was an imperial regent in the late 12th century, serving both

Emperor Rokujō was the 79th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1165 through 1168. Genealogy Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (his ''imina'') was Nobuhito''-sh ...

and

Emperor Takakura was the 80th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1168 through 1180. Genealogy Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (his ''imina'') was Norihito''-shi ...

. He was also called , as he came from the village of Matsudono, near

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 ...

. Fujiwara no Tadataka and Matsudono Moroie were his first and third sons, respectively. Though wielding great power as ''sesshō'' and ''kampaku'', Motofusa was prevented from becoming the head of the

Fujiwara family was a powerful family of imperial regents in Japan, descending from the Nakatomi clan and, as legend held, through them their ancestral god Ame-no-Koyane. The Fujiwara prospered since the ancient times and dominated the imperial court until ...

by the political maneuvers of

Taira no Kiyomori was a military leader and ''kugyō'' of the late Heian period of Japan. He established the first samurai-dominated administrative government in the history of Japan. Early life Kiyomori was born in Heian-kyō, Japan, in 1118 as the first so ...

. An incident in 1170, while Motofusa was on his way to the Hōjuji Palace, further cemented his rivalry with the

Taira The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divided i ...

clan. The Regent, along with a large retinue, was making his way to the palace for a ceremony which the

cloistered A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against ...

Emperor Go-Shirakawa was the 77th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His de jure reign spanned the years from 1155 through 1158, though arguably he effectively maintained imperial power for almost thirty-seven years through the ''ins ...

was supposed to attend, when a young boy, Taira no Sukemori, refused to make way for him and his retinue. As a result, the Regent's men smashed Sukemori's carriage and humiliated him. Sukemori was a grandson of Kiyomori and so, after a few failed attempts at reprisal, followers of

Taira no Shigemori was the eldest regent of the Taira clan patriarch, Taira no Kiyomori. He supported his father in the Heiji Rebellion. He died two years before his father. His son, Taira no Koremori, became a monk in 1184, and drowned himself. Oda Nobunaga cl ...

(Sukemori's father) attacked the Regent's men on their way to a solemn ceremony, dragging them from their horses and humiliating them. These events, while seemingly minor on the surface, led to a rift between Emperor Go-Shirakawa and the Taira, and therefore to closer relations between Go-Shirakawa and the

Minamoto was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during the ...

, enemies of the Taira. He is the maternal grandfather of the founder of

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Buddhism in Japan, Eihei Dōgen. In 1179, he ordained as a Buddhist monk and took the

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Zenkan (善観). When he died in 1230, he was given the posthumous Buddhist names Nakayamain (中山院) and Bodaiin (菩提院).

Service as Regent

*1166–1168: Sessho under

. *1168–1172: Sessho under

. *1172–1179: Kampaku under Emperor Takakura. {{DEFAULTSORT:Matsudono, Motofusa 1144 births 1230 deaths Fujiwara clan Matsudono family People of Heian-period Japan People of Kamakura-period Japan Sesshō and Kampaku Heian period Buddhist clergy Kamakura period Buddhist clergy