Awa Province - Awa no Kuni

The old name of the southern part of Chiba Prefecture. It is also called Boshu. One of the 15 provinces along the Tokaido. In the Engishiki, it is ranked as Chugoku, and is classified as a distant province. It is located in the southeastern part of the Kanto region, facing the Miura Peninsula across the Uraga Strait. To the north, it borders Kazusa Province, with Mt. Nokogiri and Mt. Kiyosumi as its borders. During the reign of Emperor Seimu, the Awa kuni no miyatsuko was established, and during the reign of Emperor Ojin, the Nagasa kuni no miyatsuko was established. According to the Kogoshui (Collection of Ancient Words) written by Inbe Hironari in 807 (Daido 2) at the beginning of the Heian period, Amenotomi no Mikoto, the grandson of Futodama no Mikoto, moved eastward with a part of the Saibe clan of Awa (Tokushima Prefecture) in Shikoku, sowed hemp and grains, and named his residence Awa County. Moreover, the Awa Shrine where Amenotomi no Mikoto enshrined Futodama no Mikoto is the current Awa Shrine (Tateyama City Daijingu), which is the Ichinomiya (first shrine) of Awa Province.

In ancient times, the present Boso region was called "Fusa no Kuni," but during the Taika Reforms, the peninsula was roughly divided in two, with the southern region becoming Kazusa Province and the northern region becoming Shimousa Province. Later, in May 718 (Yoro 2), the four districts of Kazusa Province, Heguri, Awa, Asahina, and Nagasa, were separated to form Awa Province. However, Awa Province was merged into the former Kazusa Province in December 741 (Tenpyo 13), but in May 757 (Tenpyo Houji 1), it was again separated from Kazusa Province to form Awa Province (present-day Tateyama City and Awa District), and there have been no changes since. The provincial capital was in present-day Minamiboso City, and the provincial temple was in Tateyama City. It took 34 days to travel up from the Awa provincial capital to Keishi, and 17 days to travel down. According to the "Awa Province Gisocho" (Shosoin documents) from 730 (Tenpyo 2), which probably only applies to a part of the province, 88 out of 415 households contributed millet to the giso, with 2 middle-middle households, 3 middle-lower households, 3 lower-upper households, 11 lower-middle households, 69 lower-lower households, and 327 poorer households that did not contribute. At the end of the Heian period, the province had five manors, one ho, and two ranches. These included Tadara Manor in Heguri County, Umabaki Shirahama Ranch in Hyobu Province in Awa County, Maru no Mikuriya in the territory of Ise Daijingu Shrine in Asahi County, and Tojo no Mikuriya in the territory of Toyouke Miya in Nagasa County.

In 1180 (Jisho 4), Minamoto no Yoritomo failed in his uprising and fled from Izu to Awa, where he attempted to rise again with the support of local powerful clans such as Anzai, Maru, and Tojo, as well as Taira Hirotsune of Kazusa and Chiba Tsunetane of Shimousa. In 1253 (Kencho 5), the monk Nichiren from Kominato established a sect at Seicho-ji Temple and became the founder of the Nichiren sect. The shugo (military governor) at the end of the Nanboku-cho period was Yuki Naomitsu, and later Yamanouchi Uesugi Norikata held the position. From the end of the Middle Ages to the early modern period, Awa became the base of the Satomi clan. In other words, Satomi Yoshizane, who used Shirahama as a bridgehead, pacified the entire Awa region in 1445 (Bun'an 2), and later, during the time of Yoshitaka, his power extended to Kazusa Province, but his son Yoshihiro was defeated by the Hojo clan in the Battle of Konodai in 1564 (Eiroku 7), and his decline became clear. In the early modern period, during the time of Tadayoshi in 1614 (Keicho 19), the clan was abolished by the shogunate and chased to Kurayoshi in Hoki (Tottori Prefecture), where it perished. In the early modern period, the clan was generally incorporated into the system of Edo's inner sanctum, and was divided into magistrates, hatamoto territories, and small fudai domains. The domain's territories included Katsuyama (later Kachiyama; originally the Naito clan, later the Sakai clan), Hojo (the Yashiro clan), Tojo (the Saigo clan), and Tateyama (the Inaba clan). In 1711 (Shotoku 1), the Yashiro clan's misgovernment led to the Mankoku Disturbance. The ukiyo-e artist Hishikawa Moronobu, who lived during the Genroku period (1688-1704), was born in Hota in this province. Throughout the early modern period, there was notable development in the management of Mineoka Farm, a farm directly controlled by the shogunate as part of the industrial promotion policy of the 8th Tokugawa Yoshimune, and in fishing (sardine fishing, whaling). The cultivation of persimmons and loquats also began in the late early modern period. At the start of the Meiji era, there were four domains: Nagao, Hanabusa, Tateyama, and Kachiyama. In 1871 (Meiji 4), the domains were abolished and prefectures were established, and the area came under the jurisdiction of Kisarazu Prefecture. In 1873, it came under the jurisdiction of Chiba Prefecture, where it remains to this day.

[Yu Kawamura]

"Reprint of 'Awa-shi' by Saito Natsunosuke (1972, Nakajima Shoten)" ▽ "'Local History Dictionary 12: Chiba Prefecture' edited by Kawamura Masaru (1979, Shoheisha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

千葉県南部の旧国名。房州(ぼうしゅう)ともいう。東海道十五か国の一つ。『延喜式(えんぎしき)』の等級は中国で、遠国に属する。関東地方の南東部に位置し、浦賀水道を隔てて三浦半島と対する。北は鋸(のこぎり)山、清澄(きよすみ)山を境として上総国(かずさのくに)に接する。成務(せいむ)朝に阿波国造(あわのくにのみやつこ)が置かれ、応神(おうじん)朝に長狭(ながさ)国造が置かれた。平安時代の初め807年（大同2）の斎部広成(いんべのひろなり)著『古語拾遺(こごしゅうい)』によると、古く太玉命(ふとだまのみこと)の孫天富命(あめのとみのみこと)が四国の阿波(あわ)（徳島県）の斎部氏の一部を引き連れて東方に移動し、麻(あさ)・穀(かじ)を播殖(はんしょく)させ、その居所を安房郡と名づけたという。しかも天富命が太玉命を祀(まつ)った安房社がいまの安房神社（館山(たてやま)市大神宮）で安房国の一宮(いちのみや)である。

　現在の房総は古く「総国(ふさのくに)」と称したが、大化改新のとき、ほぼ半島を二分して南部を上総国、北部を下総(しもうさ)国とした。その後718年（養老2）5月になると、上総国の平群(へぐり)、安房、朝夷(あさひな)、長狭の4郡を分離して安房国を置いた。しかし安房国は741年（天平13）12月もとの上総国に併合されたが、757年（天平宝字1）5月ふたたび上総国から分立して安房国（現在の館山市と安房郡）を建て、その後は変化はなかった。国府は現在の南房総(みなみぼうそう)市、国分寺は館山市にあった。安房国府から京師(けいし)まで、上り34日、下り17日を要した。730年（天平2）の『安房国義倉帳(ぎそうちょう)』（正倉院文書）によると、同国内の一部に関するものであろうが、義倉粟(あわ)を納めた戸は戸数415戸のうち88、その内訳は中中戸2、中下戸3、下上戸3、下中戸11、下下戸69、ほかに納めない貧戸が327戸あった。平安末期には同国には荘園(しょうえん)が5荘、1保、2牧があった。平群郡の多多良(ただら)荘、安房郡の兵部(ひょうぶ)省の馬牧白浜牧、朝夷郡の伊勢(いせ)大神宮領丸御厨(まるのみくりや)、長狭郡の豊受(とようけ)宮領の東条御厨などである。

　1180年（治承4）源頼朝(よりとも)は挙兵に失敗し、伊豆から安房に逃れ、在地豪族の安西、丸、東条らや上総の平広常(ひろつね)、下総の千葉常胤(つねたね)の応援により再挙を図った。1253年（建長5）小湊(こみなと)出身の僧日蓮(にちれん)は清澄寺(せいちょうじ)で立宗、日蓮宗の開祖となった。南北朝時代末の守護は結城直光(ゆうきなおみつ)、その後山内(やまのうち)上杉憲方(のりかた)がその地位にあった。中世末から近世初期にかけて安房は里見(さとみ)氏の根拠地となった。すなわち、白浜を橋頭堡(きょうとうほ)とした里見義実(よしざね)は1445年（文安2）安房一円を平定、その後義堯(よしたか)のころ上総国にも力は及んだが、その子義弘(よしひろ)が1564年（永禄7）国府台(こうのだい)合戦で北条氏に敗れ、衰勢をあらわにした。近世に入り、1614年（慶長19）忠義のとき、幕閣の手により改易、伯耆(ほうき)（鳥取県）倉吉に追われ滅亡した。近世はおしなべて江戸のお膝元(ひざもと)の体制化に組み込まれ、代官、旗本領、譜代(ふだい)小藩の分立下にあった。藩領は、勝山（のち加知山(かちやま)。初め内藤氏、のち酒井氏）、北条（屋代(やしろ)氏）、東条（西郷氏）、館山（稲葉氏）などであった。1711年（正徳1）には屋代氏の失政により万石(まんごく)騒動が発生した。元禄(げんろく)期（1688～1704）の浮世絵師菱川師宣(ひしかわもろのぶ)は当国保田(ほた)の出身である。近世を通じて、8代徳川吉宗(よしむね)の勧業政策の一環としての幕府の直轄牧たる嶺岡牧(みねおかのまき)の経営や漁業（鰯(いわし)漁、捕鯨）の発達にみるべきものがあった。花卉(かき)、ビワの栽培も近世後期に始まった。明治を迎え長尾、花房(はなぶさ)、館山、加知山の4藩があったが、1871年（明治4）廃藩置県により木更津(きさらづ)県管下となった。ついで1873年には千葉県管下となり、現在に至っている。

［川村　優］

『斎藤夏之助著『安房志』復刻版（1972・中島書店）』▽『川村優編『郷土史事典 12　千葉県』（1979・昌平社）』

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