Northern Fujiwara

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The Northern Fujiwara (奥州藤原氏 Ōshū Fujiwara-shi) was a Japanese noble family that ruled the Tōhoku region (the northeast of Honshū) of Japan from the 12th to the 13th centuries, ultimately conquered by the Kantō samurai clans led by Minamoto no Yoritomo. They succeeded the semi-independent Emishi families of the 11th century who were successively brought down by the Minamoto clan loyal to the Imperial throne based in Kyoto.

During the 12th Century, during the zenith of their rule, they attracted a number of artisans from Kyoto and created a capital city, Hiraizumi, in what is now Iwate prefecture. They ruled over an independent region that derived its wealth from gold mining, horse trading and as middlemen in the trade in luxury items from continental Asian states and from the far northern Emishi and Ainu people. They were able to keep their independence vis-a-vis Kyoto by the strength of their warrior bands until they were overwhelmed by Minamoto no Yoritomo in 1189.

Below is a family tree of the Fujiwaras who show up most frequently in historical accounts. 　 　

　　 Kiyohira
　　　　　┣━━━━━━━━━┓
　 Koretsune　　     Motohira
　　　　　        ┃
　　　　    Hidehira
　　　　　┏━━━━━━┳━━━━━┳━━━━━━┓
　　 Kunihira　　  Yasuhira　　 Tadahira*　　  Takahira

• a.k.a Izumi (no) Saburo

(Bold lines indicate natural kinship. Adopted kin are not shown.)