{{Short description|Collective term for the five regent families of the Fujiwara clan}} The '''Five Regent Houses''' (五摂家; ''go-sekke'') is a collective term for the five families of the Fujiwara clan that monopolized the regent position of ''Sekkan'' in Japan from 1252 until 1868.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=Nihon dai hyakka zensho |publisher=Shōgakkan, 小学館 |year=1989 |isbn=4-09-526001-7 |at=五摂家 |oclc=14970117}}</ref> 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 under the new hereditary peerage.
== Overview == Out of the four houses of the Fujiwara clan, the Fujiwara Hokke monopolized the regent position of ''Sekkan''. In the Kamakura period,<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |title=Obunsha Nihonshi jiten ed. 3 旺文社日本史事典 三訂版 |publisher=Obunsha 旺文社 |year=2000 |isbn=9784010353134 |at=北家}}</ref> the Hokke split into the Five Regent Houses, Konoe, Takatsukasa, Kujō, Ichijō, and Nijō.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC&pg=PA260&dq= "Go-sekke" at p. 260].</ref> These families continued to monopolize the regency from 1252<ref name=":0" /> until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />
When the regency was abolished as part of the Meiji Restoration, a new hereditary peerage (''kazoku'') was established, and these houses were all appointed Prince.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |title=Obunsha Nihonshi jiten ed. 3 旺文社日本史事典 三訂版 |publisher=Obunsha 旺文社 |year=2000 |isbn=9784010353134 |at=五摂家}}</ref>
The Fujiwara clan also had other families, but traditionally, only these five were eligible for regency. They were the most politically powerful families among the kuge (court nobility).<ref>Nussbaum, [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC&pg=PA570&dq= "Kuge" at p. 570].</ref>
==See also== * Hokke (Fujiwara) * List of Kuge families * Japanese clans
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.harimaya.com/o_kamon1/kuge_html/kuge_1.html ''Sekke kamon'' at Harimaya.com]
* Category:Kuge families *
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