In 701 AD, per the reforms of the Taihō Code, Koshi was divided into three separate provinces: Echizen, Etchū, and Echigo.

In 746 AD, the noted poet Ōtomo no Yakamochi became Kokushi, and left many references to the region in the poetic anthology Man'yōshū.

Into the Sengoku period, the Hatakeyama transferred their power base to Nanao Castle in Noto province, and Etchū became an area contested by the Uesugi Kenshin and the Oda clan with the Ikkō-ikki helping play one side against the other.

The area was eventually conquered by Oda Nobunaga's general Shibata Katsuie and his deputy Sassa Narimasa, who were later replaced by Maeda Toshiie under the rule of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

The Maeda clan retained control of the province under Kaga Domain during the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate.