As a transit between those two larger islands, Awaji originally means "the road to Awa",[2] the historic province bordering the Shikoku side of the Naruto Strait, now part of Tokushima Prefecture.

[3] Since its completion, the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway across the island has been the main eastern land link between Honshū and Shikoku.

A section of the fault was protected and turned into the Nojima Fault Preservation Museum in the Hokudancho Earthquake Memorial Park (北淡町震災記念公園) to show how the movement in the ground cuts across roads, hedges and other installations.

[6] According to the creation myth in Shinto, Awaji was the first of the ōyashima islands born from the kami Izanagi and Izanami.

The Awaji puppets perform popular traditional dramas but have their origins in religious rituals.