifth largest city by population in Ishikawa, behind Kanazawa, Hakusan, ...

; however, the

Ichinomiya is a Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a province. Shrines of lower rank were designated , , , and so forth. ''Encyclopedia of Shinto'' ''Ichi no miya'' retrieved 2013-5-14. The term gave rise t ...

(

Keta Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in the city of Hakui, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. It was the former ''ichinomiya'' of Noto Province. The main ''kami'' enshrined is Ōkuninushi. The shrine's main festival is held annually on April 3. History The orig ...

) was located in what is now the city of

Hakui, Ishikawa is a city located in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 22,052 in 8566 households, and a population density of 270 persons per km². The total area of the city was . Geography Hakui occupies the southwestern nec ...

. Under the ''

Engishiki The is a Japanese book about laws and customs. The major part of the writing was completed in 927. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Engi-shiki''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 178. History In 905, Emperor Daigo ordered the compilation of the ...

'' classification system, Noto was ranked as a "middle country" (中国) in both importance and distance from the capital. During the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

Nanao Castle was a Muromachi period ''yamajiro''-style Japanese castle located in what is now the city of Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Its ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 1934. Background Nanao Cas ...

was a major stronghold of the

Hatakeyama clan The was a Japanese samurai clan. Originally a branch of the Taira clan and descended from Taira no Takamochi, they fell victim to political intrigue in 1205, when Hatakeyama Shigeyasu, first, and his father Shigetada later were killed in battle ...

, and was contested by the

Uesugi clan The is a Japanese samurai clan which was at its peak one of the most powerful during the Muromachi and Sengoku periods (14th to 17th centuries). Appert, Georges. (1888) ''Ancien Japon,'' p. 79./ref> At its height, the clan had three main branch ...

and

Maeda clan was a Japanese samurai clan who occupied most of the Hokuriku region of central Honshū from the end of the Sengoku period through the Meiji restoration of 1868. The Maeda claimed descent from the Sugawara clan of Sugawara no Kiyotomo and Suga ...

. The area became part

Kaga Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1583 to 1871.

controlled by the Maeda clan under 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 characteriz ...

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

, with the exception of some scattered small holdings which retained by the shogunate directly as ''

tenryō The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

'' territory and administered by ''

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as ''gokenin.'' However ...

'' for strategic purposes. Following the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

and the

abolition of the han system The in the Empire of Japan and its replacement by a system of prefectures in 1871 was the culmination of the Meiji Restoration begun in 1868, the starting year of the Meiji period. Under the reform, all daimyos (, ''daimyō'', feudal lords) ...

in 1871, Noto Province was renamed ''Nanao Prefecture'' and Imizu District from Etchū Province was added. However, in 1872 Nanao was merged with ''Kanazawa Prefecture'' (the former

Kaga Province was a province of Japan in the area that is today the south and western portion of Ishikawa Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Kaga bordered on Echizen, Etchū, Hida, and Noto Provinces. It was part of Hokurikudō Circuit. Its abbr ...

) to form modern Ishikawa Prefecture and Imizu District was given back to Niikawa Prefecture (the renamed Etchū Province). However, “Noto Province” continued to appear in official documents afterwards for some administrative purposes. For example, Noto is explicitly recognized in treaties in 1894 (a) between Japan and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and (b) between Japan and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

.US Department of State. (1906)
''A digest of international law as embodied in diplomatic discussions, treaties and other international agreements'' (John Bassett Moore, ed.), Vol. 5, p. 759

Historical districts

Noto Province had 4 districts. *

** Fugeshi District (鳳至郡) - dissolved; now the western part of Hōsu District (鳳珠郡) ** Hakui District (羽咋郡) ** Kashima District (鹿島郡) ** Suzu District (珠洲郡) - dissolved; now the eastern part of Hōsu District

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 retirem ...

.
OCLC 58053128
* Papinot, Edmond. (1910). ''Historical and Geographic Dictionary of Japan.'' Tokyo: Librarie Sansaisha
OCLC 77691250

External links

{{Authority control Former provinces of Japan History of Ishikawa Prefecture 1871 disestablishments in Japan States and territories disestablished in 1871