Michinaga Transfers the Regency to Yorimichi

Emperor Sanjō abdicated in 1016 and Shōshi’s son Atsuhira became Emperor Go-Ichijō. The new emperor was young, and his maternal grandfather Fujiwara no Michinaga became sesshō, or regent. This was a different appointment from the document-review privilege of nairan through which Michinaga had long influenced court business.

In 1017 Michinaga transferred the regency to his son Yorimichi. He also briefly held the rank and office of grand minister, daijō daijin. A regent acted for a young sovereign; kanpaku assisted an adult emperor; grand minister was a senior ministerial office. The titles were not interchangeable, and Michinaga was never formally appointed kanpaku despite the later name “Midō Kanpaku.”

The transfer placed Yorimichi in office while his father remained an influential family elder. In 1018 Michinaga’s daughter Ishi became Go-Ichijō’s empress, reinforcing a marriage connection alongside the father-to-son succession. Office, maternal kinship and new imperial marriages supported the family across these years; receiving a title did not itself transfer every personal relationship that Michinaga had developed.