The Fujiwara clan dominated the Japanese court in the Nara and Heian periods.
They started their power grab immediately out of the womb.
Nakatomi no Kamatari was the founding father.
He helped Emperor Tenji gain power through a coup, and so before Kamatari died, Emperor
Tenji granted his coup buddy the surname of Fujiwara to honor him,
thus starting the Fujiwara clan.
The Nara Period saw a constant battle for the throne between the Fujiwara and the Imperial
princes.
Kamatari’s son was Fujiwara no Fuhito, and dude was a cunning and ambitious fox.
Fuhito found an ally in Empress Jito, who quickly lifted him up through the ranks.
He was actually instrumental in drafting her reforms to strengthen the state.
Fuhito’s game plan was, like many others, to marry his daughters into the Imperial Family.
He married two daughters to a previous emperor,
and when Emperor Monmu took office--
took...throne?--
he worked with Jito to organize the marriage between his daughter Miyako and Emperor Monmu.
Miyako bore Monmu a son, Prince Obito.
Under the tradition of double royalty, their son could not become Monmu’s heir because
Miyako did not have royal blood.
She couldn’t become Monmu’s main consort.
Monmu’s heir had to come from one of his other consorts.
Fuhito wasn’t okay with this tradition.
One thing you gotta know about the Fujiwara is that they cared as much about tradition
as your mom cares about NOT embarrassing you.
Through scheming, he stripped Monmu’s other two consorts of their consort status, leaving
the emperor with only Miyako.
She became Monmu’s de facto main consort despite not having the title of main consort,
which meant her son became the crown prince, the heir to the throne.
The others in court were pissed at this power play, particularly one of the Fujiwara’s
main rivals at the time, Prince Nagaya.
Nagaya held one of the highest positions in court, he was the sadaijin, the minister of
the left.
He was not a good enemy to have.
Nagaya wanted to protect the Imperial Family, his family, from the Fujiwara invasion.
Fuhito had four sons, who eventually went on to found the four houses of the Fujiwara
clan.
Fuhito thought,
“Well, I’ve done a lot for my family,”
then died.
While Fuhito had influence in court, there were two female rulers.
When Emperor Monmu died, his son Obito was only 6, too young to be emperor.
There was also still much opposition to Obito from the non-Fujiwara factions in court.
And so Monmu’s mother ascended the throne and became Empress Genmei, to hold on to power
until Prince Obito came of age.
At least, that was the official reason.
Genmei was the one who moved the capital from Fujiwara-kyo to Nara, by the way.
When Obito came of age, Genmei did abdicate the throne...
in favor of her daughter, who
became Empress Gensho.
So Obito the Disappointed had to wait again.
It’s not really clear why Genmei did this.
Maybe she thought that there was still strong opposition to Obito, that it would cause trouble
for his reign.
Or maybe she thought her competent daughter was a better ruler.
It really did seem like Genmei and Gensho weren’t too fond of the Fujiwara.
They kept appointing Imperial princes to high court positions instead of Fujiwara men.
Gensho ruled for about 9 years before finally abdicating in favor of Prince Obito, who became
Emperor Shomu.
Now after the death of Fujiwara no Fuhito, Prince Nagaya became the most influential
person in court...but not for long.
Nagaya and his allies could not push back against the Fujiwara.
That was clear when they could not stop Shomu from becoming Emperor.
The four Fujiwara brothers had enough of Prince Nagaya’s complaints and accused him of planning
a rebellion.
Guards surrounded his residence and he was forced to commit suicide along with his wife
and children.
They also exiled a number of his supporters.
And with that bit of business done, the Fujiwara Four took control.
They dominated the top tier of government.
Although they were ruthless politically, they passed laws that benefited the common people.
They got rid of military conscription, reduced taxes by half, created hospitals and charitable
organizations, and placed troops in outlying regions to keep the peace.
Not bad.
Then in court, the Fujiwara scored a big political win.
Their sister Komyo was consort to Emperor Shomu.
But Shomu had other consorts, and the Fujiwara brothers couldn’t let a son of another consort
become heir.
And so they promoted Komyo to the rank of kogo, or empress-consort.
It meant she was an empress, just not currently ruling.
At the time, this meant one of her children would become the heir, regardless of how many
children Shomu’s other consorts had.
This again enraged the others in court because the title of empress-consort was traditionally
granted only to royal women, not someone from an outsider clan.
The court grumbled.
The Fujiwara asked if there was a problem, and the court said no.
And then, when the Fujiwara Four were at the height of their power, something unexpected
happened.
It shows you how trivial the concerns of humans are in the face of Mother Nature.
Years of careful planning and scheming can evaporate in a moment.
In 735, a smallpox epidemic began raging across Japan, creeping towards the capital.
Emperor Shomu, a devout Buddhist, had priests at all the shrines and temples pray for it
to stop.
Surprisingly, it didn’t stop.
We don’t often talk about diseases, but they were a huge part of Japan’s history,
especially smallpox.
Smallpox outbreaks ravaged Japan time after time.
This particular outbreak was the first ever recorded in Japan.
It lasted two years, two devastating years.
It was a national emergency.
Up to a third of the population perished.
The amount of deaths caused all kinds of damage, including to the economy like we mentioned
before.
Emperor Shomu focused even more on helpful things like building Buddhist temples and
encouraging Buddhist worship to protect the people.
In the end, all four Fujiwara brothers succumbed to the disease, and the balance of power in
court shifted away from the Fujiwara house and towards the Imperial allies.
However, the four Fujiwara houses continued on.
Fujiwara power had already seeped through the foundations of the court.
This young and ambitious clan was not going anywhere.
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