Reizei family

Reizei family is a Japanese kuge family from Kyoto. It is a branch of the Fujiwara clan, with a long poetic tradition.

History

The Reizei family descended from Fujiwara no Michinaga through his sixth son, Nagaie ; this line was known by the name of Mikohidari until Tamesuke took the name of Reizei. Nagaie's second son Tadaie had a second son, Toshitada, whose fourth son Toshinari had a second son, Sadaie, whose third son Tameie was Reizei Tamesuke's father.
The present head of the senior line of the family is Reizei Tamehito.
For eight centuries, the family secretly preserved, under imperial order, an important collection of documents. On April 4, 1980, this collection of about 200,000 pieces was made public by Reizei Tametou. The following year, a library in Tokyo was created specially for their conservation. Not all of the documents have yet been identified, but some have already been classified as national treasures.
The Reizei residence is located to the north side of Kyoto Imperial Palace, and is the last extant original court noble residence in Kyoto. It was registered as an Important Cultural Property.

Heads of the Reizei family

1- Reizei Tamesuke
2- Reizei Tamehide
3- Reizei Tamemasa
4- Reizei Tameyuki
5- Reizei Tametomi
6- Reizei Tamehiro
7- Reizei Tamekazu
8- Reizei Tamemasu
9- Reizei Tamemitsu
10- Reizei Tameyori
11- Reizei Tameharu
12- Reizei Tamekiyo
13- Reizei Tametsuna
14- Reizei Tamehisa
15- Reizei Tamemura
16- Reizei Tameyasu
17- Reizei Tamefumi
18- Reizei Tamenori
19- Reizei Tametake
20- Reizei Tametada
21- Reizei Tamemoto
22- Reizei Tametsugi
23- Reizei Tameomi
24- Reizei Tametou
25- Reizei Tamehito