The Tokudaiji family (徳大寺家, ''Tokudaiji-ke'') is a Japanese

aristocratic Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word's ...

family descending from the

Fujiwara clan 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 th ...

. It is a sister house of the

Sanjō family In Japanese, may refer to: People *Emperor Sanjō (三条天皇; Sanjō-tennō), the 67th emperor of Japan * , a Japanese kuge family Fictional characters *Kairi Sanjō and Yukari Sanjō, fictional characters from the manga series ''Shugo Char ...

and the

Saionji family {{Infobox Japanese clan , surname nihongo = 西園寺家 , home province = Kyoto, Yamashiro Province , parent house =Northern Fujiwara , titles = Rokuhara Tandai Genrō Kantō Mōshitsugi Udaijin Sadaijin , founder =Saionji Michis ...

. Its ''

kuge The was a Japanese aristocratic class that dominated the Japanese Imperial Court in Kyoto. The ''kuge'' were important from the establishment of Kyoto as the capital during the Heian period in the late 8th century until the rise of the Kamakur ...

'' family rank was ''seiga'', the highest rank. After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, the family was appointed

Marquess A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

, and later,

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

. The family had a long tradition of playing the

bamboo flute The bamboo flute, especially the bone flute, is one of the oldest musical instruments known. Examples of Paleolithic bone flutes have survived for more than 40,000 years, to be discovered by archaeologists. While the oldest flutes currently kn ...

Origins

The founder of the Tokudaiji family was

Minister of the Left The ''Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary'', Kenkyusha Limited, was a government position in Japan in the late Nara and Heian periods. The position was consolidated in the Taihō Code of 702. The Asuka Kiyomihara Code of 689 marks the i ...

Tokudaiji Saneyoshi, the fourth son of

Fujiwara no Kinsue Fujiwara no Kinsue (藤原公季; 957–1029), also known as ''Kaikō'', was a Japanese statesman, courtier and politician during the Heian period.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Fujiwara no Tokihira" in ; Brinkley, Frank ''et al.'' (1915) ...

. Saneyoshi had a mountain manor in Kinugasaoka, Kadono (currently

Kita-ku, Kyoto is one of the eleven Wards of Kyoto, wards in the Municipalities of Japan, city of Kyoto, Kyoto, Kyoto, in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. Its name means "North Ward." As of 2020, the ward has an estimated population of 117,165 people. Hiragino typefa ...

), and built a

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in Buddhism represen ...

nearby, and called it Tokudaiji. Later, the manor came to be known as Tokudaiji, which Saneyoshi took as his family name.

History

During the

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 ...

, the Tokudaiji ''kuge'' mansion was set up on the north side of Imadegawa Karasuma Higashiiri. The Kyoto Kazoku Kaikan was built on the site in the

Meiji era The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization b ...

, and after the war, it was acquired by

Doshisha University , mottoeng = Truth shall make you free , tagline = , established = Founded 1875,Chartered 1920 , vision = , type = Private , affiliation = , calendar = , endowment = €1 ...

and a library was built on the site. The front gate of the Tokudaiji mansion is the only remaining structure of the mansion. The Tokudaiji family crest ( ''mon'') is one of the

Japanese quince ''Chaenomeles'' is a genus of four species https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:331479-2 of deciduous spiny shrubs, usually 1–3 m tall, in the family Rosaceae. They are native to Southeast Asia. These plants are re ...

crests, the ''mokkō-karahanafusenryō''. Tokudaiji is also known as the first family to use the Japanese quince crest, which has permeated all over Japan to the extent that it is now one of the ten major family crests in Japan. Adopted children continued the family after

bakumatsu was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji government ...

. Since then, the head of the Tokudaiji family was the same as the head of

Kan'in-no-miya The was the youngest of the four shinnōke, branches of the Imperial Family of Japan which were eligible to succeed to the Chrysanthemum Throne in the event that the main line should die out. It was founded by Prince Naohito, the son of Emperor ...

branch of the

Imperial Family of Japan The , also referred to as the Imperial Family or the House of Yamato, comprises those members of the extended family of the reigning Emperor of Japan who undertake official and public duties. Under the present Constitution of Japan, the Emperor i ...

. After the Meiji Restoration,

Tokudaiji Sanetsune ''With information translated from the Japanese Wikipedia article'' Duke was a Japanese statesman and Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan in the Meiji era. Life Tokydaiji Sanetsune was born to a branch of the Fujiwara court nobility in Ky ...

was appointed Marquess in 1884, and later, Duke in 1911. Furthermore, Tokudaiji Tsunemaro, the third son of Sanetsune, separated from the family and was appointed

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

.{{Cite book, last=Otabe, first=Yūji, url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/65474403, title=Kazoku : kindai Nihon kizoku no kyozō to jitsuzō, last2=小田部雄次, date=2006, publisher=Chūō Kōron Shinsha, isbn=4-12-101836-2, edition=Shohan, location=Tōkyō, pages=360, oclc=65474403

Family heads

# Tokudaiji Saneyoshi (1096–1157) # Tokudaiji Kinyoshi (1115–1161) #

Tokudaiji Sanesada was a Japanese ''waka'' poet and nobleman during the Heian period. He is also known as the , having served as Sadaijin in the Heian imperial administration. Poetry One of his poems is included in ''Hyakunin Isshu is a classical Japanese ...

(1139–1191) # Tokudaiji Kintsugu (1175–1227) # Tokudaiji Sanemoto (1194–1265) # Tokudaiji Kintaka (1253–1305) # Tokudaiji Sanetaka (1293–1322) # Tokudaiji Kinkiyo (1312–1360) # Tokudaiji Sanetoki (1338–1404) # Tokudaiji Kintoshi (1371–1428) # Tokudaiji Sanemori (1400–1428) # Tokudaiji Kinari (1422–1486) #

Tokudaiji Saneatsu was a Japanese ''kugyō'' during the Muromachi period. He was the son of Tokudaiji Kin'ari. His children were Tokudaiji Fusako (wife of Konoe Hisamichi and mother of Konoe Taneie and Koga Haremichi), Tokudaiji Kintane, Hino Uchimitsu and a ...

(1445–1533) # Tokudaiji Kintane (1487–1526) # Tokudaiji Sanemichi (1513–1545) # Tokudaiji Kinfusa (1537–1588) # Tokudaiji Sanehisa (1583–1616) # Tokudaiji Kinnobu (1608–1684) # Tokudaiji Sanefusa (1636–1682) # Tokudaiji Kinmoto (1678–1719) # Tokudaiji Sanenori (1713–1740) # Tokudaiji Kinmura (1730–1782) # Tokudaiji Sanemi (1754–1819) # Tokudaiji Kinnari (1770–1811) # Tokudaiji Sanekata (1790–1858) #

Tokudaiji Kin'ito was a Japanese '' kugyō'' (court noble) during the Bakumatsu period. Life Takatsukasa Sukekimi was born on December 22, 1821. His father was Takatsukasa Masamichi and his mother was a daughter of Tokugawa Harutoshi. He was also the adopted s ...

(1821–1883) #

(1839–1919) # Tokudaiji Kinsane (1866–1937) #

Saneatsu Tokudaiji Prince was a Japanese nobleman. Biography In 1932, Tokudaiji began serving as a Chamberlain for Emperor Shōwa. From 1937, he served as a Prince of the House of Peers. During World War II, he served as a lieutenant colonel Lieutenant ...

(1889–1970) # Kinhide Tokudaiji (1970–?) # Sanehiro Tokudaiji (?–present)

References

Japanese clans Fujiwara clan Tokudaiji family Japanese nobility

Origins

History

Family heads

See also

References