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These, establishing
themselves independently, founded the "four houses" of the Fujiwara.
Muchimaro's home, being in the south (nan) of the capital, was called
Nan-ke; Fusazaki's, being in the north (hoku), was termed Hoku-ke;
Umakai's was spoken of as Shiki-ke, since he presided over the
Department of Ceremonies (Shiki), and Maro's went by the name of
Kyo-ke, this term also having reference to his office. The
descendants of the four houses are shown in the following table:

/
/ | Toyonari--Tsugunawa
| Muchimaro < Nakamaro (Emi no Oshikatsu)
| (Nan-ke) | Otomaro--Korekimi
| \
|
| / /
| | Nagate | Nagayoshi (Mototsune)
| Fusazaki < Matate--Uchimaro--Fuyutsugu < adopted
| (Hoku-ke) | Kiyokawa | Yoshifusa--Mototsune-+
| \ \ |
| |
| / |
| | Hirotsugu |
| Umakai < Yoshitsugu--Tanetsugu-- / Nakanari |
| (Shiki-ke) | --Kiyonari \ Kusuko |
| | Momokawa--Otsugu |
Kamatari- | \ |
Fuhito < |
| +-----------------------------------------------------+
| Maro |
| (Kyo-ke) | Tokihira /
| Miyako | Nakahira / | Koretada
| (Consort | | Saneyori | Kanemichi
| of Mommu) | Tadahira < Morosuke-- < Kaneiye ----+
| | | Morotada | Tamemitsu |
| \ \ | Kinsuye |
| \ |
| Asuka |
| (Empress |
| of Shomu) |
\ |
|
+----------------------------------------------------+
|
| / Korechika
| Michitaka <
| \ Takaiye
| Michikane
| / Yorimichi--Morozane--Moromichi -------+
| Michinaga < |
\ \ Norimichi |
|
|
+----------------------------------------------------+
|
| / Tadamichi
| Tadazane <
| \ Yorinaga
\

It has already been related how the four heads of these families all
died in one year (736) during an epidemic of small-pox, but it may be
doubted whether this apparent calamity did not ultimately prove
fortunate, for had these men lived, they would have occupied
commanding positions during the scandalous reign of the Empress Koken
(afterwards Shotoku), and might have supported the ruinous disloyalty
of Nakamaro or the impetuous patriotism of Hirotsugu. However that
may be, the Fujiwara subsequently took the lead in contriving the
selection and enthronement of a monarch competent to stem the evil
tendency of the time, and when the story of the Fujiwara usurpations
comes to be written, we should always remember that it had a long
preface of loyal service, a preface extending to four generations.

THE FORTY-NINTH SOVEREIGN, THE EMPEROR KONIN (A.D. 770-781)

When the Empress Shotoku died, no successor had been designated, and
it seemed not unlikely that the country would be thrown into a state
of civil war. The ablest among the princes of the blood was
Shirakabe, grandson of the Emperor Tenchi. He was in his sixty-second
year, had held the post of nagon, and unquestionably possessed
erudition and administrative competence. Fujiwara Momokawa warmly
espoused his cause, but for unrecorded reason Kibi no Makibi offered
opposition. Makibi being then minister of the Right and Momokawa only
a councillor, the former's views must have prevailed had not Momokawa
enlisted the aid of his brother, Yoshitsugu, and of his cousin,
Fujiwara Nagate, minister of the Left. By their united efforts Prince
Shirakabe was proclaimed and became the Emperor Konin, his youngest
son, Osabe, being appointed Prince Imperial.

Konin justified the zeal of his supporters, but his benevolent and
upright reign has been sullied by historical romanticists, who
represent him as party to an unnatural intrigue based on the alleged
licentiousness and shamelessness of his consort, Princess Inokami, a
lady then in her fifty-sixth year with a hitherto blameless record.
Much space has been given to this strange tale by certain annalists,
but its only apparent basis of fact would seem to be that Momokawa,
wishing to secure the succession to Prince Yamabe--afterwards Emperor
Kwammu--compassed the deaths of the Empress Inokami and her son,
Osabe, the heir apparent. They were probably poisoned on the same
day, and stories injurious to the lady's reputation--stories going so
far as to accuse her of attempting the life of the Emperor by
incantation--were circulated in justification of the murder. Certain
it is, however, that to Momokawa's exertions the Emperor Kwammu owed
his accession, as had his father, Konin. Kwammu, known in his days of
priesthood as Yamabe, was Konin's eldest son, and would have been
named Prince Imperial on his father's ascent of the throne had not
his mother, Takano, been deficient in qualifications of lineage. He
had held the posts of president of the University and minister of the
Central Department, and his career, alike in office and on the
throne, bore witness to the wisdom of his supporters.

As illustrating the religious faith of the age, it is noteworthy that
Momokawa, by way of promoting Prince Yamabe's interests, caused a
statue to be made in his likeness, and, enshrining it in the temple
Bonshaku-ji, ordered the priests to offer supplications in its
behalf. The chronicle further relates that after the deaths of the
Empress (Inokami) and her son (Osabe), Momokawa and Emperor Konin
were much troubled by the spirits of the deceased. That kind of
belief in the maleficent as well as in the beneficent powers of the
dead became very prevalent in later times. Momokawa died before the
accession of Kwammu, but to him was largely due the great influence
subsequently wielded by the Fujiwara at Court. It is on record that
Kwammu, speaking in after years to Momokawa's son, Otsugu, recalled
his father's memory with tears, and said that but for Momokawa he
would never have reigned over the empire.

The fact is that the Fujiwara were a natural outcome of the
situation. The Tang systems, which Kamatari, the great founder of the
family, had been chiefly instrumental in introducing, placed in the
hands of the sovereign powers much too extensive to be safely
entrusted to a monarch qualified only by heredity. Comprehending the
logic of their organization, the Chinese made their monarchs' tenure
of authority depend upon the verdict of the nation. But in Japan the
title to the crown being divinely bequeathed, there could be no
question of appeal to a popular tribunal. So long as men like Kotoku,
Tenchi, and Temmu occupied the throne, the Tang polity showed no
flagrant defects. But when the exercise of almost unlimited authority
fell into the hands of a religious fanatic like Shomu, or a
licentious lady like Koken, it became necessary either that the
principle of heredity should be set aside altogether, or that some
method of limited selection should be employed.

It was then that the Fujiwara became a species of electoral college,
not possessing, indeed, any recognized mandate from the nation, yet
acting in the nation's behalf to secure worthy occupants for the
throne. For a time this system worked satisfactorily, but ultimately
it inosculated itself with the views it was designed to nullify, and
the Fujiwara became flagrant abusers of the power handed down to
them. Momokawa's immediate followers were worthy to wear his mantle.
Tanetsugu, Korekimi, Tsugunawa--these are names that deserve to be
printed in letters of gold on the pages of Japan's annals. They
either prompted or presided over the reforms and retrenchments that
marked Kwammu's reign, and personal ambition was never allowed to
interfere with their duty to the State.

IMPERIAL PRINCES

Contemporaneously with the rise of the Fujiwara to the highest places
within reach of a subject, an important alteration took place in the
status of Imperial princes. There was no relation of cause and effect
between the two things, but in subsequent times events connected them
intimately. According to the Daika legislation, not only sons of
sovereigns but also their descendants to the fifth generation were
classed as members of the Imperial family and inherited the title of
"Prince" (0). Ranks (hon-i) were granted to them and they often
participated in the management of State affairs. But no salaries were
given to them; they had to support themselves with the proceeds of
sustenance fiefs. The Emperor Kwammu was the first to break away from
this time-honoured usage. He reduced two of his own sons, born of a
non-Imperial lady, from the Kwobetsu class to the Shimbetsu,
conferring on them the uji names of Nagaoka and Yoshimine, and he
followed the same course with several of the Imperial grandsons,
giving them the name of Taira.

Thenceforth, whenever a sovereign's offspring was numerous, it became
customary to group them with the subject class under a family name.