Within a year, the Taira and Minamoto clashed, and a twenty-year period of Taira ascendancy began. Central control of Japan had continued to decline, and the Fujiwara, along with other great families and religious foundations, acquired ever larger shōen and greater wealth during the early tenth century. The others were the Tachibana, the Taira and the Minamoto. Japanese: 藤原氏 (Fujiwara-shi) The Fujiwara clan, one of the classical uji (clans), first formed in the 7th century. Opposed to the growing influence of Buddhism in Japan, in the year 645 Nakatomi no Kamatari (614-669) initiated a coup d'état that led to the accession of Emperor Kotoko, who made Kamatari an inner minister. He was given authority over the Daijôkan, authority that would later be codified in the office of Yoshifusa died in 872, and he was not immediately succeeded. Emperor Go-Sanjō, determined to restore imperial control through strong personal rule, implemented reforms to curb Fujiwara influence. The provinces were another redoubt for Fujiwara members no longer able to acquire through patronage key positions at court. Many shōen were not properly certified, and large landholders, like the Fujiwara, felt threatened with the loss of their lands. It is interesting to note that they are hardly to be found in the Fujiwara no Kamatari's sons continued to bear his name. Sugawara would get his revenge when certain disasters befell the Emperor Shirakawa (r. 1073-1087 CE) attempted to assert his independence from the Fujiwara by abdicating in 1087 CE and allowing his son Horikawa to reign under his supervision. Fujiwara Family - Fujiwara Family - Peak of Fujiwara power and glory. Lesser members of the Fujiwara were court nobles, provincial governors and vice governors, members of the provincial aristocracy, and samurai. In time, many of the Fujiwara were replaced, mostly by members of the rising Minamoto family. The Fujiwara clan is one of the oldest and most powerful families in all of Japanese history.
Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press. The Fujiwara Regency was the main feature of government of the entire Heian era. Family administrations now became public institutions. Another Fujiwara became regent for his grandson, then a minor emperor, and yet another was appointed kampaku (regent for an adult emperor). Beyond the 12th century, they continued to monopolize the titles of The Fujiwara clan's political influence was initiated during the Among them, the Hokke came to be considered as the leaders of the entire clan. The clan originated when the founder, Nakatomi no Kamatari (614–669), was rewarded by Emperor Tenji with the honorific "Fujiwara", which evolved as a … Decline in food production, growth of the population, and competition for resources among the great families all led to the gradual decline of Fujiwara power and gave rise to military disturbances in the mid-tenth and eleventh centuries. In the 7th century CE the court official Nakatomi, later to become Fujiwara no Kamatari (614-669 CE), became a useful ally to Prince Naka no Oe, and together they staged a coup in 645 CE which deposed the powerful Soga clan who had hitherto dominated government positions and were threatening to usurp the power of the emperor. The fujiwaras eventually took complete control and ruled in there own way. The clan originated when the founder, Nakatomi no Kamatari (614–669), was rewarded by Emperor Tenji with the honorific "Fujiwara", which evolved as a surname for Kamatari and his descendants. There was great interest in graceful poetry and vernacular literature. 710 CE:The Buddhist Kofukuji temple is established at Nara, main temple of the Japanese Fujiwara clan. As the most powerful family, the Fujiwara governed Japan and determined the general affairs of state, such as succession to the throne. Fujiwara clan (藤原氏, Fujiwara-uji or Fujiwara-shi), descending from the Nakatomi clan and through them Ame-no-Koyane-no-Mikoto, was a powerful family of regents in Japan.. The Fujiwara were the proverbial "power behind the throne" for centuries. Family administrations now became public institutions. Finally, Minamoto Yoritomo (1147–1199) rose from his headquarters at Kamakura (in the Kantō region, southwest of modern Tokyo) to defeat the Taira, and with them the child emperor Emperor Antoku they controlled, in the Genpei War (1180–1185). After this downfall, the younger branches of the Fujiwara clan turned their focus from politics to the arts, producing any number of literary luminaries like Fujiwara no Shunzei or Fujiwara no Teika. Some prominent Fujiwaras occupied these positions more than once, and for more than one emperor. During the Heiji Disturbance (Heiji no Ran) in 1160 the Taira defeated the coalition of Fujiwara and Minamoto forces. 740 CE:A rebellion led by the Fujiwara exile Hirotsugu is quashed by Emperor Shomu. While the Fujiwara fell into disputes among themselves and formed northern and southern factions, the insei system allowed the paternal line of the imperial family to gain influence over the throne.
The family reached the peak of its power under Fujiwara no Michinaga (966–1027), a longtime kampaku who was the grandfather of three emperors, the father of six empresses or imperial consorts, and the grandfather of seven additional imperial consorts; it is no exaggeration to say that it was Michinaga who ruled Japan during this period, not the titular Emperors. 858 CE:Fujiwara no Yoshifusa becomes the Fujiwara clan leader. This strategy of 'retired' emperors still, in effect, governing became known as 'cloistered government' (In the provinces, new forces were emerging which would challenge the dominance of the Fujiwara even more seriously. Instead, the clan's influence stemmed from its matrimonial alliances with the imperial family. The Fujiwara Clan, Rise of Japan’s Most Powerful Clan - Kansai Odyssey. Nakatomi no Kamatari, a member of the lower-nobility Nakatomi family led a coup against the Soga in 645 and initiated a series of sweeping government reforms that would be known as the Taika Reform.