Fujiwara no Tokihira

Fujiwara no Tokihira (871–909), the eldest son of the powerful minister Mototsune, rose through the Heian court’s highest offices. When Emperor Uda abdicated in 897, Tokihira and the scholar-official Sugawara no Michizane were entrusted with government for the young Emperor Daigo. In 899 they became ministers of the left and right respectively, two senior positions through which court decisions were prepared and carried out. [S01, S04]

Michizane was removed and sent to Dazaifu in 901 after being accused of plotting to replace the emperor. Tokihira was central to the court coalition that brought him down and benefited from his removal. The charge does not itself prove the alleged plot, nor does the outcome establish jealousy as Tokihira’s sole motive. In office he also pressed measures to regulate estates and sustain the older system of registered land and court administration. [S01]

He participated in compiling the official history Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku and the administrative rules known as the Engishiki. Work on the latter began in 905 and was completed in 927, long after his death. Government later passed chiefly through his brother Tadahira’s line. Drama remembered Tokihira as Michizane’s sinister opponent, leaving his practical work in law and administration less prominent than the story of the man he helped exile. [S01, S02, S03]