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The was one of the oldest of the major
Japanese clans This is a list of Japanese clans. The old clans (''gōzoku'') mentioned in the ''Nihon Shoki'' and ''Kojiki'' lost their political power before the Heian period, during which new aristocracies and families, ''kuge'', emerged in their place. After ...
(''uji''); and the clan retained its prominence during the
Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...
and the
Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...
.Meyer, Eva-Maria
"Gouverneure von Kyôto in der Edo-Zeit."
Universität Tübingen (in German).
The clan's origin is said to be one of the original clans of the
Yamato people The or David Blake Willis and Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu''Transcultural Japan: At the Borderlands of Race, Gender and Identity,'' p. 272: "Wajin," which is written with Chinese characters that can also be read "Yamato no hito" (Yamato person). ar ...
; they truly gained prominence during the
Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...
(794–1185), and experienced a resurgence in the 18th century. Although Abe is also a very common Japanese surname in modern times, not everyone with this name is descended from this clan.


Origins and history

According to the ''
Nihon Shoki The or , sometimes translated as ''The Chronicles of Japan'', is the second-oldest book of classical Japanese history. It is more elaborate and detailed than the , the oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeol ...
'', the Abe were descended from , son of Emperor Kōgen. They originated in
Iga province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan located in what is today part of western Mie Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Iga" in . Its abbreviated name was . Iga is classified as one of the provinces of the T� ...
(today
Mie prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture an ...
); Though the clan name was originally written as 阿倍, it changed to 安倍 around the 8th century. Though this origin is not positive, it is likely. The northern region which would come to be known as the provinces of Mutsu and Dewa, was conquered by the Japanese sometime in the 9th century, and the native Emishi people there subjugated or displaced. While many provinces at this time were overseen primarily by a governor, Mutsu saw to the rise of independent families called
gōzoku , in Japanese, refers to powerful regional families. In historical context, it can refer to powerful non-royal families regardless of their area of influence, in contrast to the Imperial Family. The most powerful ''gōzoku'' families of the Yam ...
which administered local affairs. The Abe were appointed as "Superintendent of the Aborigines" ostensibly to control the local people who by now were a mix of Japanese immigrants and former Emishi tribesmen on behalf of the central government, but in reality the government in Kyōto simply did not have control over the region, and was recognizing this fact by appointing the Abe. The Abe for their part used their position to take control over the so-called six districts ''roku-oku-gun'' located in what is now central Iwate prefecture surrounding the Kitakami river. In time, they began to have disputes with the governor of Mutsu, an office held by a branch of the Fujiwara family, which erupted into violence in 1051. The main reason given for the attack on the Abe was that they stopped paying taxes to Kyoto, and stopped contributing to the local government. The governors of Mutsu and the commander of Dewa fort combined their forces to attack the Abe, but were defeated. Desperate to quell this affront to their authority Kyōto appointed Minamoto Yoriyoshi as '' Chinjufu-shōgun''. The position known as ''Chinjufu-shōgun'', or "Commander-in-chief of the Defense of the North", was traditionally given by the court as a temporary appointment to a courtier (typically of high rank) who was appointed as a national general to quell uprisings among the ''Emishi'' or ''Ebisu'' barbarians of northern Honshū. Increasingly, as military power became privatized, this position was rotated among a few clans. In what has come to be termed the "Earlier Nine Years' War" (前九年合戦, '' Zenkunen kassen''), Abe Yoritoki was killed, and his son Abe no Sadato defeated, by Minamoto no Yoriyoshi and ''his'' son, Minamoto no Yoshiie. This war broke the power of the Abe family, but in the prolonged fighting that took place the Minamoto would not have prevailed had it not been for the aid of another powerful family, the Kiyowara. The Kiyowara clan of nearby
Dewa province was a province of Japan comprising modern-day Yamagata Prefecture and Akita Prefecture, except for the city of Kazuno and the town of Kosaka. Dewa bordered on Mutsu and Echigō Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History Early per ...
, aided the Minamoto in defeating the Abe.


Other Abe families

Though many other major figures throughout history have been called Abe, it is difficult to know which were related to the ancient Abe clan, the Abe clan of Mutsu, the Abe clan of Mikawa, or the Abe clan of Shinano, which were recognized as separate family groups during the
Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...
. Abe no Nakamaro, a major court noble of the 8th century, for example, was from the town of Abe, near
Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...
, and derived his family name thus. The aristocratic Tsuchimikado family, descended from Abe no Seimei, survived into the Meiji era and were considered the heirs to the main Abe clan line despite having a different name. A family by the name of Abe also proved significant during the Edo period, serving successively in the post of ''
Rōjū The , usually translated as ''Elder (administrative title), Elder'', was one of the highest-ranking government posts under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council of Elders as a wh ...
'', or Elders, who advised the Tokugawa shōgun. Again, it is difficult to determine whether or not this line was directly related to either of the earlier Abe clans. Abe Tadaaki was the first to serve as ''Rōjū'', holding the post from 1633 to 1671. He was very likely a son or other direct relation to Abe Masatsugu (1569–1647) who served
Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...
and fought under him at the decisive
battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was an important battle in Japan which occurred on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu Prefecture, ...
. Other members of the Abe family would succeed Tadaaki to the post for much of the Edo period (1603–1867), ending with
Abe Masahiro was the chief senior councilor ('' rōjū'') in the Tokugawa shogunate of the Bakumatsu period at the time of the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry on his mission to open Japan to the outside world. Abe was instrumental in the eventual signi ...
, who was chief of the Council of ''Rōjū'' at the time of the arrival of Commodore Perry. It is believed that prime minister
Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. ...
was a 41st generation descendant of the
Heian The Japanese word Heian (平安, lit. "peace") may refer to: * Heian period, an era of Japanese history * Heian-kyō, the Heian-period capital of Japan that has become the present-day city of Kyoto * Heian series, a group of karate kata (forms) * ...
era samurai Abe no Yoritoki through his son Abe no Munetō. This line with ties to the historic Mutsu Province was originally believed to be unrelated to the main Abe clan line, however recent studies suggest the Satō–Kishi–Abe family and the Ōshū line may indeed be distant relations of the main clan line (but were a considered a separate clan during the Edo era). The Abe clan of Shinano''( jp)'' however, claim descent from Shiga Yoshisato and are considered unrelated to any of the other Abe clans.


Clan members of note

*
Abe no Hirafu was a Japanese military commander, strategist, and politician of the Asuka period. Some sources say he lived from c.575-664 Biography Events in his life are accounted in the Nihon Shoki and Kojiki, both written several decades after his dea ...
(c. 575–664), also known as Abe no Ōmi, one of the leading generals in the subjugation of the Ainu * Abe no Yoritoki (died 1057) - '' Chinjufu-shōgun'' during the Zenkunen War * Abe no Sadato (1019–62) * Abe Masatsugu (1569–1647) - fought at Sekigahara, became a '' fudai'' daimyō under the Tokugawa * Abe Tadaaki - first Abe clan member of the ''Rōjū'' *
Abe Masahiro was the chief senior councilor ('' rōjū'') in the Tokugawa shogunate of the Bakumatsu period at the time of the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry on his mission to open Japan to the outside world. Abe was instrumental in the eventual signi ...
- among the last of the ''Rōjū'', signed Treaty of Kanagawa * Abe no Seimei - famed practitioner of '' onmyōdō''


Genealogy


Notes


References


Citations


Books

* Appert, Georges and H. Kinoshita. (1888)
''Ancien Japon.''
Tokyo: Imprimerie Kokubunsha. * Asakawa, Kan'ichi. (1903)
''The Early Institutional Life of Japan.''
Tokyo:
Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...

OCLC 4427686 ''see'' online, multi-formatted, full-text book at openlibrary.org
* Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2002)
''Japan Encyclopedia.''
Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...
. * Papinot, Edmond. (1906) ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du japon.'' Tokyo: Librarie Sansaish
..Click link for digitized 1906 ''Nobiliaire du japon'' (2003)
* Sansom, George Bailey. (1958). A History of Japan to 1334. Stanford:
Stanford University Press Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It is one of the oldest academic presses in the United States and the first university press to be established on the West Coast. It is currently a member of the Ass ...
. * ____________. (1961). ''A History of Japan: 1334-1615.'' Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. * ____________. (1963). ''A History of Japan: 1615-1867.'' Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. * Turnbull, Stephen R. (1998). The Samurai Sourcebook. London: Arms & Armour Press. ; reprinted by Cassell & Co., London, 2000. {{ISBN, 1-85409-523-4 Abe Clan Samurai Abe Clan Abe Clan