Editing Fujiwara clan (section)

== Asuka and Nara period ==

{{chart top|Fujiwara and Imperial Intermarriage Chart<ref name="manyoshu">{{cite book | last1 = 板野 | first1 = 博行 | title = 眠れないほどおもしろい万葉集: なぜ、こんなにも心に響くのか? (王様文庫 D 59-4) | publisher = 三笠書房 | year = 2019 |isbn=978-4837969020 | pages=129}}</ref>}}
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{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |,|BROTHERS|-|.|BROTHERS=''(brothers)''}}
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{{Tree chart| | | | | | | |KAMATARI| | | | | | | | | | |JITO|-|v|-|-|-|TENMU| | |TENJI| |KAMATARI='''[[Fujiwara no Kamatari]]'''|JITO='''[[Empress Jitō]]'''<br />41st Emperor|TENMU='''[[Emperor Tenmu]]'''<br />40th Emperor|TENJI='''[[Emperor Tenji]]'''<br />38th Emperor}}
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{{Tree chart| | | | | | | |FUHITO| | | | | | | | |GENMEI|-|v|-|KUSAKABE| |TAKECHI|-|v|-|MINABE| |FUHITO='''[[Fujiwara no Fuhito]]'''|GENMEI='''[[Empress Genmei]]'''<br />43rd Emperor|KUSAKABE='''[[Prince Kusakabe]]'''|TAKECHI='''[[Prince Takechi]]'''|MINABE='''[[Princess Minabe]]'''}}
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{{Tree chart|| MARO|UMAKAI|FUSASAKI|MUCHIMARO| |!| |MIYAKO|-|v|-|MONMU| | | | | | |NAGAYA|MARO='''[[Fujiwara no Maro|Maro]]'''<br />(Kyōke)|UMAKAI='''[[Fujiwara no Umakai|Umakai]]'''<br />(Shikike)|FUSASAKI='''[[Fujiwara no Fusasaki|Fusasaki]]'''<br />(Hokke)|MUCHIMARO='''[[Fujiwara no Muchimaro|Muchimaro]]'''<br />(Nanke)|MIYAKO=Miyako<br />(宮子)|MONMU='''[[Emperor Monmu]]'''<br />42nd Emperor|NAGAYA='''[[Prince Nagaya]]'''|}}
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{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | |KOMYO|-|-|-|SHOMU| | | | | | | | | | |KOMYO='''[[Empress Kōmyō]]'''|SHOMU='''[[Emperor Shōmu]]'''<br />45th Emperor| }}
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The Fujiwara clan's political influence was initiated during the [[Asuka period]]. Nakatomi no Kamatari, a member of the lower-nobility [[Nakatomi clan|Nakatomi family]] led a [[coup d'état|coup]] against the [[Soga clan|Soga]] in 645 and initiated a series of sweeping government [[reform movement|reforms]] that would be known as the [[Taika Reform]]. In 668 Emperor Tenji (reigned 668–671), bestowed the ''[[kabane]]'' {{nihongo|Fujiwara no [[Ason]]|藤原朝臣}} on Kamatari. The surname passed to the descendants of [[Fujiwara no Fuhito]] (659–720), the second son and heir of Kamatari, who was prominent at the court of several emperors and empresses during the early [[Nara period]]. He made his daughter Miyako a concubine of [[Emperor Monmu]]. Her son, Prince Obito became [[Emperor Shōmu]]. Fuhito succeeded in making another of his daughters, [[Empress Kōmyō|Kōmyōshi]], the empress consort of Emperor Shōmu. She was the first empress consort of Japan who was not a daughter of the imperial family itself. Fuhito had four sons; and each of them became the progenitor of a cadet branch of the clan: 
* the [[Hokke (Fujiwara)|Hokke]] or Northern branch founded by [[Fujiwara no Fusasaki]]<ref>Nussbaum, "Fujiwara no Fusasaki" at {{Google books|p2QnPijAEmEC|p. 202|page=202}}.</ref>
* the [[Kyōke]] branch founded by [[Fujiwara no Maro]]<ref>Nussbaum, "Fujiwara no Maro" at {{Google books|p2QnPijAEmEC|p. 205|page=205}}.</ref>
* the [[Nanke (Fujiwara)|Nanke]] or Southern branch founded by [[Fujiwara no Muchimaro]]<ref>Nussbaum, "Fujiwara no Muchimaro" at {{Google books|p2QnPijAEmEC|p. 207|page=207}}.</ref>
* the [[Shikike]] branch founded by [[Fujiwara no Umakai]]<ref>Nussbaum, "Fujiwara no Umakai" at {{Google books|p2QnPijAEmEC|p. 211|page=211}}.</ref>
Among them, the Hokke came to be considered as the leaders of the entire clan.  All four brothers died in 737 during a [[735–737 Japanese smallpox epidemic|major smallpox epidemic in Japan]].<ref name=farris59>{{Cite book| last = Farris| first = William Wayne | title = Population, Disease, and Land in Early Japan, 645-900 | publisher = Harvard University Asia Center | year = 1985 | page = 59 | isbn = 9780674690059}}</ref>