Fujiwara no Hirotsugu

Fujiwara no Hirotsugu was the eldest son of Umakai, whose descendants formed the Fujiwara Ceremonial House. In 738, Hirotsugu moved from governing Yamato, around present-day Nara, to a junior deputy's post at Dazaifu, the court's regional headquarters in northern Kyushu. The appointment placed him far from the capital but within an administration able to call on provincial soldiers. [S01, S02]

In 740, he petitioned for the removal of the monk Genbō and the scholar-official Kibi no Makibi, influential figures around chief minister Tachibana no Moroe. Hirotsugu then raised forces with his brother Tsunate. Other Fujiwara branches did not rally behind them. The government sent an army under Ōno no Azumahito; local officials changed sides, and Hirotsugu's forces were defeated near the Itabitsu River. His challenge to court personnel had become a war requiring a response across the provinces. [S01, S02]

Hirotsugu tried to escape westward from the islands now called the Gotō archipelago. He was captured and executed with Tsunate in 740. His birth year is unknown. The campaign survives chiefly through Shoku Nihongi, a later court chronicle. Its account records his demands and defeat more securely than it reveals his private reasons for taking up arms. [S01, S02]