noun, suffix
section of a village; subdivision of a rural area
Used in rural addresses and place names to denote a subsection of a village or a small hamlet. Often appears as a suffix in official address notation, e.g., 大字 (おおあざ) and 小字 (こあざ).
住所には、市町村の後に字名が続くことがある。
In addresses, the section name (aza) sometimes follows the municipality.
この地域はいくつかの字に分かれている。
This area is divided into several subsections (aza).
A larger administrative subsection of a village or town, often used in addresses. 字 (あざ) is a more general term for a section, while 大字 is a specific larger unit.
A smaller subsection within a 大字 or village. 字 can refer to any such section, but 小字 explicitly denotes a smaller division.
The kanji 字 originally means 'character' or 'letter', but in this reading あざ it is used for a rural land division. The exact historical derivation is uncertain; it may be related to the idea of marking or naming a piece of land.