Nakatomi no Kamatari

21/05/2018| Eli| 0 Comment| 5:26 am

Period: Asuka Period
Occupation: Naidaijin
Family: Fujiwara no Fubito (son) Fujiwara no Higami no Iratsume (daughter) Fujiwara no Ioe no Iratsume (daughter)
Birth: 614
Death: 669

Nakatomi no Kamatari

Nakatomi no Kamatari (中臣鎌足) was a member of the Nakatomi Clan and later founder of the Fujiwara Clan.

Kamatari lived from 614-669AD¹ ² and was the father of Fujiwara no Fubito.²

During his life Kamatari was the leader of Shinto Rituals (jinji no haku) though it was during this time that Buddhism was growing in popularity at court.¹

In 552, the Nakatomi and Mononobe fought unsuccesfully to stop Buddhism being introduced, the Soga winning out who favored Buddhism.²

By now the Soga Clan had grow vastly in power and so Prince Naka no Ōe enlisted the help of Kamatari to try and destory the Soga Clan. This led to a coup in 645 where Soga no Iruka was killed and Soga no Emishi committed suicide.

From this Empress Kōgyoku was forced to abdicate for her younger brother Karu.¹ ²

Legends say the plan to eradicate the Soga were made in a wisteria arbor (fujiwara).

After this Emperor Kōtoku designated Naka no Ōe as his heir and made Kamatari Inner Minister (uchi-tsuomo), a position later called Naidaijin from 669. Due to this Kamatari was the first to hold the position of Naidaijin (Minister of Domestic Affairs).

Kamatari launched a program of reforms with Naka no Ōe in 645 called the Taika Reforms to reinforce Imperial Authority.²

Later the Emperor Tenji allowed him to change his family name to Fujiwara. Kamatari’s nephew Nakatomi no Omimaro therefore kept the Nakatomi Clan name going.¹

Footnotes

1. Louis Frederic, translated by Kathe Roth (2002) “Japan Encyclopedia”. London: Harvard University Press.
2. Kodansha. (1993) ”Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia”. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.