The Five Regent Houses (五摂家; ''go-sekke'') is a collective term for the five families of the

Fujiwara clan The was a powerful family of imperial regents in Japan, descending from the Nakatomi clan and, as legend held, through them their ancestral god Ame-no-Koyane. The Fujiwara prospered since ancient times and dominated the imperial court until th ...

that monopolized the

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

position of '' Sekkan'' in Japan from 1252 until 1868. The five houses are Konoe, Takatsukasa, Kujō, Ichijō, and Nijō, which were established during the split of the Fujiwara Hokke. After the abolition of the regency in 1868, the Five Regent Houses were all appointed

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

under the new

hereditary peerage The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of April 2025, there are 800 hereditary peers: 30 dukes (including six royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 189 earls, 108 viscounts, and 439 barons (not counting subsidiary ...

Overview

Out of the four houses of the

, the Fujiwara Hokke monopolized the regent position of '' Sekkan''. In the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

, the Hokke split into the Five Regent Houses, Konoe, Takatsukasa, Kujō, Ichijō, and Nijō. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)
"Go-sekke" at p. 260
These families continued to monopolize the regency from 1252 until the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

in 1868. When the regency was abolished as part of the Meiji Restoration, a new

(''kazoku'') was established, and these houses were all appointed Prince. The Fujiwara

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

also had other families, but traditionally, only these five were eligible for regency. They were the most politically powerful families among the

kuge The was a Japanese Aristocracy (class), aristocratic Social class, class that dominated the Japanese Imperial Court in Kyoto. The ''kuge'' were important from the establishment of Kyoto as the capital during the Heian period in the late 8th ce ...

(court nobility).Nussbaum
"Kuge" at p. 570

References

External links

''Sekke kamon'' at Harimaya.com
5 {{Japan-hist-stub

Overview

See also

References

External links