Beginning from the 7th and 8th centuries, emperors primarily took women of the Fujiwara clan as their highest wives — the most probable mothers of future monarchs.

The five Fujiwara families, Ichijō, Kujō, Nijō, Konoe and Takatsukasa, were the primary source of imperial brides from the 8th century to the 19th century, even more often than daughters of the imperial clan itself.

The acceptable source of imperial wives, brides for the emperor and crown prince, were even legislated into the Meiji-era imperial house laws ( 1889 ), which stipulated that daughters of Sekke ( the five main branches of the higher Fujiwara ) and daughters of the imperial clan itself were primarily acceptable brides.

* The Ichijō family ( 一条家-ke ), one of the five regent houses ( go-sekke ) of the Fujiwara clan in Japan

The Fujiwara clan ( 藤原氏 Fujiwara-shi ), descending from the Nakatomi clan, was a powerful family of regents in Japan.

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.

In time, Fujiwara became known as a clan name.

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.

Empress Shōken, wife of Emperor Meiji, was a descendant of the Fujiwara clan and, through Gracia Hosokawa, of the Minamoto clan.

* The Fujiwara clan is featured prominently in The Pillow Book, by Sei Shōnagon.

* The Fujiwara clan is featured as a playable faction in Total War: Shogun 2s expansion The Rise of the Samurai.

* In the series of games known as the Touhou Project, there is a character named Fujiwara no Mokou, who was a member of the Fujiwara clan long ago and is implied to be the daughter of Fujiwara no Fuhito.

* In the manga Mahō Sensei Negima, the character Konoka Konoe is a member of the Fujiwara clan.

Category: Fujiwara clan

Prince Fumimaro Konoe was born into the ancient Fujiwara clan, and was the heir of the princely Konoe family in Tokyo.

It was 1945, exactly 1300 years after his ancestor, Fujiwara no Kamatari, led a coup d ' état at court during the Soga clan.

Category: Fujiwara clan

This innovation allowed the Fujiwara clan to tighten its grip on power right throughout an emperor's reign.

( Originally, the Fujiwara were descended from relatively minor nobility, thus their kami is an unremarkable one in the Japanese myth world.

It is supposed that this was the result of political intrigue planned by Ninmyō and Fujiwara no Yoshifusa.

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.

* 1011 ( Kankō 8, 23rd day of the 8th month ): Fujiwara Michinaga is granted the extraordinary privilege of travelling to and from the court by ox-drawn cart.

* 1068 – 1073: the reign of Japanese Emperor Go-Sanjō brings about a brief period where central power is taken out of the hands of the Fujiwara clan.

When Emperor Ichijō died in 1011, Shōshi retired from the Imperial Palace to live in a Fujiwara mansion in Biwa, most likely accompanied by Murasaki, who is recorded as being there with Shōshi in 1013.

Murasaki's poems were published in 1206 by Fujiwara Teika, in what Mulhern believes to be the collection that is closest to the original form ; at around the same time Teika included a selection of Murasaki's works in an imperial anthology, New Collections of Ancient and Modern Times.

Another and more picturesque explanation is a legend, relating how Fujiwara no Kamatari stopped at Yuigahama on his way to today's Ibaraki Prefecture, where he wanted to pray at the Kashima Shrine for the fall of Soga no Iruka.

Japanese hip hop ( or J-hip hop ) is said to have begun when Hiroshi Fujiwara returned to Japan and started playing hip hop records in the early 1980s.

* 1053: The Byōdō-in temple ( near Kyōto ) is inaugurated by emperor Fujiwara Yorimichi

* The Fujiwara Opera, Japan's oldest professional opera company, is founded in Tokyo by Yoshie Fujiwara.

In the latter part of the Heian period, the town of Hiraizumi in what is now southern Iwate became the capital of the Northern Fujiwara.

In 758, after a long period of stalemate, the Japanese army under Fujiwara no Asakari penetrated into what is now northern Miyagi prefecture, and established Momonofu Castle on the Kitakami River.

The Northern Fujiwara were thought to have been Emishi, but there is some doubt as to the lineage of them, and if they were descended from local Japanese families who resided in the Tōhoku ( unrelated to the Fujiwara of Kyoto ) then the study would confirm this.

Yōzei's mother was the sister of Fujiwara no Mototsune, who would figure prominently in the young emperor's life.

Little authority was left for traditional officialdom, and government affairs were handled through the Fujiwara family's private administration.

Little authority was left for traditional officialdom, and government affairs were handled through the Fujiwara family's private administration.

In the first few years after its establishment, the Japanese branch of Capcom had three development groups referred to as " Planning Rooms ", led by Tokuro Fujiwara, Takashi Nishiyama and Yoshiki Okamoto, respectively.

Three late tenth century and early eleventh century women presented their views of life and romance at the Heian court in Kagerō Nikki (" The Gossamer Years ") by " the mother of Michitsuna ", Makura no Sōshi ( The Pillow Book ) by Sei Shōnagon, and Genji Monogatari ( Tale of Genji ) by Murasaki Shikibu ( herself a Fujiwara ).

Three late tenth century and early eleventh century women presented their views of life and romance at the Heian court in Kagerō Nikki by " the mother of Fujiwara Michitsuna ", Makura no sōshi by Sei Shōnagon and Genji Monogatari by Murasaki Shikibu.

On September 27th, 2011, The Creative Assembly released a DLC pack for Total War: Shogun 2 entitled " Rise of the Samurai ", which allows players to play as members of the Taira, the Minamoto, or the Fujiwara families.

A manuscript in Fujiwara no Teika | Fujiwara no Teika's hand of " Superior Poems of our Time ", showing his calligraphic style.

Fujiwara once hosted a sport program, called " SRS ", by Fuji Television with television star Masashi Tashiro.