Biographies LXIII: Fujiwara-no-Kaneie and His Sons, Yoshichika and Koreshige

Fujiwara-no-Michitsuna

¶Fujiwara-no-Kaneie was the third son of Morosuke, Udaijin, Minister of the Right. At only ten years of age he was permitted to attend at court as a page (warawa-tenjō). In the reign of Emperor Murakami he rose steadily to become Sakyō-no-daibu, Master of the Left Capital Office (Note: the Sonpi Bunmyaku writes "Ukyō-no-daibu," Master of the Right Capital Office), and concurrently served as Tōgū-no-suke, Assistant Master of the Crown Prince's Household. When Emperor Reizei took the throne he became Kurōdo-no-tō, Head Chamberlain, and Sakonoe-no-chūjō, Middle Captain of the Left Palace Guards; passing over his elder brother Kanemichi, he was granted Junior Third Rank and appointed Chūnagon, Middle Counsellor. In the first year of Tenroku (970) he concurrently became Ukonoe-no-taishō, Commander of the Right Palace Guards, and was later promoted to Dainagon, Major Counsellor, while retaining the post of Commander (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). Kanemichi resented that Kaneie now outranked him. He had once obtained a handwritten note from the Empress Dowager, the mother of Emperor En'yū, which stated that the post of Kampaku, Chief Advisor, should be handed on in order of seniority among brothers. When his elder brother Koretada fell gravely ill, Kanemichi presented this note to Emperor En'yū; on its strength he was granted the right of Nairan, prior inspection of documents, and soon became Kampaku (Note: following the Gukanshō and the Ōkagami). Moreover, Kaneie's daughter Tōshi had entered the household of the Retired Emperor Reizei and had borne the future Emperor Sanjō, so Kanemichi did not look kindly on him. When Kaneie then sought to send his second daughter Senshi into the inner palace, Kanemichi's anger only grew (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). In the second year of Jōgen (977), when Kanemichi lay on his sickbed, Kaneie assumed he would never rise again and hurried to the palace. Hearing of this, Kanemichi flew into a great rage (Note: following the Gukanshō and the Ōkagami); sick as he was, he rode to the palace in a palanquin, handed the post of Kampaku to Fujiwara-no-Yoritada, Sadaijin, Minister of the Left, and in his heart intended to strip Kaneie of his offices and exile him to a distant place. But Kaneie had committed no offense, and Kanemichi could not vent his anger as he wished; in the end he merely removed Kaneie from his post as Commander and made him Jibu-kyō, Minister of Civil Administration (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). Kaneie, utterly dissatisfied, poured out his feelings in a long poem and petitioned the emperor. The emperor answered with the "Inabune poem," whose meaning was that there was nothing for it but to endure for a time (Note: following the Ōkagami Uragaki and the Shūi Wakashū). When Kanemichi died and Yoritada took charge of government, Yoritada pitied Kaneie in his misfortune and repeatedly interceded for him at court. In the first year of Tengen (978) Kaneie was appointed Udaijin, Minister of the Right. Senshi at last entered the inner palace and, together with Yoritada's daughter Junshi, became Nyōgo, Consort, and was greatly favored. Soon afterward the Horikawa Chūgū, the Empress, died, and Senshi gave birth to Imperial Prince Yasuhito at the Higashi Sanjō mansion. Kaneie believed that Senshi would surely become Empress; but although she enjoyed the emperor's favor, he, out of consideration for Yoritada, outwardly showed a cold attitude toward her. In the fifth year of Tengen (982), when Junshi was finally installed as Empress, Kaneie was deeply disappointed; from then on he ceased to attend court and shut himself up at home with his children. Senshi likewise remained at her family's house. The emperor repeatedly sent envoys to inquire after his mood and, to console him, had the coming-of-age ceremony of the first donning of the hakama performed for the prince within the palace. In the seventh month of the second year of Eikan (984) the sumo tournament was held; wishing the prince to see it, the emperor summoned Kaneie, but Kaneie pleaded illness and did not attend. After repeated urging he had no choice but to come, and the emperor said to him: "I have governed the realm for sixteen years, and the business of government has gradually grown wearisome to me. Before long I intend to yield the throne to the Crown Prince. It would be well to make Yasuhito Crown Prince. I have long thought so, yet you did not know my true intent, and you were forever showing a discontented face. That, too, is only human. Everyone loves his own child, and all the more so I, for he is my only one." Hearing this, Kaneie was overjoyed. Soon Emperor Kazan took the throne, and Yasuhito became Crown Prince (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). Kaneie considered that he himself ought to be Kampaku, but Yoritada still held the post, and Fujiwara-no-Yoshichika, Chūnagon, the emperor's maternal uncle, was monopolizing the conduct of government. Kaneie still stayed at home and did not attend court, while his son Michikane, a Kurōdo, Chamberlain, ingratiated himself with the emperor. Just then the Nyōgo Shishi died, and the emperor, deeply grieved, conceived the wish to abandon the throne. Michikane took advantage of this and urged him to take Buddhist orders (Note: following the Gukanshō). In the sixth month of the second year of Kanna (986) the emperor at last left the palace for Kazan and abdicated (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari and the Gukanshō). When the Crown Prince took the throne as Emperor Ichijō, Kaneie fulfilled his ambitions: following the precedent of Fujiwara-no-Yoshifusa he became Sesshō, Regent (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Ichidai Yōki), and became Ujinochōja, Head of the Fujiwara clan (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). He was granted Udoneri, Palace Attendants, and Banchō, guard sergeants of the Left and Right Palace Guards (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Ichidai Yōki; for the Banchō, following the Kugyō Bunin). Soon he resigned as Udaijin and was granted Junior First Rank (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Ichidai Yōki), was given the status of a Sangū, one of the three empresses (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku, the Kugyō Bunin, and the Ichidai Yōki), and was granted a fief of three thousand households (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku); his position was placed above the Three Ministers (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Ichidai Yōki). In the second year of Eien (988) Kaneie reached the age of sixty. The emperor granted a celebratory banquet at the Jōneiden (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku, the Fusō Ryakki, the Hyakurenshō, and the Kugyō Bunin), and Kaneie presented offerings of cloth to sixty shrines and gave a banquet at the Higashi Sanjō mansion (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Fusō Ryakki). He was also permitted to enter and leave the palace gates in a hand-drawn carriage (renja) (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki, the Ichidai Yōki, and the Kugyō Bunin). He was further granted the newly built Nijō Kyōgoku mansion. In the autumn of this year he gathered the Kugyō, the high court nobles, and those below them, and held a splendid banquet (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Hyakurenshō). Minamoto-no-Yorimitsu, Tōgū-no-daishin, Senior Secretary of the Crown Prince's Household, presented thirty horses and distributed them among the guests; he also summoned courtesans from Kayō to keep the guests company with wine, and gave out rice and silk. The splendor of banquets at that time was without precedent (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku). When Kaneie once built the Higashi Sanjō mansion, he modeled the construction of its west wing on the Seiryōden, the emperor's residential hall, and so the world silently criticized his extravagance and arrogance (Note: following the Ōkagami). In the first year of Eiso (989), when Yoritada died, Kaneie succeeded him and was appointed Dajōdaijin, Chancellor (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku, the Kugyō Bunin, and the Ichidai Yōki). In the first year of Shōryaku (990) Kaneie fell ill. Earlier, because uncanny occurrences had repeatedly taken place at the Kyōgoku mansion (Note: following the Ōkagami and the Eiga Monogatari), he had moved his residence to the Higashi Sanjō mansion (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). He submitted a memorial declining the regency and became Kampaku (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Ichidai Yōki. Note: the Kugyō Bunin and the Eiga Monogatari say that he also resigned as Chancellor, but this is probably an error). Soon he shaved his head and took the Buddhist name Nyojitsu. He was granted one hundred persons to be ordained as monks (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku, the Ichidai Yōki, and the Kugyō Bunin. Note: the Kiryaku gives one thousand persons instead of one hundred), a general amnesty was proclaimed throughout the realm, the yō and chō taxes were remitted, and an additional distribution of relief (shingō) was made, all to pray for his recovery (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku). By imperial edict his fiefs were left unchanged (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin); his status as a Sangū, and the rank-conferrals he had made on persons he had appointed, were all to remain as before, and a further fief of two thousand households was added, but Kaneie firmly declined and did not accept it (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). At last he died at the Higashi Sanjō mansion (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Eiga Monogatari). He was sixty-two years old. He was given the title Hōkōin (Note: following the Gukanshō). In the world he was called the Hōkōin Minister, or Higashi Sanjō (Note: following the Ōkagami). He placed trust in Fujiwara-no-Arikuni, Sachūben, Middle Controller of the Left, and Taira-no-Korenaka, Uchūben, Middle Controller of the Right; he always consulted the two of them on every matter, saying, "These are my left and right eyes" (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). There was also a shrine maiden (miko) who frequented his household and spoke of good and ill fortune, and at times her predictions were remarkably accurate. Whenever someone asked her about something, she answered lying face down, so the people of the time called her the "Uchifushi no Miko," the Lying-Down Shrine Maiden. Kaneie believed in her deeply; he followed her words in all his daily movements, and went so far as to bestow court dress on her and let her use his knee as a pillow while he questioned her (Note: following the Ōkagami). Once, when he was still a Nagon, Counsellor, he dreamed that he passed Ōsaka and met with snow. On waking he thought it ill-omened and asked a diviner, who said, "It is a good dream. You will obtain a piebald ox." Indeed, someone then presented him with a piebald ox. Impressed by the diviner's skill, Kaneie sent him away with generous gifts. When he told this to Ōe-no-Masahira, Masahira said, "That divination did not hit the mark. Ōsaka means 'barrier' (seki), and snow is 'white' (haku). You will surely become Kampaku." Sure enough, the following year Kaneie became Kampaku (Note: following the Gōdanshō). His sons were Michitaka, Michitsuna, Michikane, and Michinaga (Note: following the Ōkagami Uragaki). Michinaga has a separate biography.

Fujiwara-no-Koreshige

¶Fujiwara-no-Michitaka. In the second year of Eikan (984) Michitaka rose rapidly, was granted Junior Third Rank, and was appointed Tōgū-no-gon-no-daibu, Provisional Master of the Crown Prince's Household. In the Kanna years (985-987) he served successively as Gon-chūnagon, Provisional Middle Counsellor, and Gon-dainagon, Provisional Major Counsellor, and was granted Senior Second Rank. In the first year of Eiso (989) he was appointed Naidaijin, Minister of the Interior, and soon concurrently became Sakonoe-no-taishō, Commander of the Left Palace Guards. In the first year of Shōryaku (990), when Kaneie resigned the regency because of illness, Michitaka succeeded him as Kampaku and soon also became Sesshō, and was granted zuijin, personal escorts, and the use of an ox-drawn carriage (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). Once Kaneie had secretly asked Arikuni, Korenaka, and Kunihira (Note: the surname is missing), "Which of my sons should I have succeed me?" (Note: following the Gōdanshō and the Kojidan). Arikuni had long been on friendly terms with Michikane (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). Moreover, during the years when Kaneie held power Michikane had exerted himself considerably, so Arikuni said that Michikane would be the right choice. But Korenaka and Kunihira replied, "How could the distinction between the heir by the principal wife and the sons of secondary wives be disturbed?" and Kaneie followed their advice. When Michitaka heard of this, he said, "I did not obtain power through ability; it was only because I was the eldest son by the principal wife. What is there to boast of? I shall take it as my joy simply to repay Arikuni's kindness" (Note: following the Gōdanshō and the Kojidan). Yet once he took office, the very first thing he did was to strip Arikuni and his son of their posts (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari, the Gōdanshō, and the Kojidan). In the second year of Shōryaku (991) he resigned as Naidaijin (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku, the Kugyō Bunin, and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). This was because the emperor had gradually grown older and the time had come for him to rule in person (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). In the fourth year of Shōryaku (993) he at last resigned as Sesshō and became Kampaku anew (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku, the Kugyō Bunin, and the Sonpi Bunmyaku), but the appointment-lists (jimoku) and the reports to the throne (kanzō) were still handled as they would be under a Sesshō (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). In the first year of Chōtoku (995) he fell ill and repeatedly submitted memorials asking to resign, but this was not granted (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Kugyō Bunin). He then asked that his son Korechika be allowed to carry out the duties of the regency on his behalf, and this was granted (Note: following the Ōkagami and the Eiga Monogatari). In this year he shaved his head, and soon afterward he died (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku, the Kugyō Bunin, the Ōkagami, and the Eiga Monogatari). He was forty-three years old (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku, the Kugyō Bunin, and the Ōkagami Uragaki). In the world he was called the Naka-no-Kampaku, the Middle Kampaku (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin, the Sonpi Bunmyaku, the Ōkagami, and the Eiga Monogatari), and was also called Nijō, or Minami-no-in (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). After Michitaka's death his younger brothers Michikane and Michinaga became Sesshō one after another, so the people of the time called them the "Sandō," the Three Michi, in imitation of the precedent by which the three sons of Fujiwara-no-Shōsen-kō (Mototsune) were called the "Sanpei," the Three Hei (Note: following the Ōkagami). Michitaka was handsome in appearance and correct in bearing, and committed no great fault in office, but he promoted his wife's father, Takashina-no-Naritada, to Second Rank and appointed many others of his wife's kin, and the people of the time thought little of him on this account (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). He was extremely fond of drink and always took Fujiwara-no-Naritoki and Fujiwara-no-Asateru as his drinking companions (Note: following the Kojidan). The three would always set out in the same carriage loaded with wine, and when drunk would let down their hair and shed their garments and take delight in such revels, until at last this became the source of his illness and he could not rise. At the end, when those about him tried to have him face west and recite the Buddha's name, Michitaka said, "If Naritoki and Asateru are in the Pure Land, then I too wish to be reborn there. If not, I do not desire it" (Note: following the Ōkagami, the Kojidan, and the Gukanshō). His sons Korechika and Takaie have separate biographies. His eldest son Michiyori (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Ōkagami) was pure and gentle by nature and enjoyed a high reputation from an early age (Note: following the Ōkagami). He was raised by his grandfather Kaneie and rose in office to Dainagon. He died in the first year of Chōtoku (995) and was known in the world as the Yamanoi Dainagon (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin, the Sonpi Bunmyaku, and the Ōkagami).

¶Fujiwara-no-Michitsuna. In the Chōtoku years (995-999) Michitsuna rose in office to Dainagon (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku), and concurrently served as Ukonoe-no-taishō, Commander of the Right Palace Guards, and Tōgū-no-fu, Tutor of the Crown Prince. He died in the fourth year of Kannin (1020) (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Sonpi Bunmyaku), at the age of sixty-six (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Ōkagami). In the world he was called the Fu-no-Dainagon (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). He was of a covetous and base nature. When Emperor Go-Ichijō was young, Michitsuna was in attendance on him and asked, "Has Your Highness ever seen gold dust scattered about?" When the emperor answered that he had not, Michitsuna said, "There is no sight so splendid," and ordering a Kurōdo, Chamberlain, to bring one hundred ryō of gold dust from the Kura-ryō, the Bureau of the Imperial Storehouse, he scattered it himself. The emperor saw this and was greatly delighted. Michitsuna volunteered to gather it up, and while outwardly pretending to throw it away, in fact tucked it into his bosom and withdrew (Note: following the Zoku Kojidan). His sons were Kanetsune, who became Sangi, Counsellor; Kanemune, who became Musashi-no-kami, Governor of Musashi; and Kanetsuna, who became Ukonoe-no-shōshō, Minor Captain of the Right Palace Guards (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

¶Fujiwara-no-Michikane. Michikane was by nature manly and heavily bearded (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari), and rough and obstinate in temperament (Note: following the Ōkagami and the Eiga Monogatari). When Emperor Kazan took the throne, Fujiwara-no-Yoshichika, Chūnagon, took part in government as the emperor's maternal uncle (Note: following the Gukanshō and the Jikkinshō). Kaneie did not look kindly on this and plotted to have the emperor abdicate early so that he himself might become Sesshō. Michikane perceived his intention and sought by every means to bring it about (Note: following the Gukanshō). At that time Michikane was serving close to the emperor as Kurōdo Sashōben, Chamberlain and Minor Controller of the Left. Just then the Nyōgo Shishi died, and the emperor was sunk in grief and kept longing for her. Michikane, together with the monk Gongu, expounded the Buddhist scriptures and urged the emperor to abdicate, saying, "If Your Majesty first takes orders, I shall follow and accompany you." The emperor at last resolved to do so (Note: following the Gukanshō and the Kojidan). On a night in the sixth month of the second year of Kanna (986), the emperor secretly left the palace together with Michikane and set out for Kazan, but when the moment came he wavered and said, "I should like to think about it a little longer." Michikane pressed him: "The Three Sacred Treasures have already been handed over to the Crown Prince. It is no longer possible to abandon the matter." The emperor finally entered the Gangyōji temple at Kazan and cut his hair. Michikane was also to have shaved his head with him, but he deceived the emperor, saying, "If I take orders without telling my father, I shall be an unfilial son for all time. Please let me first go home and take leave of my father," and shaking out his sleeves he left. Only then did the emperor realize that he had been tricked (Note: see the Ōkagami, the Gukanshō, and the Kojidan). When Emperor Ichijō took the throne and Kaneie became Sesshō, Michikane too was promoted, and in less than half a year he rose step by step to Gon-chūnagon. In the first year of Eiso (989) he was appointed Gon-dainagon and granted Senior Second Rank. In the first year of Shōryaku (990) he concurrently became Ukonoe-no-taishō; in the following year he was appointed Naidaijin, and in the fifth year of Shōryaku (994) he was moved to Udaijin (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). When Michitaka died, his son Korechika, jealous of Michikane's rising position and reputation, had his maternal grandfather Takashina-no-Naritada secretly lay a curse upon him. Michikane happened to be ill at that time, and when diviners were consulted, the signs said it would be well to change his residence (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). So he moved to the house of Fujiwara-no-Sukeyuki, with whom he was on close terms, but soon an imperial edict appointed him Kampaku (Note: following the Ōkagami and the Eiga Monogatari). Soon afterward he died, at the age of twenty-five (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin, the Gukanshō, and the Ōkagami Uragaki). He was posthumously granted the rank of Dajōdaijin, Senior First Rank (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). Because he held office for only seven days (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari), he was called in the world the Nanuka Kampaku, the Seven-Day Kampaku (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Gukanshō). He was also called Awata, or Nijō, or Machijiri (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). Michikane used to say constantly, "I rendered services to my father. Who but I should be Kampaku?" When Michitaka succeeded to the post, Michikane coveted the position so keenly that even during mourning for his father he showed no sign of grief and gathered guests for revelry, and the people of the time despised him for it (Note: following the Ōkagami). His son Kanetaka became Chūnagon of Senior Second Rank and was raised by Kaneie. His second son Kanetsuna became Ukonoe-no-chūjō, Middle Captain of the Right Palace Guards, and Governor of Kii. Kanetaka's son Kanefusa served successively as Chūgū-no-suke, Assistant Master of the Empress's Household, and Ukonoe-no-shōshō, and was governor of provinces such as Bitchū and Sanuki; he was granted Senior Fourth Rank Lower (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). He was fond of waka but showed no outstanding talent. He prayed to Kakinomoto-no-Hitomaro and for a long time devoted himself to him with sincerity, until one night he dreamed of an old man sitting beneath flowers. The old man wore an eboshi cap and a nōshi robe, held paper in his left hand and a brush in his right, and seemed to be pondering something. Kanefusa, wondering, went up to him and was about to ask, when the old man said, "You have always longed for Hitomaro, and your sincerity is truly deep. That is why I have shown myself to you." On waking, Kanefusa had a painter draw the figure, but none of the pictures satisfied him. After having it redrawn many times, a picture that pleased him was at last made. Worshiping it morning and evening, his talent for waka advanced day by day from then on. At the point of death he presented the picture to Emperor Shirakawa, who prized it greatly and kept it secretly in the Karasuba treasury. When Fujiwara-no-Akisue asked for and made a copy of it, it became known to the world for the first time (Note: following the Jikkinshō). Kanefusa had two sons: the elder, Kanenaka, became Sakonoe-no-shōshō, Minor Captain of the Left Palace Guards; the younger became a monk named Sōen and served as Bettō of the Utsunomiya shrine in Shimotsuke (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

¶Fujiwara-no-Yoshichika was the fifth son of Koretada, Sesshō (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Ōkagami). In the Ten'en and Eikan years (973-985) he served as Jijū, Chamberlain, and Kurōdo-no-tō, Head Chamberlain (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). Though he lacked scholarly learning, he was quick-witted and keen, and well versed in the ceremonial of the court (Note: following the Ōkagami). When Emperor Kazan took the throne he took charge of government as the emperor's maternal uncle, but his reputation was still slight and it was difficult for him to be placed at once in the position of a minister. Even so, all affairs within and outside the court devolved wholly upon Yoshichika. Although Yoritada was Kampaku, real power lay rather below Yoshichika (Note: following the Gukanshō). Together with Fujiwara-no-Koreshige, Sachūben, Middle Controller of the Left, he joined forces to support the government, and the discipline of the state was considerably tightened (Note: following the Ōkagami). He was appointed Sangi, Counsellor, rose to Gon-chūnagon, and reached Junior Second Rank (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). One day the emperor gathered his close attendants and had them gallop horses, and was about to mount a horse himself; Yoshichika happened to arrive just then, and the emperor, ashamed, changed color. Yoshichika thought to remonstrate with him, but since the attendants were crowded around, he refrained; instead he bent his own inclination and mounted a horse himself, and rode it skillfully. Seeing this, the emperor's mind was set at ease (Note: following the Ōkagami). Later the emperor, lured by Michikane, Sashōben, Minor Controller of the Left, was about to take orders (Note: following the Gukanshō). Yoshichika and Koreshige were deeply troubled by this and repeatedly waited upon the emperor to watch over him. One night the emperor secretly left the palace; Yoshichika, in his grief, wept and writhed in anguish before the god of the palace guard, the Sugūjin, and sent men to search every mountain and forest. The next day, together with Koreshige, he caught up with the emperor at Kazan, but the emperor had already cut his hair. There was nothing more to be done, and Koreshige said to Yoshichika, "You have long enjoyed heavy trust as a maternal relative. Now that the emperor has left the world, how can you still remain in the ranks of the court and keep your place in the secular world? Please shave your head at once." Yoshichika answered, "That is what I wished all along," and took orders on the spot (Note: following the Ōkagami, the Jikkinshō, the Kokon Chomonjū, and the Fukurozōshi. Note: the Kojidan attributes Koreshige's words to Yoshichika). His Buddhist name was Goshin, later changed to Jakushin (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Ōkagami Uragaki). The people of the time considered that his taking of orders had been prompted by others and was not the result of firm resolve of his own. Even so, Yoshichika secluded himself at the Anrakuji temple on Iimuro and devoted himself to religious practice (Note: following the Ōkagami, the Jikkinshō, and the Kokon Chomonjū; for the Anrakuji, following the Gukanshō). He died in the fifth year of Kankō (1008), at the age of fifty-two (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). His sons were Nariyasu and Nobuchika, both of whom became Konoe-no-chūjō, Middle Captains of the Palace Guards; Korenari became Sahyōe-no-suke, Assistant Captain of the Left Gate Guards, and Norikata became Sashōshō (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

¶Fujiwara-no-Koreshige was at first named Korekata and later changed to his present name (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). He was a descendant of Uona, Sadaijin, Minister of the Left. His father Masaki had literary talent and once composed the preface to a poem on the theme "A crane cries in the nine marshes." Emperor Murakami saw it and was greatly pleased. Minamoto-no-Nobumitsu, Kurōdo-no-tō, who was in favor at the time, saw one day that the emperor's countenance was troubled, and in fear was about to withdraw. The emperor called him back and said, "I have made you my ears and eyes and have had you search out talented men. Now I am told that the student Masaki is rich in literary expression. Why have you not recommended him? I shall raise him up myself. Let him be made a Kurōdo." Nobumitsu was greatly astonished and tried to find him, but Masaki was poor and had no clothes fit to appear at court (Note: following the Jikkinshō). So by special order the Kura-ryō, the Bureau of the Imperial Storehouse, was commanded to grant him clothing (Note: following the Jikkinshō and the Kinpishō). Masaki later rose to Ushōben, Minor Controller of the Right (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku. The foregoing concerns Masaki). Koreshige was appointed Shikibu-gon-no-shōyū, Provisional Junior Assistant Minister of Ceremonial (Note: the Sonpi Bunmyaku has "Gon-no-taifu," Provisional Senior Assistant), and became Kurōdo Sachūben, Chamberlain and Middle Controller of the Left (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). In the last years of Emperor En'yū the government was disordered and the discipline of the state had decayed, but when Emperor Kazan took the throne, Koreshige, together with Yoshichika, restored the stagnant government and reformed its abuses, and the customs of the world returned once more to simplicity. People praised him, saying, "By Koreshige's strength the world receives its benefit" (Note: following the Gōdanshō; compare the Ōkagami). When the emperor took orders at Kazan, Koreshige too became a monk and called himself Jakkū (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki), and later changed this to Gomyō (Note: following the Gōdanshō and the Nihon Kiryaku). One day, when the emperor passed through Higashi-Sakamoto and saw red plum blossoms in full bloom, his heart was drawn to them. Koreshige remonstrated that, though he had left the world, he was attached to trifling things. The emperor accepted this as just, composed a poem, and went on his way (Note: following the Kokon Chomonjū). In the first year of Eiso (989) Koreshige died, at the age of thirty-seven (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). Koreshige's household had originally been poor, but his wife managed the household so skillfully that she did not let others perceive their want. When Koreshige rose in the world and advanced in office, he took as a new wife a daughter of Minamoto-no-Mitsunaka, and so the people of the time thought little of him (Note: following the Kojidan).