Chapter 59 Appendix II Introduction to the Fujiwara Family in Japan

The Fujiwara family is one of the most prominent families in Japanese history. The ancestor of the Fujiwara family was Nakatomi Kamazu (614-669), who was the actual ruler of Japan at that time. In the early 7th century, the Soga family completely controlled the government. In 645, Nakatomi Kamazu and later Emperor Tenchi staged a coup, killing the leader of the Soga clan, Soga Iruka.After Emperor Tenchi ascended the throne, he appointed Nakaomi Kamazu as Minister of Internal Affairs.After he took office, he adopted a series of reform measures, which is the famous Dahua Reform.When Nakatomi Kamazu died, Emperor Tenchi bestowed the surname Fujiwara.From then on, the Nakatomi family took Fujiwara as their surname.

Nakatomi Kamazu's son Fujiwara Fubi et al. (659-720) was the first person to adopt the new surname.Due to his father's prestige, he achieved a high position in the court.Both of his daughters married the emperor, beginning a nepotistic relationship with the imperial family. (More details later) But at this time, the Fujiwara family was only in a prominent position. It was not until the second half of the 9th century that the Fujiwara family began to manipulate the political power. The figures of the Fujiwara family mentioned below played an important role in history.In fact, there are many people in the Fujiwara family who really control the government, so I won't list them one by one.

Fujiwara Ryobo (804-872) was the father-in-law of the reigning emperor and the grandfather of the crown prince. In 857, he served as Minister of the Taizheng.After the emperor's death, in 858, the nine-year-old crown prince was supported to ascend the throne, that is, Emperor Qinghe.Yoshika Fujiwara served as regent himself, becoming the first person in Japanese history who was not of royal blood to hold this post.Since his beginning, the Fujiwara family has controlled the government for more than 300 years. The power and prestige of the Fujiwara family was obtained through political strategy.

First, the Fujiwara family married their daughters to the emperor, which meant that the Fujiwara girl became the empress, and the Fujiwara grandson was the future emperor.As a result, the patriarch of the Fujiwara family, whether in the court or in the field, can control the court. Second, the Fujiwara family also used Buddhism to seize power.They often use the example of several emperors who believe in Buddhism to become monks and practice, and persuade the emperors with independent thinking to ignore government affairs and retire from the world.Over the next two centuries, there were as many as eight such abdications.

Third, the Fujiwara family did not neglect to lay a solid economic foundation for their political power.They obtained a large amount of land, labor and wealth in the name of accepting "job fields", "position fields", "job titles", "position titles" and temporary rewards, which greatly reduced or even completely exempted the landowners from paying taxes. On the other hand, it enabled the Fujiwara family to fill the country's money and food into their private pockets. In this way, although the Fujiwara family did not overthrow or replace the imperial family, they have become the de facto rulers of Japan.However, when the emperor reached the legal age of pro-government, he must end the regency. Therefore, Fujiwara Yoshinori's nephew Fujiwara Motsuke established the Guanbai system.

Fujiwara Motsuke (836-891), became the head of the Fujiwara family in 872, and served as regent four years later.In order to further expand his power, he created the official position of "Guan Bai". The word "Guanbai" comes from "Hanshu", which means "report", and it soon became the name of an official position in Japan.In this way, the Fujiwara family created the special regime of "Kanbai politics" in Japanese history, that is, as a foreign relative, the emperor served as "regent" when he was young, and the emperor became "Kanbai" when he became an adult. The post of "Guan Bai" has greater rights than the regent and prime minister. He is the spokesperson of the emperor, and his status is second only to the emperor.The Regency and Guanbai system is also called the Sheguan system in history books.

In 884, Fujiwara Motsuke forced Emperor Kōsei to abdicate. In 887, Emperor Uta, who was not born to a concubine of the Fujiwara family, came to the throne. Of course, the Fujiwara family was no longer used as regent, but the newly ascended Emperor Uta gave him the power to take over the state affairs. Shut down the White Taizheng Minister first, and then play it." But later, the Fujiwara family was actually restricted by Emperor Uta, until Fujiwara Tokihei, the son of Fujiwara Motosuke, re-established the hegemony of the Fujiwara family. The person who best embodies the power of the Fujiwara family is Michijo Fujiwara (966-1027).As the regent in the mid-Heian period, Mr. Fujiwara was extremely powerful. In 995, he became the head of the Fujiwara family. In 1017, he served as Minister of the Taizheng. All government affairs were determined by his "government office". A place of ceremonies.At this time, the Fujiwara's manor had already accounted for one-tenth of the country's land, thus expanding the economic basis of the politics of the government.

Michijo Fujiwara had four daughters who were chosen as concubines, and the three emperors, Gojojo, Gosuzaku, and Golenizumi, were all his grandsons.He has enjoyed all the glory and wealth for more than thirty years, and his mansion is even more magnificent than the imperial palace.The famous Japanese classic novel and "A Tale of Prosperity" describe the life of Fujiwara Michizane.He has a poem expressing his proud mood of being in power for more than 30 years. One of the lines is: "This world is my world. I do what I think. In the bright fifteenth month, when it is full and perfect."

After Fujiwara Michijo died in 1027, the Fujiwara family began to decline. Later, Fujiwara Yorimichi (992-1074) served as the regent of three generations of emperors and controlled the government for 52 years until the third emperor, who was not born to Fujiwara's daughter, ascended the throne in 1068, and Fujiwara Yorimichi was forced to retire.By the 12th century, the power of the Fujiwara family was finally eliminated in the Japanese imperial court.Since then, Japan has been dominated by the dispute between Genpei's two clans. In order to consolidate his position, Fujiwara, the son of Nakaomi Kamazu mentioned above, married his daughter Fujiwara Miyako to Emperor Tenmu. In 701, Miyako gave birth to the first prince.

In 720, Fujiwara Bubi waited for illness, and the power of the royal family rose again. The grandson of Emperor Tenmu, King Nagaya, served as the right minister. The royal family and the Fujiwara family formed two opposing factions. In 724, the first prince came to the throne, namely Emperor Shomu (701-756, reigned 724-749).But Emperor Shomu did not inherit the throne from Emperor Tianmu. There was also Emperor Gensho in the middle. This is a female emperor, and she is the aunt of the first prince. In 716 before Emperor Shomu ascended the throne, Fujiwara Bubiwai married his youngest daughter, Guangko, to the first prince as his concubine, so Fujiwara Bubiwai was both the grandfather of the first prince and his father-in-law. (There are many cases of "incest" in Japanese imperial history and the history of the Fujiwara family.)

In 727, Guangmingzi was born a prince, and immediately became the prince.Fujiwara Bubi was tantamount to wanting to make Guangko the queen, but at that time, people who were not born in the royal family could not be made queen.The forces against the Fujiwara clan gathered around the Nagaya King, and the Nagaya King and the Fujiwara clan became deadly enemies. Unexpectedly, one year later, the crown prince fell ill and died young. At that time, Fujiwara Bubiwai had already passed away. His second son, Fujiwara Fangzen, slandered out of nothing that the Nagaya king had cursed the little prince to death. In 729, under the careful arrangement of the Fujiwara family, the Nagaya king was falsely accused of conspiring to rebel.In grief and indignation, the long house king committed suicide with his whole family.Once the long house king died, no one in the court dared to oppose the Fujiwara clan.Fujiwara Fangqian took the opportunity to make Guangmingzi the queen, and Guangmingzi's four brothers also held important positions.The four sons of Fujiwara Bubi formed the four families of Fujiwara's Nan, Bei, Jing, and Shi families, and later took turns in charge of the imperial court.However, only the northern family of Fujiwara Fangqian (that is, the Fujiwara Fangqian family) has not declined for a long time, and the other three have gradually withdrawn from the stage of history (in fact, there are also factors such as the four branches of the Fujiwara family fighting with each other and swaying each other) . In 749, Emperor Shomu announced his abdication and became a monk with the title of "Shengman". In 752, Emperor Shomu led civil and military officials to attend the consecration ceremony of the Great Buddha of Lushana in Todaiji Temple. In 754, the monk Jianzhen traveled east to Japan and gave him precepts at Todaiji Temple.Two years later, Emperor Shengwu died of illness, and Empress Guangming donated more than 10,000 cultural relics in his collection to Todaiji Temple. The Fujiwara family took this opportunity to make a comeback, and Guangmingzi made his daughter the emperor, calling him Emperor Xiaoqian, and Guangmingzi became the empress dowager of Guangming.Later, this Emperor Xiaoqian gave way to Emperor Junren, but a coup was launched a few years later, and he became the emperor again, that is, Emperor Shōtoku.Therefore, Emperor Koken and Emperor Shōtoku are the same person, both the daughters of the Empress Dowager Guangming, that is, the emperors who have both imperial and Fujiwara bloodlines. The abdication of Emperor Junren also has a great relationship with the Fujiwara family. In fact, this incident is more like an internal strife in the Fujiwara family.Interested friends can find relevant information to read, because the incident is very complicated, so I won't go into details here. After Fujiwara Bubiwai died, the Fujiwara family did not decline because of this, but became more prosperous.The original power was divided into four, and the four equally divided powers were controlled by Fujiwara's four unequaled sons: the eldest son Fujiwara Takechimaro, the second son Fujiwara Fangqian, and the third son Fujiwara Uhe (he was the deputy envoy of the 8th Japanese envoy to Tang Dynasty) and Miko Fujiwara Maro, these four people are called the four Fujiwara families, namely Nanjia, Beijia, Shikijia and Jingjia. In the beginning, this laid the foundation for the Fujiwara family to eventually take over the government, and it was a good way to ensure the power of the Fujiwara family. After all, if the four families work together, they can form a union.However, it didn't take long for the four families to fight each other. When one family declined, the other branches took the opportunity to rise.In this way, at the end, only the Bei family was left alone. In fact, when Fujiwara Motsuke established the Regent Guanbai System, it was basically dominated by the Fujiwara Kita family. Fujiwara Tadamichi served as Guanbai twice from 1128 to 1129 and from 1149 to 1150. After him, the Fujiwara family "divided and changed their surnames". The Fujiwara family (actually the North family) was divided into five : One, Two, Nine, Konoe, Eagle Division.It is called "Five Photographers" in history. These five families all originated from the Fujiwara family, and all of them are qualified to be Guanbai.Later, the positions of Guanbai and regent took turns in these five regents, until the regent system was abolished after the Meiji Restoration, there were roughly more than 150 generations (detailed statistics are not available, because the historical materials of each family are contradictory, and some It is really difficult to count people who have served as Guanbai twice. This article only gives a rough idea). In the history of Japan, there are only two people who are not surnamed Fujiwara and became Guan Bai. They are Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Toyotomi Hideji. , That's why he has the status of Guanbai, so it is strictly determined that Toyotomi Hideyoshi also gained political power as the "adopted son of the Fujiwara family". In modern times, the Fujiwara family is still active in Japan's political, economic, and military arenas. It is said that many politicians or chaebols are descendants of the Fujiwara family. , Many friends have done research in this area, interested friends can search for relevant information.