was a province of Japan

Provinces of Japan

Before the modern prefecture system was established, the land of Japan was divided into tens of kuni , usually known in English as provinces. Each province was divided into gun ....

 in the area of modern Chiba Prefecture

Chiba Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region and the Greater Tokyo Area. Its capital is Chiba City.- History :Chiba Prefecture was established on June 15, 1873 with the merger of Kisarazu Prefecture and Inba Prefecture...

. It lies on the tip of the Boso Peninsula

Boso Peninsula

thumb|Locationthumb|Landsat image with high-resolution data from Space Shuttle is a peninsula in Chiba prefecture on Honshū, the largest island of Japan. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean....

 (房総半島), whose name takes its first kanji

Kanji

Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...

from the name of Awa Province and its second from Kazusa and Shimōsa Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was or . Awa Province

Awa Province (Tokushima)

was an old province of Japan in the area that is today a part of Tokushima Prefecture on Shikoku. Awa was bordered by Tosa, Sanuki, and Iyo Provinces. It was sometimes called .-References:...

 in Shikoku

Shikoku

is the smallest and least populous of the four main islands of Japan, located south of Honshū and east of the island of Kyūshū. Its ancient names include Iyo-no-futana-shima , Iyo-shima , and Futana-shima...

 phonetically has the same name, but is written with different kanji (阿波国).

Awa is classified as one of the provinces of the Tōkaidō

Tokaido (region)

The was originally an old Japanese geographical region that made up the gokishichidō system and was situated along the southeastern edge of Honshū, its name literally meaning 'Eastern Sea Way'....

. Under the Engishiki

Engishiki

-History:In 905 Emperor Daigo ordered the compilation of a new set of laws. Fujiwara no Tokihira began the task, but work stalled when he died four years later in 909. His brother Fujiwara no Tadahira continued the work in 912 eventually completing it in 927...

classification system, Izu was ranked as a "middle country" (中国).

History

Awa was originally one of four districts

Districts of Japan

The was most recently used as an administrative unit in Japan between 1878 and 1921 and is roughly equivalent to the county of the United States, ranking at the level below prefecture and above city, town or village. As of 2008, cities belong directly to prefectures and are independent from...

 of Kazusa Province. It was well-known to the Imperial Court in Nara Period

Nara period

The of the history of Japan covers the years from AD 710 to 794. Empress Gemmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō . Except for 5 years , when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capital of Japanese civilization until Emperor Kammu established a new capital, Nagaoka-kyō, in 784...

 Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 for its bountiful seafoods, and is mentioned in Nara period records as having supplied fish to the Court as early as the reign of the semi-legendary Emperor Keikō

Emperor Keiko

; also known as Ootarashihikooshirowake no Sumeramikoto, was the 12th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign, but he is conventionally considered to have reigned from 71–130.-Legendary narrative:Keikō is...

. On May 2, 718 the district of Awa was elevated into status to a full province. On December 10, 741 it was merged back into Kazusa, but regained its independent status in 757. The exact location of the capital of the new province is not known, but is believed to have been somewhere within the borders of the modern city of Minamibōsō, Chiba

Minamiboso, Chiba

is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010 data, the city had an estimated population of 42,035 and a population density of 183 persons per km²...

;, however, the Kokubun-ji

Provincial temple

Emperor Shōmu of Japan established so-called provincial temples in each province of Japan...

 was located in what is now the city of Tateyama, Chiba

Tateyama, Chiba

is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. As of September 2010, the city had an estimated population of 49,315 and the population density of 447 persons per km². The total area was 110.21 km²...

 as is the Ichinomiya (Awa Jinja

Awa Jinja

The is a Shinto shrine in the city of Tateyama in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is one of two shrines claiming to hold the title of ichinomiya of former Awa Province...

) of the province.

During the Heian period

Heian period

The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their height...

, the province was divided into numerous shōen

Shoen

A was a field or manor in Japan. The Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese term zhuangyuan.Shōen, from about the 8th to the late 15th century, describes any of the private, tax-free, often autonomous estates or manors whose rise undermined the political and economic power of the...

controlled by local samurai

Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

 clans. These clans sided with Minamoto Yoritomo in the Genpei War

Genpei War

The was a conflict between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late-Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the fall of the Taira clan and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto Yoritomo in 1192....

. The history of the province in the Kamakura period

Kamakura period

The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....

 is uncertain, but it came under the control of the Yuki clan

Yuki clan

The Yūki family was a Japanese samurai clan composed of two branches: the Shimōsa Yūki and the Shirakawa Yūki. Descended from the famous kuge Fujiwara no Hidesato, the clan became split during the Nanboku-chō wars of the 14th century, in which one branch supported the Southern Imperial Court, and...

 and the Uesugi clan

Uesugi clan

The was a Japanese samurai clan, descended from the Fujiwara clan and particularly notable for their power in the Muromachi and Sengoku periods ....

 in the early Muromachi period

Muromachi period

The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate, which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi shogun, Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kemmu restoration of imperial...

. However, by the Sengoku period

Sengoku period

The or Warring States period in Japanese history was a time of social upheaval, political intrigue, and nearly constant military conflict that lasted roughly from the middle of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century. The name "Sengoku" was adopted by Japanese historians in reference...

, the Satomi clan

Satomi clan

The Satomi clan was a clan of samurai which claimed descent from Nitta Yoshishige , whose son Yoshitoshi took 'Satomi' as his surname. The Satomi moved from Kōzuke province to Awa province in the mid-15th century, and remained there into the Edo Period. During the Sengoku period, the Satomi were...

 had gained control over much of Awa, Kazusa and Shimōsa provinces. The Satomi sided with Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Ieyasu

 was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara  in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...

 in the Battle of Sekigahara

Battle of Sekigahara

The , popularly known as the , was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 which cleared the path to the Shogunate for Tokugawa Ieyasu...

, but after being implicated in the political intrigues of Ōkubo Tadachika

Okubo Tadachika

was daimyō of Odawara Domain in Sagami Province in early Edo period, Japan.Ōkubo Tadachika was the son of Ōkubo Tadayo, a hereditary vassal to the Tokugawa clan in what is now part of the city of Okazaki, Aichi. He entered into service as a samurai frm age 11, and took his first head in battle at...

 in 1614, were forced to surrender their domains for Kurayoshi Domain in Hōki Province

Hoki Province

was an old province of Japan in the area that is today the western part of Tottori Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Hōki bordered on Inaba, Mimasaka, Bitchū, Bingo, and Izumo Provinces....

, Awa became tenryō territory administered by various hatamoto

Hatamoto

A was a 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, in the Edo period, hatamoto were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa...

aside from five small domains created at various times in the Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 (three of which survived to the Meiji Restoration

Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...

), with an additional two domains created at the start of the Meiji period. The entire province had an assessed revenue of 95,736 koku

Koku

The is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year...

.

The various domains and tenryo territories were transformed into short-lived prefectures in July 1871 by the abolition of the han system

Abolition of the han system

The was an act, in 1871, of the new Meiji government of the Empire of Japan to replace the traditional feudal domain system and to introduce centralized government authority . This process marked the culmination of the Meiji Restoration in that all daimyo were required to return their authority...

, and the entire territory of Awa Province became part of the new Chiba Prefecture on June 15, 1873.

The area of former Awa Province was organized into four districts by the early Meiji cadastral reform of 1869: Awa District

Awa District, Chiba

is a district located in Chiba, Japan.As of August 2010, the district had an estimated population of 8,992 and a density of 198 persons per km². Its total area was 45.16 km².-History:...

 (ja:安房郡), Asai District

Asai District, Chiba

was an administrative district of Japan located in southern Chiba Prefecture. Its name was also written with the alternative kanji 朝平郡, with the same pronouciation.- History :...

 (ja:朝夷郡), Nagasa District

Nagasa District, Chiba

was an administrative district of Japan located in southern Chiba Prefecture.- History :Nagasa District was one of the four districts created in former Awa Province on April 1, 1889. Much of the area of the district was part of the former Hanabusa Domain. At the time of its foundation, the district...

 (ja:長狭郡) and He District

He District, Chiba

was an administrative district of Japan located in southern Chiba Prefecture. During the Edo period, the district was called .- History :He District was one of the four districts created in former Awa Province on April 1, 1889...

 (ja:平群郡). The latter three districts were subsequently absorbed into Awa District, and were dissolved by 1897.

Domains in Awa Province

Domain	Daimyo	Dates	Revenue (koku Koku The is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year... )	Type

}
| Honda
|1868-1871
| 40,000
| fudai
|-
|
| Saigo
|1620-1693
| 10,000
| fudai
|-
|
| Nishio
|1871-1871
| 35,000
| fudai
|-
|
| Nishio
|1781-1871
| 10,000
| fudai
|-
|
| Mizuno
|1638-1827
| 15,000
| fudai
|-
|
| Hiraoka
|1864-1868
| 10,000
| fudai
|-
|
| Sakai
|1590-1871
| 12,000
| fudai
|-
|
| Saigusa
|1638-1639
| 15,000
| fudai
|}