Imperial Princes IX

[Murakami] Seven Sons

¶Emperor Murakami had nine sons. The Empress, of the Fujiwara clan, bore Emperor Reizei, the fourth son Imperial Prince Tamehira, and Emperor En'yū. The Nyōgo, Consort, Princess Shōshi bore the seventh son, Imperial Prince Tomohira. Fujiwara-no-Hōshi bore the sixth son, Imperial Prince Masahira, and the eighth son, Imperial Prince Nagahira. The Kōi, Lady of the Bedchamber, Fujiwara-no-Sukehime bore the first son, Imperial Prince Hirohira. Fujiwara-no-Seihi bore the third son, Imperial Prince Munehira, and the ninth son, Imperial Prince Akihira (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Ichidai Yōki. If one infers the year of Akihira's birth, he was in fact the fifth son, but the Nihon Kiryaku and the Sonpi Bunmyaku count Emperor En'yū as the fifth son and Akihira as the ninth. This was probably because Akihira was granted the surname Minamoto at that time and so was not counted in the same rank as the other princes, and, since he became an Imperial Prince last of all, was reckoned the ninth son).

Imperial Prince Hirohira

¶Imperial Prince Hirohira was granted Third Rank in the third year of Ōwa (963) and became Hyōbu-kyō, Minister of Military Affairs, holding concurrently the post of Dazai-no-sotsu, Governor-General of Dazaifu (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku). In the ninth month of the second year of Tenroku (971) he died, at the age of twenty-two (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku, the Ichidai Yōki, and the Ōkagami Uragaki. The Kōin Shōunroku and the Sonpi Bunmyaku both give the second month for his death, and the genealogy in the Eiga Monogatari gives the third month of the third year of Ōwa, but all of these are mistaken).

Imperial Prince Munehira

¶Imperial Prince Munehira was granted Fourth Rank and became Hyōbu-kyō, Minister of Military Affairs (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Ichidai Yōki). In the second year of Anna (969) he was permitted by imperial decree to bear a sword in attendance (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku). In the fifth month of the fourth year of Tengen (981) he shaved his head (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku, the Fusō Ryakki, and the Ichidai Yōki. The Kōin Shōunroku, the Sonpi Bunmyaku, and the Shomonzeki-fu all give the third year of Tengen). He changed his name to Goen, received the precepts from the monk Chiben (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku), and lived at the Myōō-in of Onjōji temple (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku. The name Myōō-in follows the Kōin Shōunroku). Later he lived also at Iwakura (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). In the second month of the second year of Chōkyū (1041) he died (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Fusō Ryakki), at the age of eighty-nine (Note: based on the statement in the Fusō Ryakki that he was twenty-nine in the fourth year of Tengen. The present work also contains an account that gives ninety-one, and the Sonpi Bunmyaku gives fifty-one). He was called the Myōō-in Prince (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Teiō Hennenki), or else the Hōsannomiya (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku). His sons Narinobu and Munenobu were both granted the surname Minamoto-no-Ason (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). Narinobu became an adopted son of the Regent Fujiwara-no-Michinaga (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). Munenobu became Junior Fourth Rank Upper, Ukonoe-no-chūjō, Middle Captain of the Right Imperial Guards (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku. The Kōin Shōunroku says Right Middle Controller). His second son left the world and became a monk (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku).

Imperial Prince Tamehira

¶Imperial Prince Tamehira was loved with special favor by Emperor Murakami and the Empress and was always kept at the palace. The kugyō, high court nobles, divined the emperor's wishes and all vied to serve him (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). In the first year of Kōhō (964) he was permitted to bear a sword in attendance (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku). In the spring of that year he went to Kitano, held the festivities of the Day of the Rat, and amused himself with hawking (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Ōkagami Uragaki). Fujiwara-no-Morouji, Chūnagon, Middle Counsellor; Fujiwara-no-Koretada, Sangi, Consultant; Fujiwara-no-Kanemichi, Chūgū-gon-no-daibu, Provisional Master of the Empress's Household; and Minamoto-no-Shigemitsu, Sakonoe-no-chūjō, Middle Captain of the Left Imperial Guards, and others competed to attend him (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari. For Morouji, the Nihon Kiryaku is followed; for Koretada, the Ōkagami Uragaki). Taking the whole of his retinue, he set out from the Kokiden. The emperor and the Empress went to the Fujitsubo to watch (Note: following the Ōkagami). The riders in a long line were splendid and beautiful in their attire (Note: following the Ōkagami Uragaki), and the spectators filled the streets (Note: following the Ōkagami). On his return he presented his catch, a banquet was held, and each member of the retinue was given gifts according to his station, and all enjoyed themselves to the full before it ended (Note: following the Ōkagami Uragaki). In the following year he was granted Third Rank (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku). He took as consort a daughter of Minamoto-no-Takaakira, Sadaijin, Minister of the Left. By custom every Imperial Prince went to the house of his bride's family to hold the wedding, but the emperor specially had Takaakira's daughter brought into the palace for Tamehira, and the Empress herself conducted the ceremony (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). Later he was appointed Shikibu-kyō, Minister of Ceremonial (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Ōkagami), and rose to First Rank (Note: following the Ōkagami Uragaki and the Teiō Hennenki). The emperor had at first intended to make Tamehira the successor to Emperor Reizei, but because of his marriage into the Minamoto family the whole Fujiwara clan was displeased, and in the end the emperor could not have his way (Note: following the Ōkagami and the Eiga Monogatari). Tamehira perceived this, and when his maternal grandfather Fujiwara-no-Morosuke, Udaijin, Minister of the Right, died and the Empress too fell ill, he repeatedly asked leave to withdraw to his own home. When the emperor's illness became grave, Fujiwara-no-Saneyori, Sadaijin, Minister of the Left, secretly petitioned to ask whom he should install. The emperor said, "I wish to install Tamehira, but that cannot be. You should install Morihira (later Emperor En'yū)." Saneyori obeyed the edict and installed Emperor En'yū as Crown Prince, younger brother of Emperor Reizei. Tamehira and Takaakira lived always in discontent (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). In the second year of Anna (969) an incident occurred in which Tachibana-no-Shigenobu, Nakatsukasa-no-shōyū, Junior Secretary of the Ministry of Central Affairs, and Fujiwara-no-Chiharu, former Sagami-no-suke, Assistant Governor of Sagami, and others plotted to depose the emperor and install Tamehira as Son of Heaven. When the matter came to light, the accusations reached Takaakira as well (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). Takaakira was held responsible and demoted to Dazai-no-gon-no-sotsu, Provisional Governor-General of Dazaifu (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku, the Eiga Monogatari, and the Gukanshō). Although Tamehira had known nothing at all of the plot, he was deeply troubled and afraid, and sought to shave his head and flee the world to make plain his innocence, but because his children were still young he could not do so (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). In the first year of Tengen (978) he was permitted to enter the palace in a teguruma, a hand-drawn carriage. In the second year (979) he was permitted to enter in an ox carriage through the Jōtōmon gate (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku). When Emperor Kazan ascended the throne, Tamehira presented his daughter Enshi as Nyōgo, Consort (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Eiga Monogatari), and by this he was granted permission to ascend to the emperor's presence in the palace (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku). He attended the court often and had audience with the emperor, and few criticized him for it (Note: following the Ōkagami). In the tenth month of the seventh year of Kankō (1010) he shaved his head (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Ōkagami Uragaki). In the eleventh month he died, at the age of fifty-nine (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku, the Ōkagami Uragaki, and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). He was called the Someden Shikibu-kyō-no-miya, the Prince Minister of Ceremonial of the Someden (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Shōyūki).

¶His sons Norisada, Yorisada, Tamesada, Akisada, Norisada, and Atsusada were all granted the surname Minamoto-no-Ason (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). Norisada became Junior Third Rank, Uhyōe-no-kami, Commander of the Right Gate Guards (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). In those days the custom of shame was declining day by day, and sons and daughters took service at court lightly; there were even daughters of kugyō who entered service after their fathers' deaths, and in the worst cases a child had already entered service while the father was still serving the court, and the critics of the age found this unseemly. Once Jōtōmon-in (Shōshi) commanded Norisada to send his daughter to wait upon her. Norisada found this most objectionable and went to consult Minamoto-no-Toshikata, Kōtaigōgū-no-daibu, Master of the Empress Dowager's Household. Toshikata gave his answer (Note: that if later a direct command was given again, it would be proper to report the matter to the throne), but Norisada went further and visited Fujiwara-no-Sanesuke, Udaijin, Minister of the Right, to consult him about it. Sanesuke, greatly displeased that Norisada had no firm view of his own, replied, "This is a matter of your own house, so you need only do as the Minamoto Counsellor (Toshikata) says. Why trouble to ask me?" (Note: following the Shōyūki). Yorisada first called himself Sanesada (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku) and became Senior Third Rank, Sangi, Consultant, Sahyōe-no-kami, Commander of the Left Gate Guards, and Kebiishi-no-betto, Superintendent of the Imperial Police (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). Akisada became Junior Fourth Rank Upper (Note: the Kōin Shōunroku gives Junior Fourth Rank Lower, but the Sonpi Bunmyaku is followed here), Jijū, Chamberlain, and Danjō-no-taifu, Senior Assistant Master of the Board of Censors (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Sonpi Bunmyaku), and Mimbu-no-taifu, Senior Assistant Minister of Popular Affairs (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku). Norisada (the second of that name) became Junior Fourth Rank Upper and Danjō-no-taifu (Note: some texts write the Senior Assistant Master as the Junior Assistant Master). Atsusada became Junior Fourth Rank Lower and Jijū, Chamberlain (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). His daughters were Princess Enshi (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Eiga Monogatari) and Princess Kyōshi (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Kijo-shō). Enshi became a Nyōgo, Consort, of Emperor Kazan (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Eiga Monogatari). Kyōshi became the Saiō, High Priestess of Ise, in the second year of Kanwa (986) (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Kijo-shō). In the seventh year of Kankō (1010), because of mourning for her father, she left her office and returned to the capital (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku).

Imperial Prince Masahira

¶Imperial Prince Masahira became an Imperial Prince in the fourth year of Tentoku (960). In the eighth month of the first year of Ōwa (961) he died (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku. The present work says he died at the age of six, but judging from the order of his brothers' birth years this appears to be mistaken, and it is not adopted).

Imperial Prince Tomohira

¶Imperial Prince Tomohira became an Imperial Prince in the second year of Kōhō (965) (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku) and was granted Third Rank. In the fourth year of Kankō (1007), when the emperor summoned men of letters to the palace to compose poems, Tomohira took part and was advanced to Second Rank (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Ōkagami Uragaki). Soon afterward he became Nakatsukasa-kyō, Minister of Central Affairs (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Ichidai Yōki). In the seventh month of the sixth year (1009) he died, at the age of forty-six (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku. The Eiga Monogatari gives the seventh year for his death, which is mistaken). Tomohira had studied under Yoshishige-no-Yasutane, was named together with Ki-no-Tadana, and was on close terms with Ōe-no-Mochitoki (Note: following the Gōdanshō and the Imakagami). By nature he was brilliant (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari), gifted in letters and skilled in waka (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari and the Imakagami), and adept also in music (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). There was no art, from the Way of yin and yang and the practice of medicine to the many other accomplishments, in which he was not versed (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). Among his writings, besides the Rokujō (Note: following the Yakumo Mishō), are the Magana Ise Monogatari (Note: it survives today) and the Kōketsu Gedaishō (Note: it is kept at Mount Minobu). Ōe-no-Masafusa once said, "Of sons from ancient times to the present who were able to carry on their fathers' work, there are only Miyako-no-Zaichū, Sugawara-no-Atsushige, Prince Tomohira, and Sugawara-no-Sukeaki. I have heard of no others" (Note: following the Gōdanshō). Tomohira once had a wish to flee the world but could not fulfill it. Emperor Ichijō loved his many gifts and talents and always urged him to attend banquets and festivals, but Tomohira firmly declined (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). Once, answering a verse of the emperor's with a poem of his own, he wrote that, receiving the sovereign's favor, he was ashamed of himself in return, and that the sound of the wind in the verse was weaker than that of Dongping of Han (Note: following the Honchō Reisō). Again, he once debated with Fujiwara-no-Kintō the relative merits of the waka of Kakinomoto-no-Hitomaro and Ki-no-Tsurayuki. Tomohira held Hitomaro's poems to be the better, but Kintō was not persuaded. On a later day each chose ten poems to set against the other, and Hitomaro's won eight of them (Note: following the Kojidan). When he died, the court specially suspended the banquet of the Sekiten, the memorial rite to Confucius (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Sakeiki), because it had lost the foremost literary master of an age (Note: following the Sakeiki). In the world he was named together with Imperial Prince Kaneakira, was called Go-Chūshoō, the Later Prince of the Central Secretariat, and was also called Chigusa-dono (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Teiō Hennenki), and also the Rokujō Prince (Note: following the Teiō Hennenki, the Jikkinshō, and the Imakagami). His sons were Morofusa and Yorinari (Note: some texts write "Yori" as "Tame"). Morofusa has a separate biography. Yorinari became an adopted son of Fujiwara-no-Koresuke, Sanuki-no-kami, Governor of Sanuki (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). His daughter Princess Senshi (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki and the Kōin Shōunroku) was brought up by Imperial Princess Shishi (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). In the fifth year of Chōwa (1016) she became the Saiō, High Priestess of Ise (Note: following the Kijo-shō, the Nihon Kiryaku, and the Ichidai Yōki).

Imperial Prince Nagahira

¶Imperial Prince Nagahira became an Imperial Prince in the third year of Kōhō (966). In the second year of Tengen (979) he was granted Fourth Rank (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku. The Kōin Shōunroku gives First Rank, which is mistaken) and became Hyōbu-kyō, Minister of Military Affairs (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Ichidai Yōki). When Emperor Murakami died and his mother, the Nyōgo, of the Fujiwara clan, also died, he was brought up in the house of his maternal uncle Naritoki, Dainagon, Great Counsellor. Nagahira was handsome in appearance but somewhat foolish by nature. When the Sanjō Empress (Fujiwara-no-Seishi) was still small and living in that house, Nagahira took a liking to her, and Naritoki was greatly troubled by this. Because the Empress of Emperor Reizei (Fujiwara-no-Chōshi) had no children, she wished to adopt Nagahira. Naritoki was delighted; thinking that the Empress was full of wit and that Nagahira was fortunate, he hurriedly had him dressed and sent him off. The Empress was very fond of Nagahira, but each time he came to call he had nothing to say. The Empress found this strange. Once, when the Empress had fallen ill, Naritoki had Nagahira go to inquire after her and secretly taught him what to say. When Nagahira went and said it as he had been taught, the Empress was pleased. Later, at the New Year's congratulations, he repeated the very same words. The Empress was dumbfounded, and her ladies-in-waiting could not help laughing. Nagahira said, "These are words my uncle once taught me. I have said them again now, so why are you all laughing so?" and, returning, told Naritoki, "I never want to go to the Empress again, not even if it kills me" (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). Once Naritoki held a great banquet, the daikyō, for Nagahira, and instructed him beforehand: "If a guest tries to leave early, keep him calmly." When the banquet ended and the guests were about to depart, Nagahira kept stealing glances at Naritoki's face, and when Naritoki gave him a look, Nagahira blushed with shame and could not speak, but suddenly he leapt to his feet, seized a guest in his arms, and held him back with force. The guest's collar and sleeves were nearly torn, and the guest left astonished and appalled (Note: following the Ōkagami). In the tenth month of the second year of Eien (988) he died (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Fusō Ryakki), at the age of twenty-four (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki).

Imperial Prince Akihira

¶Imperial Prince Akihira (Note: some texts write the character "Shō" of his name as "Ki") was granted the surname Minamoto-no-Ason in the fourth year of Tentoku (960) (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku). In the first year of Anna (968) he was granted Junior Fourth Rank Upper (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku) and became Uhyōe-no-kami, Commander of the Right Gate Guards (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). In the second year of Jōgen (977) he became an Imperial Prince and was granted Fourth Rank (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku) and became Hitachi-no-taishu, Prince-Governor of Hitachi (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). In the second year of Eikan (984) he shaved his head and lived at Onjōji temple (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). Later he lived at Iwakura (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku, the Sonpi Bunmyaku, and the Eiga Monogatari) and was called the Iwakura Prince (Note: following the Teiō Hennenki, the Kōin Shōunroku, and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). In the sixth month of the second year of Chōwa (1013) he died, at the age of sixty (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku).

[Reizei] Two Sons

¶Emperor Reizei had four sons. The posthumous Empress, of the Fujiwara clan (Fujiwara-no-Kaishi), bore Emperor Kazan. The posthumous Empress, of the Fujiwara clan (Fujiwara-no-Chōshi), bore Emperor Sanjō, the third son Imperial Prince Tametaka, and the fourth son Imperial Prince Atsumichi (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku).

Imperial Prince Tametaka

¶Imperial Prince Tametaka lost his mother when he was small and was brought up, together with Emperor Sanjō, in the mansion of his maternal grandfather, the Regent Fujiwara-no-Kaneie (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). From childhood he was of beautiful appearance, and his radiance seemed to strike the eyes of those who saw him (Note: following the Ōkagami). In the first year of Eiso (989) he was granted Fourth Rank (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku) and was appointed Danjō-no-in, Governor of the Board of Censors (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Eiga Monogatari), and later advanced to Second Rank (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku. The Ichidai Yōki gives Third Rank, which is probably mistaken). In the sixth month of the fourth year of Chōhō (1002), because of illness, he shaved his head and soon afterward died (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Ichidai Yōki), at the age of twenty-five. Tametaka was extremely fond of women; he was intimate with a daughter of the Regent Fujiwara-no-Koretada (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari) and in the end took her as his consort (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari and the Ōkagami). He also had a secret affair with the palace woman Izumi Shikibu, and went to her in secret every night to indulge in dissipation, and because of this he fell ill and could not rise from his bed. When the emperor heard of his death, he lamented, "It was as though he wished for an early death; was there no way to prevent it?" (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari).

Imperial Prince Atsumichi

¶Imperial Prince Atsumichi was appointed Dazai-no-sotsu, Governor-General of Dazaifu (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Ichidai Yōki). In the fourth year of Kankō (1007), when poems were composed at a private banquet in the palace, Atsumichi took part together with Imperial Prince Tomohira, and soon afterward was granted Third Rank (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Ōkagami Uragaki). In the tenth month he died, at the age of twenty-seven (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku. The Ichidai Yōki gives the twelfth month for his death). Atsumichi was handsome in appearance but not good in conduct. At first he sought as his consort a daughter of the Kampaku, Regent, Fujiwara-no-Michitaka (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari and the Ōkagami). This consort was unrestrained by nature and gifted in letters. When Atsumichi invited guests, she would lift the blinds and peep at them. Whenever men of letters gathered, she would throw coins over the screen or criticize their poems and prose. Atsumichi was ashamed and divorced her (Note: following the Ōkagami). He then married a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Naritoki, Dainagon, Great Counsellor, but because she had a secret affair with Izumi Shikibu, he divorced her as well (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari and the Ōkagami).

[Kazan] Four Sons

¶Emperor Kazan had four sons. A palace woman of the Taira clan bore the second son, Imperial Prince Akitoshi. A woman of a certain clan bore the first son, Imperial Prince Kiyohito (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Eiga Monogatari). As for the monk Shinkan and the monk Kakugen, in neither case is it known who the birth mother was (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku).

Imperial Prince Kiyohito

¶Imperial Prince Kiyohito was, together with his younger brother Akitoshi and the others, a child born after Emperor Kazan shaved his head (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku). The emperor loved Kiyohito most, and in the first year of Kankō (1004) entrusted the matter to Fujiwara-no-Michinaga, Sadaijin, Minister of the Left, and asked that these two princes be treated on the same footing as the sons of the Retired Emperor Reizei; by imperial decree Kiyohito was counted as the fifth son and Akitoshi as the sixth, and both were made Imperial Princes (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku. That the matter was entrusted to Michinaga follows the Eiga Monogatari; that they were counted as fifth and sixth sons follows the Shōyūki). In the eighth year (1011) he was granted Fourth Rank and by imperial decree permitted to bear a sword in attendance (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku), and was appointed Danjō-no-in, Governor of the Board of Censors (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Ichidai Yōki). In the seventh month of the third year of Chōgen (1030) he died (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Sakeiki. The Sonpi Bunmyaku says that he shaved his head in the first year of Chōgen, but this is not adopted here). His sons were Prince Nobuzane and Prince Kanefumi. In the second year of Manju (1025) Nobuzane was granted the surname Minamoto-no-Ason and became Junior Fourth Rank Upper, Jijū, Chamberlain, Danjō-no-taifu, Senior Assistant Master of the Board of Censors, and Jingi-haku, Head of the Department of Divinities. His son Prince Yasusuke became an adopted son of Kiyohito and became Ukyō-no-daibu, Master of the Right Capital Office, and Jingi-haku (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). His descendants served as Jingi-haku generation after generation (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku, the Teiō Hennenki, and the Shokugenshō), and the family was called the Shirakawa house. Prince Kanefumi held the office of Ōgimi-no-kami, Director of the Bureau of Imperial Clan Affairs. His son Kanenaga also succeeded to his father's post (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

Imperial Prince Akitoshi

¶Imperial Prince Akitoshi was not loved by Emperor Kazan. Once, when the emperor held a cockfight and placed Kiyohito on the left side and Akitoshi on the right, the right side won every bout, and the emperor became displeased and is said to have shed tears. Such was the extent of his partiality (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). In the first year of Kankō (1004) he became an Imperial Prince (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku). In the eighth year (1011) he was granted Fourth Rank (Note: following the Shōyūki and the Nihon Kiryaku). Soon afterward he became Nakatsukasa-kyō, Minister of Central Affairs. In the fourth month of the eighth year of Chōgen (1035) he died, at the age of thirty-eight (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku).

Monk Shinkan

¶The monk Shinkan studied the Buddhist Law under the monk Jinkaku, became Tōdaiji-bettō, Superintendent of Tōdaiji; Hōmu Daisōzu, Senior Prelate and Legal Administrator; and Ishiyamadera-zasu, Head of Ishiyamadera, and was called the Uzan Sōzu (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

Monk Kakugen

¶The monk Kakugen studied under the monk Myōkan and under Ninkai, and became Tōdaiji-bettō, Superintendent of Tōdaiji; Hōmu Gon-no-sōjō, Provisional Archbishop and Legal Administrator; Tōji Ichi-no-chōja, First Elder of Tōji; and Daigo-zasu, Head of Daigoji (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

[Ichijō] One Son

¶Emperor Ichijō had three sons. The Empress, of the Fujiwara clan (Fujiwara-no-Teishi), bore the first son, Imperial Prince Atsuyasu. The Chūgū, Consort-Empress, of the Fujiwara clan (Fujiwara-no-Shōshi), bore Emperor Go-Ichijō and Emperor Go-Suzaku (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Nihon Kiryaku).

Imperial Prince Atsuyasu

¶When Jōtōmon-in (Fujiwara-no-Shōshi) entered the palace as Nyōgo, Consort, the emperor, out of deference to Fujiwara-no-Michinaga, Sadaijin, Minister of the Left, did not readily summon Atsuyasu to see him. In the second year of Chōhō (1000), when he was at last two years old, he came to the palace for the first time at Michinaga's request and had audience with the emperor (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari. That he was two years old follows the statement in the Nihon Kiryaku and the Shōyūki that he was born in the first year of Chōhō). Because Atsuyasu was intelligent and handsome, the emperor loved him deeply, had Jōtōmon-in bring him up in the place of a mother (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari), and permitted him to enter and leave the palace in an ox carriage (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku). Soon afterward he became an Imperial Prince. In the seventh year of Kankō (1010) he was granted Third Rank (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Ichidai Yōki) and became Dazai-no-sotsu, Governor-General of Dazaifu (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Eiga Monogatari). When the emperor was residing at the Ichijō-in, Atsuyasu moved his lodging to a separate wing (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). When the emperor fell ill, Atsuyasu attended close beside him to see to his medicines and soups and never left his side (Note: following the Ōkagami and the Eiga Monogatari). When the emperor was about to abdicate in favor of Emperor Sanjō, he wished to make Atsuyasu his successor (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari and the Gukanshō), but Atsuyasu's uncle Fujiwara-no-Korechika, Jun-daijin, Quasi-Minister, was already dead, and only Fujiwara-no-Takaie, Chūnagon, Middle Counsellor, was barely still living, so there was no maternal relative to support him as a minister (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari); moreover, both Emperor Go-Ichijō and Emperor Go-Suzaku were sons born of Jōtōmon-in, so that, out of deference to Michinaga, it was difficult to install Atsuyasu (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari; the Gukanshō should also be consulted). At that time Fujiwara-no-Yukinari, Chūnagon, Middle Counsellor, was Atsuyasu's chokubettō, imperially appointed steward, and so the emperor secretly summoned him and asked his opinion. Yukinari replied, "Your Majesty need trouble yourself about nothing else. You should install the Second Prince (Go-Ichijō). If you do not, you will surely leave calamity for the court." The emperor followed this and in the end installed Emperor Go-Ichijō (Note: following the Gukanshō). When the emperor died, Atsuyasu moved his residence to the Minami-in (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). Soon afterward he was advanced to First Rank, was treated as equal to the Three Empresses, and was given a fief of one thousand households (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku). In the fifth year of Chōwa (1016) he was appointed Shikibu-kyō, Minister of Ceremonial. Fujiwara-no-Yorimichi, Sakonoe-no-taishō, General of the Left Imperial Guards, had long held Atsuyasu in deep regard because of his good reputation, and sent the younger sister of his own wife to be Atsuyasu's consort and took charge of his household affairs. As a result there was no delay in the delivery of taxes, and Jōtōmon-in too gave him generous provision, so that his household's means were never wanting. Once, when Koichijō-in resigned his place as Crown Prince, Jōtōmon-in urged Michinaga to install Atsuyasu in his stead, but Michinaga refused, citing the late emperor's last wishes (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). Atsuyasu's gloom grew ever deeper (Note: following the Ōkagami). In the twelfth month of the second year of Kannin (1018), because of illness he shaved his head (Note: following the Shōyūki and the Sakeiki), and died on the same day (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku, the Shōyūki, the Sakeiki, and the Sankaiki. The Ichidai Yōki and the Eiga Monogatari both give the eleventh month, which is mistaken), at the age of twenty (Note: following the Shōyūki and the Sankaiki. The Nihon Kiryaku gives twenty-one, which agrees with the Eiga Monogatari's account that he was born in the fourth year of Chōtoku, but does not agree with the statement of the Nihon Kiryaku and the Shōyūki that he was born in the first year of Chōhō; therefore it is not adopted. The Ichidai Yōki and the Ōkagami give twenty-nine, and the genealogy in the Eiga Monogatari gives seventeen, but both are mistaken). In the following year the New Year's court audience was suspended (Note: following the Shōyūki and the Sakeiki). His daughter Genshi became Chūgū, Consort-Empress, of Emperor Go-Suzaku (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku, the Eiga Monogatari, and the Imakagami).

[Sanjō] Four Sons

¶Emperor Sanjō had four sons. The first son, Koichijō-in Atsuakira; the second son, Imperial Prince Atsunori; the third son, Imperial Prince Atsuhira; and the fourth son, Imperial Prince Moroakira were all sons born of the Empress, of the Fujiwara clan (Fujiwara-no-Seishi) (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

Koichijō-in Atsuakira

¶Koichijō-in, named Atsuakira, was born, together with his younger brothers Atsunori, Atsuhira, and Moroakira, in the time when Emperor Sanjō was still Crown Prince (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). In the tenth month of the eighth year of Kankō (1011) he became an Imperial Prince together with his three younger brothers (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Ichidai Yōki), was granted Third Rank, and was appointed Hyōbu-kyō, Minister of Military Affairs (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki). He took as consort Enshi, a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Akimitsu, Sadaijin, Minister of the Left, and for that reason lived in Akimitsu's Horikawa mansion (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). When Emperor Sanjō was about to abdicate in favor of Emperor Go-Ichijō, Michinaga, Sadaijin, wished to install Imperial Prince Atsunaga, a younger brother of Emperor Go-Ichijō, as Crown Prince. The emperor would not listen and intended to install Atsuakira. Hearing this, Atsuakira became uneasy and sought to decline firmly; he went to his mother, the Empress Dowager, of the Fujiwara clan (Seishi), and said, "Even if I were to receive the Crown Prince's seat today, tomorrow I would at once return to the Horikawa mansion." The Empress Dowager was greatly distressed, and just when Fujiwara-no-Kanehira, Chūnagon, Middle Counsellor, came to pay his respects, she said, "This child is almost in the state of one sick and out of his mind, and I fear that if he is installed by force it will go ill for our house. I wish to replace him with the Prince of the Nakatsukasa. You should go and consult the General of the Right." The Prince of the Nakatsukasa was Imperial Prince Atsunori, Atsuakira's full younger brother, and the General of the Right was Kanehira's brother Sanesuke. When Kanehira went and consulted him, Sanesuke was greatly astonished, and without making clear whether it was right or not, said only, "This is beyond the reach of a foolish subject." Before long a discussion arose at court about appointing the officials to serve the Crown Prince's household, but among the ministers inside and outside the court those whose names were put forward all firmly declined out of deference to Michinaga (Note: following the Shōyūki). In the first month of the fifth year of Chōwa (1016) the emperor at last abdicated and installed Atsuakira as Crown Prince to the new emperor (Go-Ichijō) (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku, the Ichidai Yōki, the Eiga Monogatari, and the Ōkagami). At this time Atsuakira was twenty-three, fourteen years older than the new emperor. Michinaga did not like this (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari and the Ōkagami). In the following year, when the Retired Emperor Sanjō died, the ministers serving at court all feared Michinaga, and no one went to the Crown Prince's residence to pay his respects. From the officials of the Crown Prince's household down to the lowliest menial servants, all feared the calamities that might follow and would not perform their duties. Weeds grew thick in the garden, and visitors so ceased to come to the gate that one could have spread nets there to catch sparrows. Atsuakira grew ever more unhappy, and in the end formed the plan of giving up his place as Crown Prince on the plea of illness. Someone told Atsuakira, "The Empress Dowager (Shōshi) and Lord Michinaga are plotting to depose Your Highness soon and install Imperial Prince Atsunaga." Another said, "Lord Michinaga is about to offer his daughter to Your Highness." Atsuakira was suspicious and afraid, and, resolved to resign his place, summoned Michinaga's son Yoshinobu and said to him, "That I am in the Eastern Palace was decided by the late emperor (Sanjō). I must respectfully follow his intention and never go against it. But the present emperor is in the prime of life, and rather than remain by force in the Crown Prince's seat as his elder, it would be better to withdraw, live in tranquility, and do as suits me. However, if I give up the post suddenly, I will lack even the means for my daily needs. If I could be granted the title of an In and be given zuryō officials, that is my wish. Therefore I ask you to convey these words of mine to your father." Yoshinobu withdrew and told Michinaga, who was greatly pleased and consulted Minamoto-no-Toshikata, Dainagon, Great Counsellor. Toshikata was glad and said, "If you choose a day for the matter, in the meantime the Crown Prince may devise some plan to hold his position. It should be done quickly." Michinaga at once reported to Jōtōmon-in and went, leading his sons and the officials of the court, in a procession of attendants that stretched on and on and was greatly different from an ordinary day. Those who saw it did not know the reason. At first Michinaga had thought, "If I meet the Crown Prince, he will surely pour out his accustomed resentment," but when he went in, the Crown Prince was downcast and spoke only a few words. Michinaga then had the Crown Prince give up his seat, the halls of the Eastern Palace were pulled down at once, and the consorts and ladies-in-waiting all sobbed. At this time Michinaga strictly forbade passage in and out, and even women were not permitted to pass. The Empress Dowager suspected that something was amiss and sent a lady-in-waiting to see; the deposition had already been decided, and on learning of it she was greatly astonished and grieved, unable to bear her sorrow, and, not knowing Michinaga was present, said, "What crime has the Crown Prince committed, that it has suddenly come to this?" Michinaga heard this and, though moved to pity, smiled wryly (Note: following the Ōkagami. The Eiga Monogatari says that when Michinaga heard of the Crown Prince's intention to resign his seat, he said, "If that happened, the late emperor's line would come to an end. This is what one who has lost his senses would do; the Crown Prince could not be such a one," and did not believe it at once. Before long the Crown Prince summoned him again and again, and he had no choice but to go and have audience. The Crown Prince then confided the circumstances. Michinaga replied, "We were entrusted by the late emperor, with awe, to serve Your Highness. We would never neglect your commands. It is only that His Majesty is still young and the affairs of government are many, so we have not been able to pay our respects in full. We beg Your Highness to forgive us. The security of the state depends on Your Highness; why would you utter such disquieting words? Even if Your Highness holds yourself lightly, what would become of the First Rank Princess?" The First Rank Princess was Teishi, the Crown Prince's sister, born of Michinaga's daughter the Chūgū Kenshi. The Crown Prince said with dissatisfaction, "If my wish cannot be granted at any cost, I am resolved to leave the world," and Michinaga had no choice but to report to Jōtōmon-in. However, this account is written wholly in an effort to glorify Michinaga, and is so contrived that its substance cannot be seen. Therefore it is not adopted). Thus Atsuakira was given the title Koichijō-in; his fief households remained as before; he was granted nenkan and nenshaku, the annual appointments and annual conferrals of rank, and zuryō officials (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Shōyūki), and was treated in every respect the same as in the precedent of a Daijō Tennō, Retired Emperor (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Ōkagami Uragaki). Atsuakira was considerably calmed by this (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). By custom, when a Crown Prince was installed the Tsubokiri sword was always handed down to him, but when Atsuakira was installed this was delayed on some pretext, and people perceived that his position would not last long (Note: following the Sakeiki and the Ōkagami Uragaki). At that time Michinaga's daughters had already entered the palace, and those who remained at home were expected to enter in due time, but only the fifth daughter, Kanshi, had no destination settled. Michinaga still did not wish to marry her to an ordinary man, and in the end offered her as consort to Atsuakira, thereby also hoping to deflect the criticism of the world. Her attendant ladies numbered twenty, mostly chosen from the sons and daughters of kugyō. The male and female servants together numbered eighty. Atsuakira himself went to hold the wedding, but Kanshi remained in her parents' home. Each time Atsuakira visited, Michinaga always chose ministers of the court to attend the banquet. At that time Michinaga's sons already held high posts, and all of them personally managed the wine and food, raised lamps and led the way with great courtesy, and down to the attendants everyone received full favors, and there was none whose wishes went unmet. People went so far as to say that his present circumstances as a deposed Crown Prince were far better than being Son of Heaven. Enshi and her father Akimitsu heard of this and fell ill from grief and anger and died. Before long Kanshi too died of illness, and it was said that this was the work of the vengeful spirits of Akimitsu and Enshi. Atsuakira also took a liking to a Minamoto lady who had been a lady-in-waiting to Kanshi and showed her favor, moved to the Nishi-no-in, and she was called Ruri-no-Nyōgo. After that he further took as consort a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Yorimune, Udaijin, Minister of the Right (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari. For Kanshi, the Sonpi Bunmyaku is followed; that the lady-in-waiting was of the Minamoto clan follows the Kōin Shōunroku). In the eighth month of the second year of Chōkyū (1041) he shaved his head (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki and the Hyakurenshō), and his Buddhist name was Myōkaku (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki and the Rekidai Kōki). In the fourth year (1043) he went to Enryakuji, received the precepts, and took the name Tenjaku (Note: following the Rekidai Kōki). In the first month of the sixth year of Eishō (1051) he died, at the age of fifty-eight (Note: following the Jōun Yōryaku, the Fusō Ryakki, the Hyakurenshō, and the Ichidai Yōki).

¶His sons were Atsusada, Atsumasa, Atsumoto, and Atsukata, all of whom were treated as sons of Emperor Sanjō and made Imperial Princes (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku. For Atsukata, the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Kōin Shōunroku are followed). Mototaira, Nobumune, Akimune, and Masamune were granted the surname Minamoto-no-Ason (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). Mototaira became Sangi, Consultant, and his rank reached Junior Second Rank (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). Nobumune became Senior Fourth Rank Lower, Mimbu-no-taifu, Senior Assistant Minister of Popular Affairs, Sakonoe-no-chūjō, Middle Captain of the Left Imperial Guards (Note: some texts write "Left" as "Right"), and Bitchū-no-kami, Governor of Bitchū. The other sons left the world and became monks (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku). His daughter Imperial Princess Kashi became the Saiō, High Priestess of Ise, in the first year of Eishō (1046) (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki and the Kōin Shōunroku). Princess Seishi became the Saiin, High Priestess of Kamo, in the first year of Jōhō (1074) (Note: following the Saiin-ki, the Ichidai Yōki, and the Teiō Hennenki), and in the third year of Kanji (1089), because of mourning for her mother, she left her office (Note: following the Saiin-ki; her mother's mourning follows the Eiga Monogatari). She was called the Kasuga Saiin (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Saiin-ki).

Imperial Prince Atsusada

¶Imperial Prince Atsusada became an Imperial Prince in the third year of Kannin (1019) (Note: following the Shōyūki and the Nihon Kiryaku). He was granted Third Rank, appointed Nakatsukasa-kyō, Minister of Central Affairs, and later transferred to Shikibu-kyō, Minister of Ceremonial. In the second month of the fourth year of Kōhei (1061) he died, at the age of forty-eight. His sons were Prince Muneie and Prince Atsusuke. Muneie became an adopted son of Fujiwara-no-Nobuie, Gon-Dainagon, Provisional Great Counsellor. Atsusuke was sent out as an adopted son of Imperial Prince Atsuhira and became Jingi-haku, Head of the Department of Divinities, of Junior Fourth Rank Upper (Note: following the printed edition of the Sonpi Bunmyaku). The other sons left the world and became monks (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

Imperial Prince Atsumasa

¶Imperial Prince Atsumasa became an Imperial Prince in the second year of Chōgen (1029), together with his younger brother Atsumoto (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku). Later he left the world and entered Onjōji temple (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari. The Kōin Shōunroku and the Sonpi Bunmyaku both list Atsumasa above Atsumoto but record none of his deeds. Under the entry for Atsumoto they say that he left the world under the master Eien, changed his name to Myōgyō, lived at Miidera, was appointed Isshin Ajari, and was called Byōdōin. But Atsumoto died young at the age of ten and never reached the point of entering religion. It was Atsumasa who actually left the world and lived at Onjōji, so this is plainly an error, and it is noted here for that reason).

Imperial Prince Atsumoto

¶Imperial Prince Atsumoto died in the seventh month of the fifth year of Chōgen (1032), at the age of ten (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku. The genealogy in the Eiga Monogatari gives eleven. The source heading here reads "Atsumoto Saku-ō," an obvious slip for "Imperial Prince Atsumoto").

Imperial Prince Atsukata

¶Imperial Prince Atsukata became Shikibu-kyō, Minister of Ceremonial (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki and the Kōin Shōunroku). In the seventh month of the first year of Jōryaku (1077) he died (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki. The Suisaki gives the eighth month), at the age of thirty-nine (Note: following the Suisaki and the Fusō Ryakki). His son left the world and became a monk (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku). His daughter Princess Junshi became the Saiō, High Priestess of Ise, in the fifth year of Enkyū (1073) (Note: following the Kijo-shō and the Ichidai Yōki).

Imperial Prince Atsunori

¶Imperial Prince Atsunori was granted Third Rank in the second year of Chōwa (1013) (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Shōyūki) and was appointed Nakatsukasa-kyō, Minister of Central Affairs (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki. The Eiga Monogatari says he received the post in the Kankō era, which is mistaken). Later he transferred to Shikibu-kyō, Minister of Ceremonial (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki, the Nihon Kiryaku, the Teiō Hennenki, and the Ōkagami). In the ninth month of the third year of Chōgen (1030) he shaved his head and went to Iwakura (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku). In the seventh month of the second year of Tengi (1054) he died, at the age of fifty-eight (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki).

Imperial Prince Atsuhira

¶Imperial Prince Atsuhira was granted Third Rank in the second year of Chōwa (1013) (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Shōyūki). He served successively as Hyōbu-kyō, Minister of Military Affairs, and Nakatsukasa-kyō, Minister of Central Affairs. In the third year of Chōgen (1030) he transferred to Shikibu-kyō, Minister of Ceremonial (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki. The post of Nakatsukasa-kyō follows the Eiga Monogatari and the Ōkagami). He took as consort a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Kanetaka, Sangi, Consultant (Note: following the Shōyūki, the Eiga Monogatari, and the Ōkagami). Earlier, the Chūgū, Consort-Empress, of the Fujiwara clan (Ishi) had withdrawn to Kanetaka's mansion for her childbirth (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Eiga Monogatari). In the fourth year of Manju (1027) she returned to the palace (Note: following the Shōyūki and the Nihon Kiryaku). The emperor, wishing to reward Kanetaka for his service, ranked Atsuhira above his elder brother Atsunori and granted him Second Rank. As a result the order of seating of the Imperial Princes was fixed at that time and did not change afterward. In the first month of the fourth year of Chōgen (1031), at the court conferment of ranks, at the request of Fujiwara-no-Korenori, former Dazai-no-daini, Senior Assistant Governor-General of Dazaifu (Note: following the Shōyūki), Atsuhira mistakenly recommended Prince Yoshikuni, who was thereby granted Fourth Rank (Note: following the Shōyūki and the Nihon Kiryaku). Yoshikuni was originally the son of Ōkura-no-Taneki, Dazai-no-daigen, Senior Secretary of Dazaifu (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku. The Sakeiki says he was a son of Masanori, Tsushima-no-kami, Governor of Tsushima), but had once killed Suganō-no-Shigetada, Ōsumi-no-kami, Governor of Ōsumi, out of a private grudge, and had fled, changed his surname and given name, and called himself of the royal line. When this was discovered, an official of the Gaiki, the Outer Secretariat, was sent to Atsuhira's mansion to question him on the matter (Note: following the Shōyūki, the Sakeiki, and the Nihon Kiryaku). In the third month Yoshikuni was arrested by imperial order (Note: following the Shōyūki and the Sakeiki), and Atsuhira was suspended from the duties of the Shikibushō, the Ministry of Ceremonial. In the ninth month he was permitted to return to his duties (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku, the Shōyūki, and the Sakeiki). In the fourth year of Eishō (1049), because of illness, he shaved his head (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki). In the third month he died, at the age of fifty-one (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki and the Ichidai Yōki). His daughter Princess Keishi became the Saiō, High Priestess of Ise (Note: following the Kijo-shō and the Ichidai Yōki).

Imperial Prince Moroakira

¶When the Empress Dowager, his mother, was still carrying Moroakira, she dreamed that a monk from a foreign land appeared and announced that he had entered her womb (Note: following the Kokon Chomonjū). When he was born, a divine light was said to have lit the room (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku, the Kokon Chomonjū, and the Shomonzeki-fu). He became an Imperial Prince at the same time as Koichijō-in (Note: following the Nihon Kiryaku and the Ichidai Yōki). When Emperor Sanjō died he sought to leave the world but could not, and in time he became an adopted son of Koichijō-in. As he approached his coming-of-age ceremony, seeing how Koichijō-in treated coldly his elder brother Imperial Prince Atsuhira, he judged that he himself could not rely on Koichijō-in either, and secretly threw himself into Ninnaji temple (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). He studied under the monk Saishin, had his head shaved, and changed his name to Shōshin (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku, the Shomonzeki-fu, and the Ninnaji Goden). By nature he was brilliant, read widely in the classics, trained in ascetic practice with abstention from grain (Note: following the Shomonzeki-fu), and was also known for the efficacy of his prayers (Note: following the Kujakukyō Mishuhō-ki and the Kokon Chomonjū). In the fourth year of Jiryaku (1068) he was permitted to enter the palace in a hand-drawn carriage or an ox carriage (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki, the Rekidai Kōki, and the Ninnaji Goden), and was treated as equal to the Three Empresses (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Shomonzeki-fu). In the second year of Jōhō (1075) he was granted a fief of twenty households (Note: following the Ninnaji Goden. The Kujakukyō Mishuhō-ki says that in the third year of Eihō (1083) he was granted a fief of fifty households, or else that in the sixth year of Enkyū (1074) a separate fief of twenty-five households was granted, and it contains no passage recording a fief granted in the second year of Jōhō. It is not known which is correct). In the third year of Eihō (1083) he was straightaway granted Second Rank. This was the first time a monk had been granted Second Rank (Note: following the Rekidai Kōki, the Shakke Kampan-ki, and the Kujakukyō Mishuhō-ki. The Kōin Shōunroku and the Shomonzeki-fu give Third Rank, which is mistaken). In the ninth month of the second year of Ōtoku (1085) he died, at the age of eighty-one. He was called the Ōmuro, the Great Abbot's Chamber (Note: following the Sankaiki, the Ninnaji Goden, and the Shomonzeki-fu). While at Ninnaji, on every fine occasion and auspicious day Moroakira gathered monks and laymen from near and far, discoursed on Japanese and Chinese learning, composed poems, and enjoyed them together. The gatherings began with the Shōyō-e on the seventh day of the first month and ended with the Keika-e on the thirteenth night of the ninth month, nine times in a year, and in the end became a regular observance (Note: following the Shinzoku Bundan-ki).

[Go-Sanjō] Four Sons

¶Emperor Go-Sanjō had five sons. The posthumous Empress, of the Fujiwara clan (Fujiwara-no-Shigeko), bore Emperor Shirakawa. The Nyōgo, Consort, of the Minamoto clan (Minamoto-no-Motoko) bore the first son, Crown Prince Sanehito, the imperial younger brother, and the third son, Imperial Prince Sukehito (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku). A palace woman of the Fujiwara clan bore a certain prince (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). The Jijū-no-naishi, Chamberlain Handmaid, bore Fujiwara-no-Arisuke (Note: following the Imakagami and the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

Crown Prince Sanehito (Imperial Younger Brother)

¶The Crown Prince, imperial younger brother Sanehito, was cherished with special affection because his mother enjoyed the emperor's favor (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). In the third year of Enkyū (1071) he became an Imperial Prince (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki and the Ichidai Yōki). In the twelfth month of the fourth year (1072), when the emperor abdicated in favor of Emperor Shirakawa, Sanehito was installed as Crown Prince, the imperial younger brother (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki and the Hyakurenshō). In the eighth month of the first year of Eihō (1081) he underwent his coming-of-age ceremony (Note: following the Imakagami, the Fusō Ryakki, the Hyakurenshō, and the Ichidai Yōki). In the eleventh month of the second year of Ōtoku (1085) he fell ill with a sore and died, at the age of fifteen (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki and the Rekidai Kōki. The Genpei Jōsuiki gives the second month for his death).

Imperial Prince Sukehito

¶Imperial Prince Sukehito became an Imperial Prince in the second year of Jōhō (1075) (Note: following the Imakagami and the Ichidai Yōki). Sukehito was gifted in talent and excelled in poetry, and his fame was held to be second only to that of the two Princes of the Central Secretariat, Imperial Prince Kaneakira and Imperial Prince Tomohira, and all people held him in esteem (Note: following the Imakagami; the Chūyūki should also be consulted). He studied the shō, the mouth organ, under the court musician Toyohara-no-Kimisato, and received from him a black-lacquered shō that Kimisato had treasured in secret (Note: following the Zoku Kyōkunshō as cited in the Taigenshō). When Emperor Go-Sanjō was near death he left a last testament to Emperor Shirakawa: "If the Crown Prince (Emperor Shirakawa's brother Sanehito) takes the throne, install Sukehito as Crown Prince, imperial younger brother." But Crown Prince Sanehito died early, and Emperor Shirakawa went against the testament and installed Imperial Prince Taruhito (later Emperor Horikawa) as Crown Prince (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki and the Heike Monogatari). Sukehito harbored resentment and withdrew to live in the Hanazono, the flower garden, of Ninnaji temple, consoling himself with the zither and with song. Emperor Shirakawa granted him several fiefs to console him, and commanded that he come to the palace from time to time to meet him. Sukehito presented a poem in Chinese in which he said that to have a zither and wine is the pleasure of life in the mountains, and that in the world of men there is feeling without either joy or sorrow. The people of the world all admired his refinement. Many who held no office and loved the mountains and forests gathered about Sukehito and served him, and the world called them the Sangū Hyaku-daibu, the Third Prince's Hundred Gentlemen (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki. The present work gives a poem that speaks of having flowers and beasts as friends in the mountains and of feeling in the world without grief or lament, but here the Shinsen Rōeishū is followed). When Emperor Toba had not yet been born and Emperor Horikawa lay ill, the hearts of the people of the realm had turned toward Sukehito (Note: following the Taiki). Later he moved his residence to the Shiokōji-Karasuma mansion (Note: following the Chūyūki). Sukehito had Ninkan, a monk of Daigoji, as his gojisō, guardian monk (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). In the first year of Eikyū (1113) an informer's letter arrived saying that Ninkan and his disciple Shōkaku were plotting rebellion and were going to have a boy, Senjumaru, attack the emperor's conveyance. The Kebiishi, Imperial Police official, Morishige was sent to seize them (Note: following the Hyakurenshō and the Genpei Jōsuiki), and when they were questioned, the boy said, "Ninkan was always praying that the Third Prince would ascend the throne, and sent me to go after the emperor." The court deliberation reduced the sentence by one degree from death and exiled Ninkan and Senjumaru. Sukehito in fact knew nothing at all of the plot, but still could not be at ease, and closed his gate and did not go out. In the third year (1115) the Retired Emperor Shirakawa, passing his mansion on an outing, commanded that the gate be opened (Note: following the Hyakurenshō). In the eleventh month of the second year of Gen'ei (1119), because of a phlegm illness, he shaved his head and soon afterward died, at the age of forty-seven (Note: following the Rekidai Kōki and the Chūyūki. That he shaved his head because of illness follows the Chōshūki. The Shomonzeki-fu, under the entry for the Shōsōzu, Junior Prelate, Ninsō, writes "Imperial Prince Sukehito of Third Rank," but since there is no other evidence that Sukehito held Third Rank, this is not adopted). Fujiwara-no-Munetada, Udaijin, Minister of the Right, mourned him, saying, "The pastimes of wind and moon have now come to an end." Such was the regret people felt for Sukehito's character (Note: following the Chūyūki). His son was Arihito (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Kōin Shōunroku), and his other sons all left the world and became monks. His daughters were Princess Shushi and Princess Ishi (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). Shushi became the Saigū, High Priestess of Ise, in the fourth year of Hōan (1123) (Note: following the Saigū-ki), and was called the Fushimi Saigū (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku, a certain genealogy of the Minamoto, the Imakagami, and the Kijo-shō). Ishi became the Saiin, High Priestess of Kamo, in the second year of Chōshō (1133), and was called the Kitakōji Saiin (Note: following the Kijo-shō and the Saiin-ki).

Minamoto-no-Arihito

¶Minamoto-no-Arihito was talented from childhood (Note: following the Imakagami), and was of extremely beautiful appearance; the Retired Emperor Shirakawa loved him deeply (Note: following the Imakagami and the Taiki) and also wished to console Arihito's father, Imperial Prince Sukehito (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). The Retired Emperor performed Arihito's coming-of-age ceremony in his own presence (Note: following the Imakagami and the Genpei Jōsuiki) and adopted him as a son. On every imperial progress he had him ride in the same carriage (Note: following the Imakagami). At the time when Emperor Toba still had no heir, the Retired Emperor was inclined toward Arihito, but soon Emperor Sutoku was born (Note: following the Taiki), and he granted Arihito the surname Minamoto-no-Ason, conferred on him Junior Third Rank, and appointed him Ukonoe-no-gon-no-chūjō, Provisional Middle Captain of the Right Imperial Guards. He was then seventeen (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). For a member of the imperial house to be granted the Minamoto surname and at once be raised to Third Rank was without precedent, except for Minamoto-no-Sadamu, a son of Emperor Saga (Note: following the Taiki and the Imakagami; the Genpei Jōsuiki should also be consulted). In that same year he was appointed Gon-Chūnagon, Provisional Middle Counsellor. In the first year of Hōan (1120) he was promoted over others to Gon-Dainagon, Provisional Great Counsellor. In the following year he concurrently became Ukonoe-no-taishō, General of the Right Imperial Guards (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin and the Imakagami). The people of the time envied this and called him the Miya Taishō, the Princely General (Note: following the Imakagami). He advanced to Senior Third Rank. In the third year (1122) he was appointed Naidaijin, Minister of the Interior, and advanced to Senior Second Rank. In the first year of Tenshō (1124) he was appointed Udaijin, Minister of the Right, and Junior First Rank was added. In the first year of Hōen (1135) he was transferred to Sakonoe-no-taishō, General of the Left Imperial Guards. In the second year (1136) he was appointed Sadaijin, Minister of the Left (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). Because of a chronic illness Arihito was unable to take up his duties in most cases (Note: following the Taiki). In the third year of Kyūan (1147) he at last resigned his office and shaved his head (Note: following the Taiki and the Kugyō Bunin), and his Buddhist name was Jōkaku. Soon afterward he died, at the age of forty-five (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin). In the world he was called the Hanazono Sadaijin, the Minister of the Left of Hanazono (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku, the Imakagami, and the Genpei Jōsuiki). Arihito studied under Sugawara-no-Atsumasa, Monjō-hakase, Professor of Letters (Note: following the Jikkinshō), excelled in poetry and was versed in music, and was especially skilled in calligraphy, so that many of the plaques of temples were in Arihito's hand (Note: following the Imakagami). By nature he liked to be well turned out, and all his bearing and manner accorded with propriety (Note: following the Taiki). In the cut of his clothing, down to the length and the width, there was nothing that was not made with the utmost refinement. Before this, the customs of the age had valued plainness, and the use of court dress had been no more than to cover the body. Emperor Shirakawa, though a sovereign in an exalted position, would sometimes become angry and strike his attendants when they were slow in arranging his court dress. In the reign of Emperor Toba, a taste for splendid attire gradually took hold, and members of Arihito's household were appointed Kurōdo, Chamberlains, to take charge of the emperor's garments (Note: following the Imakagami). As a result this fashion settled of itself among high and low (Note: following the Jinnō Shōtōki). The taste for court dress changed completely, and most of its finely worked tailoring originated in Arihito's house (Note: following the Imakagami). In the Chōshō era, the former Kampaku, Regent, Fujiwara-no-Tadazane, whose power resounded through the court as father of the consort of the Retired Emperor Toba, led his son the Kampaku Tadamichi and others to court for the New Year's congratulations; the kugyō who sat in rows all showed such excessive deference that they seemed like retainers, while only Arihito, throughout, remained composed and smiling, and quietly rose from his seat. The opinion of the time greatly praised this (Note: following the Gukanshō). On the day Arihito shaved his head, the emperor suspended the Sekiten banquet on his account. Fujiwara-no-Yorinaga, Sadaijin, Minister of the Left, deeply mourned him. Earlier a comet had appeared in the east, and Yorinaga is said to have remarked that it had probably been a sign of Arihito's passing from the world. Such was the esteem in which people held Arihito's character (Note: following the Taiki). Arihito had no heir, and often said, "When I look at the descendants of Imperial Prince Tomohira, their talent does not come up to that of ordinary men. Even if I had an unworthy son, it would be better to have none at all" (Note: following the Imakagami). Among his writings are the Shungyoku Hishō, the Enki, and the Shunganki (Note: following the Ninnaji Shoseki Mokuroku).

A Certain Imperial Prince

¶A certain prince died young (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari).

Fujiwara-no-Arisuke

¶When Fujiwara-no-Arisuke was born, Emperor Go-Sanjō himself wrote the two characters of "Arisuke" on a fan and gave them to him as his name (Note: following the Imakagami). He ordered Fujiwara-no-Akitsuna, Sanuki-no-kami, Governor of Sanuki, to rear him as his own son (Note: following the Imakagami and the Tōsai Zuihitsu). Afterward he held posts successively both within and outside the court (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku), serving as Kōgōgū-no-suke, Assistant Master of the Empress's Household, Ōmi-no-kami, Governor of Ōmi, and others (Note: following the Imakagami and the Tōsai Zuihitsu. The post of Kōgōgū-no-suke follows the Sonpi Bunmyaku).