Fujiwara no Kamatari

Who They Were

Fujiwara no Kamatari (藤原鎌足, ふじわらのかまたり) was a Japanese aristocrat and politician of the Asuka period (538–710), the era when Japan's first centralised state took shape. He was born in 614 into the Nakatomi clan and died on 14 November 669. His father was Nakatomi no Mikeko; his mother was Ōtomo no Chisen no Iratsume. His wife was Kagami no Ōsemi, and among his children were the son Fujiwara no Fuhito and the daughters Ioe no Iratsume and Hikami no Iratsume.

He is remembered above all as the co-architect, with Prince Naka no Ōe, of the Taika Reform, and as the founder of the Fujiwara clan, which dominated the Japanese court through the Nara and Heian periods. He held the office of Naidaijin (内大臣, ないだいじん), the Inner Minister, an office created for him.

Life and Career

Kamatari was born into the Nakatomi clan, a family of hereditary ritualists who served the court in matters of Shinto observance. In the middle of the seventh century the court was split over the arrival of Buddhism. The Soga clan championed the new religion; Kamatari, together with the Mononobe clan, opposed its introduction. The Soga won, and Buddhism became the dominant religion of the imperial court.

The political struggle turned violent. In 645, Kamatari and Prince Naka no Ōe carried out the coup that removed the Soga from power, and the two men then launched the Taika Reform of 645, a programme that centralised and strengthened the central government. The reforms reorganised landholding, taxation and local administration along continental models, and they concentrated authority in the throne rather than in the great clans.

Kamatari served the new regime as Inner Minister. Just before his death, Emperor Tenji — the former Prince Naka no Ōe, who reigned 626–672 — granted him the surname Fujiwara and the rank of Taishokan. He died on 14 November 669, and the surname he received in his final days became the name of the most powerful aristocratic family in Japanese history.

Why They Matter

Two achievements define Kamatari's place in Japanese history. The first is the Taika Reform, which he set in motion with Prince Naka no Ōe in 645. It was the founding act of the Japanese state as a centralised, bureaucratic monarchy, and it shaped the way the country was governed for centuries.

The second is the Fujiwara clan. By granting Kamatari the surname Fujiwara, Emperor Tenji created a lineage that would go on to dominate the court through the Nara and Heian periods. Kamatari's son Fujiwara no Fuhito extended the family's power, and later Fujiwara statesmen married their daughters into the imperial line and governed as regents. Almost every major development in pre-modern Japanese politics runs back, in one way or another, to the man born Nakatomi no Kamatari.

The Name in Japanese

The Japanese name is 藤原鎌足, read in kana as ふじわらのかまたり and romanised as Fujiwara no Kamatari. The particle の (no) links the family name to the personal name, a standard pattern in classical Japanese names: "Kamatari of the Fujiwara."

藤 (ふじ, fuji) — the first character of the surname. It means "wisteria," the climbing vine with hanging clusters of purple flowers. The wisteria became the emblem of the Fujiwara clan, and the plant and the family are inseparable in Japanese art and heraldry.

原 (わら, wara) — the second character of the surname. It means "field," "plain" or "meadow." In this compound it is read wara rather than the more familiar hara, a shift that reflects how the name was actually pronounced. Together, 藤原 means "wisteria field."

鎌 (かま, kama) — the first character of the personal name. It means "sickle," the curved blade used for cutting grain and grass. The image is an agricultural tool, not a weapon of war.

足 (たり, tari) — the second character of the personal name. It means "foot" or "leg." In this name it is read tari, giving the full personal name 鎌足, Kamatari.

The older form of the name, 中臣鎌足 (Nakatomi no Kamatari), uses a different surname: 中 (なか, naka) "middle" or "inside," and 臣 (とみ, tomi) "retainer" or "minister." The Nakatomi were the clan of court ritualists; the name reflects their hereditary role in serving the throne. When Kamatari received the surname Fujiwara, he exchanged the name of his birth clan for one that would outlast it by a thousand years.

Legacy

Kamatari died on 14 November 669, days after receiving the Fujiwara surname and the rank of Taishokan from Emperor Tenji. His son Fujiwara no Fuhito carried the family forward, and the Fujiwara went on to become the most powerful aristocratic house of the Nara and Heian periods, shaping the court through marriage, regency and the highest offices of state.

His political work outlived him as well. The Taika Reform of 645, which he launched with Prince Naka no Ōe, established the centralised government that governed Japan for centuries and set the pattern for later reform movements. The coup of 645 that removed the Soga clan from power ended the dominance of one great family and opened the way for another — his own.

In Japanese memory, Kamatari stands at the point where the old clan-based court gave way to a centralised state, and where the Nakatomi ritualist became the founder of the Fujiwara. Both the state and the family that dominated it trace their beginnings to the same man.