Fujiwara no Motoyori (藤原基頼)

FUJIWARA no Motoyori (1040 - 1122) was a Court noble and Samurai during the late Heian period. He was a great grand child of Mido Kanpaku, FUJIWARA no Michinaga, and was Udaijin (Minister of the right), FUJIWARA no Toshiie's child. His mother was Ie no Nyobo (a lady-in-waiting), who was the daughter of MINAMOTO no Tamehiro of Hitachi Province. His official court rank was Shogoi (Senior Fifth Rank), Ministry of Central Affairs. He successively held the position of kokushi (provincial governors) of various Provinces such as Mutsu Province, Echizen Province, Noto Province, or Hitachi no suke (Assistant Governor of Hitachi Province). He was the originator of the Jimyoin family.

He was born into a family of upper nobles, however he had interests in military arts such as archery, horse riding, eagles, and dogs, and had an active role as a Samurai. He was appointed to go to Mutsu Province in 1103, and was also appointed as Chinju-fu shogun (Commander-in-Chief of the Defense of the North) in the following year of 1104. Around 1111 he fought and won against Ezo (northerners) in the Tohoku area.

He had his villa in current Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto City, and had jibutsu-do hall (the nobility's private Buddha statue hall) within his villa and named Jimyoin, thus his descendants named themselves the Jimyoin family.

[Original Japanese]