Awa Province (Tokushima)

Awa has been settled since the Japanese Paleolithic and the remains of Yayoi and Kofun period settlements and burial mounds have been found especially in the fertile Yoshino River valley.

Per the Kujiki, the kuni no miyatsuko of Awa was a ninth generation descendant of Takamimusubi who had been appointed by Emperor Ōjin.

When the Miyoshi clan became weakened by internal conflicts, the forces of Chōsokabe Motochika of Tosa Province invaded, and by 1585 was able to unify Shikoku under his rule.

Under the Tokugawa shogunate, the Hachisuka clan continued to rule Awa (and neighboring Awaji Province) from their stronghold at Tokushima Castle to the end of the Edo Period.

Per the early Meiji period Kyudaka kyuryo Torishirabe-chō (旧高旧領取調帳), an official government assessment of the nation’s resources, the province had 584 villages with a total kokudaka of 306,632 koku.