is a Japanese aristocratic family. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)
"Konoe," ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 24
retrieved 2013-8-13. The family is a branch of Hokke and, by extension, a main branch of 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 ...

. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)
"Go-sekke"
in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 260.

History

The Konoe claim descent from

Konoe Iezane , son of Motomichi, was a court noble ('' Kugyō'') of the early Kamakura period. His sons include: Takatsukasa Kanehira, and Konoe Kanetsune. In 1206 when Kujō Yoshitune died, he became the head of the Fujiwara family and Sesshō. The same y ...

(1179–1242),. The origin of the family name was the residence of Iezane's grandfather

Konoe Motozane was a Japanese statesman, regent and ''kugyō'' during the late Heian period. He is the founder of the Konoe family and the father of Konoe Motomichi. Life and career Motozane was born in 1143, to his father Fujiwara no Tadamichi. Motozane m ...

, which was located on a road in

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 ...

named "Konoe-Ōji" (近衛大道). Despite Konoe at first being the senior line of the Fujiwara clan, the clan was eventually split up into

Five regent houses The Five Regent Houses (五摂家; ''go-sekke'') is a collective term for the five families of the Fujiwara clan that monopolized the regent position of '' Sekkan'' in Japan from 1252 until 1868. The five houses are Konoe, Takatsukasa, Kujō, Ic ...

during the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

, with each of the five families having the right to assume the

regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

. During the following

Nanboku-chō period The Nanboku-chō period (南北朝時代, ''Nanboku-chō jidai'', "North and South court period", also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period), spanning from 1336 to 1392, was a period that occurred during the formative years of the Mur ...

, a succession dispute of Konoe emerged, between Tsunetada and his cousin Mototsugu - they served in rival courts, the

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

and the

Northern Court The , also known as the Ashikaga Pretenders or Northern Pretenders, were a set of six pretenders to the throne of Japan during the Nanboku-chō period from 1336 through 1392. The present Imperial House of Japan is descended from the Northern Cour ...

respectively; later, when the Southern court lost its political influence in 1392, records of Tsunetada's descendants became lost and have stayed lost ever since. There were at least five Imperial Consorts who came from the Konoe family, including

Konoe Sakiko Konoe Sakiko (近衛前子; 1575 – August 11, 1630) was a member of the Japanese imperial court from the Azuchi-Momoyama period to the Edo period. She was a consort to Emperor Go-Yozei, and the mother of Emperor Go-Mizunoo. Her birth father was ...

, who was adopted by

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

in 1586. The most recent consort from the Konoe was (近衛維子, 1760-1783), who married the 118th Emperor of Japan,

Emperor Go-Momozono was the 118th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 後桃園天皇 (118)/ref>Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 120. He was named after his ...

; they had one daughter Princess Yoshiko. In the early 17th century the Konoe family was imperiled, for

Konoe Nobutada was a Momoyama period Japanese courtier known as a poet, calligrapher, painter and diarist. Having no legitimate son, he adopted his nephew Nobuhiro as his heir. Other names he is known by are Nobumoto (信基) and Nobusuke (信輔) in his early ...

was the last of his line and had no male heir. He decided to adopt one of his nephews, who was also the fourth son of

Emperor Go-Yozei An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( e ...

. The child was renamed

Konoe Nobuhiro , Ōzan (応山) as a monk, was a '' kugyō'' or Japanese court noble of the Edo period (1603–1868). He was born the fourth son of Emperor Go-Yōzei. His mother was Empress Dowager Chūka, or Konoe Sakiko by birth. Nobuhiro was adopted by Konoe ...

(1599-1649), who later married Nobutada's daughter. From there the Konoe lineage was renewed and continued until 1956, when the eldest son of Prime Minister

Fumimaro Konoe Prince was a Japanese politician and prime minister. During his tenure, he presided over the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 and the breakdown in relations with the United States, which ultimately culminated in Japan's entry into World W ...

,Nussbaum
"Konoe Fumimaro"
in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 558-559. Fumitaka, died in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

without a legitimate male heir. Fumitaka's wife subsequently adopted his nephew

Tadateru Konoe is the former president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Tadateru Konoe is the 50th Head of the Konoe family. President of Japanese Red Cross Society since 2005, Tadateru Konoe has dedicated his en ...

, second son of Fumitaka's sister, as their heir. Tadateru's patrilineal descent, through his biological father Morisada Hosokawa, comes from the

Hosokawa clan The is a Japanese Samurai kin group or clan. Ancestors # Emperor Jimmu # Emperor Suizei # Emperor Annei # Emperor Itoku # Emperor Kōshō # Emperor Kōan # Emperor Kōrei # Emperor Kōgen # Emperor Kaika # Emperor Sujin # Emperor Suinin # Emper ...

, a cadet branch of

Seiwa Genji The is a line of the Japanese Minamoto clan that is descended from Emperor Seiwa, which is the most successful and powerful line of the clan. Many of the most famous Minamoto warriors, including Minamoto no Yoshiie, Minamoto no Yoritomo, the foun ...

and descended from

Emperor Seiwa was the 56th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 清和天皇 (56)/ref> according to the traditional List of Emperors of Japan, order of succession. Seiwa's reign spanned the years from 858 through 876.He was also the pre ...

; he also has an elder brother

Morihiro Hosokawa is a Japanese politician and Nobility, noble who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1993 to 1994, leading a coalition government which was the first non-Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government of Japan since 1955 ...

, the

Prime Minister of Japan The prime minister of Japan (Japanese: 内閣総理大臣, Hepburn: ''Naikaku Sōri-Daijin'') is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its Ministers of Stat ...

from 1993 to 1994. Tadateru married, in 1966, a granddaughter of

Emperor Taishō was the 123rd Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession, and the second ruler of the Empire of Japan from 30 July 1912 until his death in 1926. The Emperor's personal name was . According to Japanese custom, while reigni ...

, Yasuko (formerly Princess Yasuko of Mikasa).

Family Tree

Tokiwai family

The was founded by a son of Konoe Tadahiro, Gyōki (尭熈), who was the lead Buddhist monk of

Senju-ji Senju-ji (専修寺), also known as Takadayama (高田山), refers to a pair of temples which are the chief Buddhist temples of the Takada branch of Jōdo Shinshū, a Japanese Buddhist sect. The current head temple, Honan Senju-ji, founded in the ...

, and he took the family name "Tokiwai" since 1872.

Miyagawa family

References

{{reflist

External links

Konoe ''kamon'' at Harimaya.com
Japanese clans Fujiwara clan