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Fujiwara family - Fission

Fujiwara family - Fission: Encyclopedia II - Fujiwara family - Fission

During the 13th century, the Fujiwara northern house was split into the five regent houses (五摂家): Konoe, Takatsukasa, Kujō, Nijō and Ichijō. They had a "monopoly" to the offices of sesshō and kampaku, and served in turn. The political power had shifted away from the court nobility in Kyoto to the new warrior class in the countryside. However, Fujiwara princes remained close advisors, regents and ministers to the emperors for centuries, until the 20th century. As such, they had certain political power and much influence, as often the rival warrio ...

Fujiwara family: Encyclopedia II - Fujiwara family - Fission

Fujiwara family - Fission

During the 13th century, the Fujiwara northern house was split into the five regent houses (五摂家): Konoe, Takatsukasa, Kujō, Nijō and Ichijō. They had a "monopoly" to the offices of sesshō and kampaku, and served in turn. The political power had shifted away from the court nobility in Kyoto to the new warrior class in the countryside. However, Fujiwara princes remained close advisors, regents and ministers to the emperors for centuries, until the 20th century. As such, they had certain political power and much influence, as often the rival warriors and later bakufus sought their alliance.

Until the marriage of the Crown Prince Hirohito (posthumously Emperor Shōwa) to Princess Kuni Nagako (Kuninomiya Nagako Nyoō) in January 1924, the principal consorts of emperors and crown princes had always been recruited from one of the Sekke Fujiwara. Imperial princesses were often married to Fujiwara lords - throughout a millennium at least. As recently as Emperor Shōwa's third daughter, the late former Princess Takanomiya (Kazoku), and Prince Mikasa's elder daughter, the former Princess Yasuko, married into Takatsukasa and Konoe families, respectively.