Awaji province
- Japanese: 淡路国 (Awaji no kuni) or 淡州 (Tanshu)
An island province in the Inland Sea adjoining Harima province and Awa province in Shikoku. Now it is part of Hyôgo Prefecture.
The island of Awaji appears in the Nihon Shoki, as one of the first islands to be formed. It is formed of the placenta of Izanami, when she gives birth to Hiruko, the Leech Child; according to interpretations related to that tale, the etymology of the island's name is said to be related to the word haji ("shame" or "embarrassment"), or to a negative form of the verb au (to meet; awaji would thus mean "to not meet," or, to be unsatisfactory). However, it has also been suggested that the more historical (non-mythical) origins of the placename might derive from the two characters awa and ji meaning "millet place" (粟地). The characters used to write the island's name today (淡路) mean, roughly, "foam road" or "pale, fleeting road."[1]
Han in Awaji
- Awajisumoto han 淡路洲本藩
Districts
- Tsuna district 津名郡
- Mihara district 三原郡
References
- ↑ W.G. Aston (trans.), Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697, Japan Society of London (1896), 13n1.
