The samurai originated from a class of warriors, known as ‘bushi’, that had largely been created by the Imperial government for the purposes of fighting the Emishi, the indigenous peoples of northern Honshu, and for protecting against rebellions. By the Heian period, however, the bushi had evolved from a warrior class to a hereditary military nobility.

From my understanding, as the influence of the bushi rose, the original hereditary nobility of Japan began to wane in power. While the ancient Yamato clan of the emperors had been in steady decline for centuries, and only temporarily regained limited power with the cloistered emperor system, another very old clan, the Fujiwara, had been in intense competition with bushi clans like the Taira and Minamoto for several decades before their toppling from real power by the Taira in 1156.

What happened to other aristocratic clans like the Fujiwara? Did they all just fade into obscurity after the first shogunate was established? Did they continue to play the games of court politics in Kyoto, still enjoying lives of poetry and art like their families in the Heian period had? Or, is my understanding of the dynamics of nobility at this time flawed, and that a clear dichotomy between the “old” nobility and the “new” nobility never truly existed? I would love to know more about these noble families, who are often overshadowed by the samurai who came after them - or even the samurai who lived in their own lifetimes!