Fujiwara Shiki-ke

In this Japanese name, the surname is Fujiwara.

The Fujiwara Shiki-ke (藤原式家, lit. Fujiwara ceremonials house) was a cadet branch of the Fujiwara clan of Japan.

Fujiwara 藤原 (式家)
Mon: Sagarifuji
Home province	Yamato Province
Parent house	Fujiwara clan
Titles	Various
Founder	Fujiwara no Umakai
Founding year	8th century

History

It was founded by Fujiwara no Umakai,^[1] i.e., one of the four great houses of the Fujiwara, founded by the so-called Fujiwara Four [ja], who were sons of Fujiwara no Fuhito.^[2]

The epithet Shiki-ke (式家) derives from the fact that the founder Umakai held the office of Shikibu-kyō (式部卿), or the head of the Shikibu-shō (式部省, "Ministry of Ceremonial").^[3][4] Thus, Shiki-ke may be translated the "Ceremonials House."^[5]

The other branches were the Fujiwara Nan-ke (the eldest brother Muchimaro's line), Fujiwara Hok-ke (Fusasaki's line), and the Fujiwara Kyō-ke (Fujiwara no Maro's line).^[3]

Umakai's son Hirotsugu [ja] mounted a rebellion named after his name in 740, which ended with suppression and his death, spelling ill-fortune for the Shikike.^[6] The Nanke then gained hegemony again (back from the non-Fujiwara Tachibana no Moroe) until Nakamaro mounted his own uprising.

Shikike came into ascendancy with Fujiwara no Momokawa.^[5] The notorious Fujiwara no Kusuko [ja] who enticed and held sway over Emperor Heizei is also of the Shikike clan.^[7]

See also

• Gosanke

Notes

1. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric et al. (2005). "Fujiwara no Umakai" at Japan Encyclopedia, p. 211, p. 211, at Google Books.
2. Naoki, Kōjirō (1993). "4. The Nara state". In Hall, John W. (ed.). The Cambridge History of Japan: Ancient Japan (preview). Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press. pp. 248–. ISBN 9780521223522.
3. Brinkley, p. 203., p. 203, at Google Books; excerpt, "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 Kyō-ke, this term also having reference to his office."
4. Jinnō Shōtōki (14th century), under Emperor Mommu: 武笠, 三, ed. (1914). 神皇正統記, 讀史餘論, 山陽史論. 有朋堂書店. p. 64. 三門は式部卿宇合の龍、式家といふ
5. McCullough, William H. (1999). "Chapter 2: The Capital and its Society". In Hall, John Whitney; Shively, Donald H.; McCullough, William H. (eds.). The Cambridge History of Japan (preview). Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 26. ISBN 9780521550284.
6. Nussbaum, "Fujiwara no Hirotsugu" at p. 211, p. 211, at Google Books
7. McCullough 1999, pp. 33–5

References

• Brinkley, Frank and Dairoku Kikuchi. (1915). A History of the Japanese People from the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era. New York: Encyclopædia Britannica. OCLC 413099
• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128