Fujiwara Tokihira

Fujiwara Tokihira (born 871, Kyōto—died April 26, 909, Kyōto) was a Japanese Imperial minister who checked the efforts of the emperor Uda (reigned 887–897) to halt the domination of the Japanese government by the Fujiwara family. Tokihira’s father, Fujiwara Mototsune, had created and occupied the post of kampaku, or chancellor, a position that gave him virtual control of Japan by allowing him to issue commands on behalf of the emperor.

Upon Mototsune’s death, the 21-year-old Tokihira became the head of the Fujiwara family. The emperor Uda, however, kept the post of kampaku vacant, attempting to govern by relying on advisers from minor noble families. In grudging acknowledgment of Tokihira’s administrative talent, Uda did appoint him to a high ministerial position. Uda’s abdication in 897 brought to the throne his son, the emperor Daigo, who tried to continue his father’s effort to check the power of the Fujiwaras. He was unable to resist the political maneuvering of Tokihira, however, who in 899 received the influential post of minister of the left (sadaijin). The post of minister of the right (udaijin) was then held by the scholar Sugawara Michizane. In 901 Tokihira managed to have his rival exiled to the distant southern Japanese island of Kyushu. Even though Tokihira never assumed the post of kampaku, he did in fact become the virtual ruler of Japan.

In an effort to halt the deterioration of the power of the central government in the countryside, Tokihira drew up a series of edicts designed to eliminate the tax-exempt status of the great lords and their domains. These reforms were unpopular with the elite and were only temporarily successful in checking some of the most flagrant abuses. Tokihira began work on the Engi-shiki (“Institutes of the Engi Period”), a compilation of administrative regulations; after his death it was completed by others and was presented at court in 927. Upon Tokihira’s death, his brother Tadahira succeeded him and in 941 assumed the office of kampaku.