Noto Province

was a province of Japan in the area that is today the northern part of Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan, including the Noto Peninsula (Noto-hantō) which is surrounded by the Sea of Japan. Noto bordered on Etchū and Kaga provinces to the south, and was surrounded by the Sea of Japan to the east, north and west. Its abbreviated form name was . History In 718 A.D., four districts of Echizen Province, Hakui District, Noto District (also called Kashima District), Fugeshi District and Suzu District, were separated into Noto Province. However, in the year 741, the province was abolished, and merged into Etchū Province. Noto Province was subsequently re-established in 757. The province disappears from history until the Wamyō Ruijushō of 930 AD, in which Minamoto no Shitagō is named as Kokushi of the province. The Nara period provincial capital and provincial temple were located in what is now the city of Nanao, Ishikawa; however, the Ichinomiya (Keta Shrine) was located in what is now the city of Hakui, Ishikawa. Under the Engishiki classification system, Noto was ranked as a "middle country" (中国) in both importance and distance from the capital.