was a Japanese court noble and an administrator in early

Heian Period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

. His father was Fujiwara no Sadao from South-fujiwara clan. His first son, Fujiwara no Kiyotsura (藤原清貫), was appointed Dainagon (counsellor).

Career

In 855, Yasunori was appointed ''

Jibu-shō The (lit. the department of governance affairs) was a division of the eighth century Japanese government of the Imperial Court in Kyoto), and it is sometimes identified as the "Ministry of the Interior".

-shō'' (fourth assistant to the Minister). He held the posts of ''Minbu-shō-shō'' (民部少丞),

Hyōbu-shō The Ministry of War or , sometimes called ''Tsuwamono no Tsukasa,'' was a division of the eighth century Japanese government of the Imperial Court in Kyoto, instituted in the Asuka period and formalized during the Heian period. The Ministry was re ...

-shō (secondary staff officers), and

Shikibu-shō The was one of eight ministries of the Japanese imperial court. History It was established by the Taihō Code of early 8th century. The ministry was replaced in the Meiji period. The ministry was renamed ''Mombushō'' for a brief number of yea ...

-shō. In 860, he was appointed Hyōbu no dai-jō (兵部大丞). In 866, Yasunori was appointed Kokushi (official) of

Bitchū Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan on the Seto Inland Sea, Inland Sea side of western Honshū, in what is today western Okayama Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Bizen Province, Bizen and Bingo Province, Bingo Provinces; those t ...

. At the time, this province was beleaguered with water shortages and misgovernment. Yasunori rescued the poor and improved government through a policy promoting agriculture. After that, he left for

Bizen Province was a province of Japan on the Inland Sea side of Honshū, in what is today the southeastern part of Okayama Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Bitchū and Bingo Provinces. Bizen borders Mimasaka, Harima, and Bitchū Provinces. Bizen ...

and enjoyed great popularity because of his competence in government. In 876, Yasunori returned to

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

, and was appointed ''Emon-no-Suke'' (The guard of Kyoto), ''Kebiishi'' (検非違使, peace maintenance and civil administration of Kyoto), and ''Minbu-Daiyū'' (Assistant secretary in the Ministry of Taxation). In 878, Yasunori was appointed Kokushi of Dewa Province. At the time,

Emishi The (also called Ebisu and Ezo), written with Chinese characters that literally mean "shrimp barbarians," constituted an ancient ethnic group of people who lived in parts of Honshū, especially in the Tōhoku region, referred to as in contemp ...

started a rebellion in Dewa Province, and completely defeated the government army. Yasunori was appointed a provincial governor, because he was respected for his governance. After arriving at his new post in Dewa, Yasunori deployed soldiers and supplied the government's reserve supply of rice to the people. When he heard about Yasunori's good government, Emishi gave in without further resistance. The Japanese court ordered Yasunori to suppress the rebellion completely, but he advised the Court that a generous policy was good for Dewa Province. This rebellion, known as ''Gangyō-Rebellion'', ended without the use of force. Yasunori was appointed Kokushi of Sanuki Province in 882, and appointed ''Dazai-no-Daini'' (Assistant secretary of Dazaifu Province). Because Emperor Uda was evaluating Yasunori's abilities, Yasunori returned to Kyoto and was promoted to ''Minbu-kyō'' (民部卿, the secretary in Ministry of Taxation) in 891. At the age of seventy, he had a premonition that death was near. He went to Mountain Hiei, and died while chanting the nembutsu.

Evaluation by historians

A 9th century scholar,

Miyoshi Kiyotsura was a Japanese Confucian scholar, now most notable for his opprobrium of Buddhism. Life Kiyotsura was a scholar and professor of literature, eventually becoming the Daigaku-no-kami and writing a biography of Fujiwara no Yasunori. He also enjo ...

, wrote a biography of Yasunori. In the Late

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

Saitō Chikudō was a Japanese confucian scholar, historian, and poet. His real name was Kaoru (馨). His pen name was Chikudō (竹堂) or Bōyōshi (茫洋子). Life Chikudō was born in Mutsukoku-Tōdagun-Numabemura (now Tajiri in Tōda District, Miyagi pre ...

opined that Yasunori was equal to

Nakatomi no kamatari Fujiwara no Kamatari (藤原鎌足, 614 – November 14, 669) was a Japanese statesman, courtier and aristocrat during the Asuka period (538–710).Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Fujiwara no Tadahira" in ; Brinkley, Frank ''et al.'' (191 ...

in politics; was as intellectual a person as Miyoshi Kiyotsura; and was a person of as high a caliber as Sugawara no Michizane. Unfortunately Yasunori did not meet an Emperor who could make him a statesman in the central government, so he could show his prowess only in local politics.

References

* "Fujiwara no Yasunori Den": Japanese (藤原保則伝) by

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fujiwara no, Yasunori Kuge People of Heian-period Japan 825 births 895 deaths Fujiwara clan Heian period Buddhists