nto
seclusion in Ono at the foot of Mount Hiei, and there, in the shadow
of the great Tendai monastery, devoted his days to composing
verselets. In that pastime he was frequently joined by Ariwara no
Narihira, who, as a grandson of the Emperor Heijo, possessed a title
to the succession more valid than even that of the disappointed
Koretaka. In the celebrated Japanese anthology, the Kokin-shu,
compiled at the beginning of the tenth century, there are found
several couplets from the pens of Koretaka and Narihira.

THE FUJIWARA REGENCY

It was in the days of Fujiwara Yoshifusa that the descendants of
Kamatari first assumed the role of kingmakers. Yoshifusa obtained the
position of minister of the Right on the accession of Montoku (851),
and, six years later, he was appointed chancellor of the empire (dajo
daijin) in the sequel of the intrigues which had procured for his own
grandson (Korehito) the nomination of Prince Imperial. The latter,
known in history as the Emperor Seiwa, ascended the throne in the
year 859. He was then a child of nine, and naturally the whole duty
of administration devolved upon the chancellor. This situation fell
short of the Fujiwara leader's ideal in nomenclature only. There had
been many "chancellors" but few "regents" (sessho). In fact, the
office of regent had always been practically confined to princes of
the Blood, and the qualifications for holding it were prescribed in
very high terms by the Daiho statutes. Yoshifusa did not possess any
of the qualifications, but he wielded power sufficient to dispense
with them, and, in the year 866, he celebrated the Emperor's
attainment of his majority by having himself named sessho. The
appointment carried with it a sustenance fief of three thousand
houses; the privilege of being constantly attended by squadrons of
the Right and Left Imperial guards, and the honour of receiving the
allowances and the treatment of the Sangu, that is to say, of an
Empress, a Dowager Empress, or a Grand Dowager Empress. Husband of an
Empress, father of an Empress Dowager, grandfather of a reigning
Emperor, chancellor of the empire, and a regent--a subject could
climb no higher. Yoshifusa died in 872 at the age of sixty-eight.
Having no son of his own, he adopted his nephew, Mototsune, son of
Fujiwara Nagara.

SEIWA'S EMPRESS

Seiwa abdicated in 876, at the age of twenty-seven. Some historians
ascribe his abdication to a sentiment of remorse. He had ascended the
thr