Fujiwara no Yoshifusa
Japanese noble (804-872)
Fujiwara no Yoshifusa (藤原 良房; 804 – October 7, 872), also known as Somedono no Daijin or Shirakawa-dono, was a Japanese statesman, courtier and politician during the Heian period.
When Yoshifusa's grandson was enthroned as Emperor Seiwa, Yoshifusa assumed the role of regent (sesshō) for the young monarch. He was the first sesshō in Japanese history who was not himself of imperial rank; and he was the first of a series of regents from the Fujiwara clan.
Career
He was a minister during the reigns of Emperor Ninmyō, Emperor Montoku and Emperor Seiwa.
834 (Jōwa 1, 9th day of the 7th month): Sangi
835 (Jōwa 2): Gon-no-Chūnagon
840 (Jōwa 7): Chūnagon
842 (Jōwa 9): Dainagon
848 (Saikō 1, 1st month): Udaijin
857 (Saikō 4, 19th day of the 2nd month): Daijō Daijin
858 (Ten'an 2, 7th day of the 11th month): Sesshō for Emperor Seiwa.
October 7, 872 (Jōgan 14, 2nd day of the 9th month): Yoshifusa died at the age of 69.
Yoshifusa conceived the programme of boy-sovereigns with Fujiwara regents; and his adopted son, Mototsune, carried out the plans.
Genealogy
This member of the Fujiwara clan was the son of Fujiwara no Fuyutsugu. Yoshifusa's brothers were Fujiwara no Nagayoshi, Fujiwara no Yoshisuke and Fujiwara no Yoshikado.
Marriages and children
He was married to Minamoto no Kiyohime (源 潔姫), daughter of Emperor Saga.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q960841. VIAF identifies the subject as 112351019. The Library of Congress control number is nr2001024381. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Fujiwara no Yoshifusa” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.