From the Abdication of Emperor Yozei to the Clash Between Emperor Uda and Fujiwara no Mototsune
The Gangyo War had ended.
The court put down the great rebellion in Dewa in the second year of Gangyo (878).
Only nine years later.
In Heian-kyo, a massive political problem broke out again — this time from within the court itself.
No battlefield. No troops.
And yet the business of government itself ground to a halt.
The cause was a single word.
“Ako.”
Over this one word, the emperor and the most powerful man in the court, Fujiwara no Mototsune, collided head-on.
The scholar who drafted the offending document was held to account, and the emperor himself was forced to revise his own edict.
And through this incident, the sheer scale of Fujiwara no Mototsune‘s political power was made unmistakably clear to the entire court.
This was the Ako Incident.
1. The Man Who Became the Central Figure of the Court After the Gangyo War
In the second year of Gangyo (878), the Gangyo War broke out in Dewa Province.
The court dispatched Fujiwara no Yasunori and Ono no Harukaze, among others, to put down the rebellion.
Meanwhile, in the capital, another man was steadily consolidating power.
Mototsune came from the Northern House of the Fujiwara.
Adopted by his uncle Fujiwara no Yoshifusa, he advanced to the center of the court as Yoshifusa’s heir.
Yoshifusa had wielded enormous power as maternal grandfather to Emperor Seiwa, and was the first subject in history ever to serve as regent (sessho).
Mototsune inherited that political standing.
In the 18th year of Jogan (876), when Emperor Seiwa abdicated in favor of the nine-year-old Emperor Yozei, Mototsune took up the position of regent to the child emperor.
In the fourth year of Gangyo (880), he became Daijo Daijin, Chancellor of the realm.
By this point, Mototsune was the single most important man at court.
And then, in the eighth year of Gangyo (884), an event shook the court to its foundations.
Emperor Yozei abdicated.
2. The Abdication of Emperor Yozei — What Happened to the 17-Year-Old Emperor?
Emperor Yozei was born in the tenth year of Jogan (869).
A son of Emperor Seiwa.
He took the throne in the 18th year of Jogan (876) at age nine.
Being a child emperor, real political power lay with Fujiwara no Mototsune.
But as Emperor Yozei grew older, one problem after another arose over his conduct within the palace.
The Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku records specific incidents concerning Emperor Yozei’s behavior at court.
Most notorious among them is an episode in which he is said to have killed a courtier.
By the seventh year of Gangyo (883), tension surrounding Emperor Yozei within the court had grown severe.
And in the eighth year of Gangyo (884), Emperor Yozei abdicated.
He was succeeded by Emperor Koko.
Emperor Koko was a son of Emperor Ninmyo.
He was fifty-five years old when he took the throne.
The throne passed from a child emperor to an elderly member of the imperial family with decades of experience in court politics.
This succession further strengthened Fujiwara no Mototsune‘s political standing.
Mototsune became the central figure supporting Emperor Koko’s government.
3. Emperor Koko and Fujiwara no Mototsune — Entrusted With “the Ten Thousand Affairs of State”
Upon taking the throne, Emperor Koko entrusted the great bulk of court administration to Mototsune.
Important matters of state were first brought to Mototsune, and only then reported up to the emperor.
This arrangement was an important precursor to the later system of Kampaku government.
Here it is worth remembering something important:
Mototsune had already been functioning as the emperor’s de facto chief minister well before the word “Kampaku” itself ever appeared.
The system of governance Mototsune built under Emperor Koko was later formally written down after Emperor Uda’s accession — and it was in that document that the word “Kampaku” was first used.
This is a crucial point for understanding the Ako Incident.
4. The Death of Emperor Koko — Who Would Be the Next Emperor?
The third year of Ninna (887).
Emperor Koko fell ill.
The question of succession arose.
Emperor Koko had never named a crown prince.
What is more, his own sons had already been given commoner status and removed from the imperial line.
Among them was Minamoto no Sadami.
The future Emperor Uda.
As Emperor Koko’s condition worsened, Sadami was restored to imperial status as a prince and named crown prince.
Then Emperor Koko died.
And so Emperor Uda took the throne.
He was twenty-one.
From here, the story leads directly into the Ako Incident.
5. Emperor Uda’s Accession — Not an Enemy of Mototsune From the Start
This point matters a great deal.
Emperor Uda did not take the throne already intent on “getting rid of Fujiwara no Mototsune.”
If anything, the opposite was true.
Emperor Uda meant to entrust government to Mototsune, just as Emperor Koko had.
In the 11th month of the third year of Ninna (887), Emperor Uda issued Mototsune an edict to the effect that
“in all matters great and small, the many officials shall first consult the Daijo Daijin before reporting up for approval, exactly as was done before.”
In other words: all court business, large or small, must first be brought to Mototsune, and only afterward reported to the emperor.
What matters here is the word “Kampaku.”
This edict is an extremely important source for understanding the later institution of Kampaku.
Emperor Uda was a young emperor.
Mototsune, by contrast, had already been running the court for many years.
Emperor Uda hoped to use that political skill to stabilize his own reign.
But then, at the very stage of drafting the reply to Mototsune, an incident occurred.
6. Mototsune’s Letter of Resignation — Turning Down an Appointment Once Was Ordinary Court Practice
On receiving Emperor Uda’s edict, Mototsune submitted a letter of resignation.
This was nothing unusual at court.
When a person of high rank received an appointment, it was customary to first decline, saying “I am not worthy of this.”
And then the emperor would formally renew the command: “I entrust this to you.”
This exchange was itself a piece of political ceremony.
In other words, Mototsune’s initial refusal was not, in itself, the incident.
The problem lay in the emperor’s reply to that letter.
The man who drafted that reply was Tachibana no Hiromi.
7. Tachibana no Hiromi — a Scholar Close to Emperor Uda
Tachibana no Hiromi was one of the leading scholars and literary men of the early Heian period.
Gifted at drafting imperial edicts and other formal documents, he was a key figure supporting the court’s documentary administration.
He was also close to Emperor Uda personally.
Hiromi’s daughter Gishi became one of Emperor Uda’s consorts.
Hiromi thus stood as maternal grandfather to Emperor Uda’s own sons.
In other words, Hiromi was both a political and a blood-related confidant of Emperor Uda’s.
It was this Hiromi who drafted the imperial reply to Mototsune’s resignation.
And in that document appeared the word “Ako.”
8. What Exactly Was “Ako”?
The offending document contained the phrase “let the post of Ako be his office.”
Ako was a term drawn from ancient Chinese legend.
It was known as the title held by the sage-minister Yi Yin under the Shang dynasty.
But an interpretation soon surfaced holding that
“the post of Ako carries no concrete duties.”
The man who put forward this interpretation was Fujiwara no Sukeyo.
Sukeyo was a scholar well versed in Chinese classics, and a man close to Mototsune.
Mototsune accepted this reading.
Which meant:
even granted the rank of Ako, he would hold no actual duty to govern.
Emperor Uda’s original edict had ordered
“that Mototsune serve as Kampaku over all the affairs of state.”
But the subsequent reply spoke instead of
“the post of Ako.”
That discrepancy became a dispute over the very substance of Mototsune’s political authority.
This is the heart of the Ako Incident.
9. Fujiwara no Mototsune Stops Coming to Court
Mototsune took the position that “if the post is Ako, then I will not conduct the affairs of government.”
And he withdrew from government business.
The single most powerful man at court had stopped attending to state affairs.
The impact was enormous.
The business of the court stalled. Emperor Uda tried to persuade Mototsune.
But Mototsune would not budge.
For the first time, the true
balance of power between Emperor Uda and Fujiwara no Mototsune was exposed in the open.
The emperor held the highest rank of all.
But it was Mototsune who actually ran the court.
If Mototsune did not move, government itself could not move forward.
The Ako Incident laid that fact bare.
10. Emperor Uda Has the Scholars Study the Meaning of “Ako”
Emperor Uda did not let the matter drop.
Did the post of Ako carry any actual duties? How should the term be understood?
He had the court scholars examine the question.
On the first day of the sixth month of the fourth year of Ninna (888), the scholars debated the matter before the emperor.
But it was not settled on the spot.
This point matters.
The Ako Incident was not
a case of “the scholars looked the word up in a dictionary, and that settled it.”
A dispute over a scholarly definition was directly tied to Fujiwara no Mototsune‘s political authority.
That is why it could not be resolved easily.
11. Blame Concentrates on Tachibana no Hiromi
As the affair dragged on, it stopped being simply about the word “Ako.”
Tachibana no Hiromi, who had written the document, came under fire.
From Mototsune’s side, Hiromi, as the author of the imperial reply, bore serious responsibility.
Hiromi, meanwhile, enjoyed deep trust from Emperor Uda.
The affair now took the shape of Mototsune versus Hiromi.
And behind that stood
the political relationship between Mototsune and Emperor Uda himself.
What had begun with a single word had grown into a major crisis dragging in the personal relationships within the court itself.
12. Sugawara no Michizane Enters the Story
A figure who would later reshape Japanese history is also caught up in this affair.
At the time, Michizane was Governor of Sanuki.
Michizane sent a letter to Mototsune urging him to bring the crisis to an end.
This letter is known as the “Letter to Lord Shosen.”
“Lord Shosen” refers to Fujiwara no Mototsune.
Michizane laid out to Mototsune the dangers of letting the political turmoil drag on.
What matters here is that Michizane was not trying to bring Mototsune down.
Rather, taking Mototsune’s own position into account, he urged a resolution.
This episode matters greatly when considering the later relationship between Emperor Uda and Sugawara no Michizane.
That said, it would be going too far to simply conclude
that “Michizane persuaded Mototsune and single-handedly resolved the Ako Incident.”
What can be confirmed from the excerpted record of the Emperor Uda’s Diary, the core source for this affair, is the general course of events and the existence of Michizane’s letter to Mototsune.
13. Emperor Uda Revises the Edict
In the fourth year of Ninna (888), Emperor Uda revised the offending edict in order to bring the affair to a close.
He clarified Mototsune’s political standing and moved toward restoring him to government.
But Mototsune’s side did not stop there.
The pursuit of Tachibana no Hiromi’s responsibility continued.
For Emperor Uda, Hiromi was an important confidant.
Even so, the court could not be run while ignoring Mototsune’s political power.
In the end, the affair moved toward resolution.
And that same year, in the tenth month, Mototsune’s daughter Fujiwara no Onshi became one of Emperor Uda’s consorts.
This, too, mattered as a political move to repair relations between Mototsune and Emperor Uda.
14. Why Did “One Word” Cause So Much Trouble?
This is the most fascinating part of the Ako Incident.
By modern standards, one might think, “Wasn’t this just a poor choice of wording?”
But in the Heian court, the exact wording of an official title or an imperial edict was itself an expression of political power.
What post would Mototsune be given? In what wording would that authority be expressed?
How far would the emperor allow Mototsune to be involved in government?
All of these questions came down to one thing: who actually ran the court.
That is why Mototsune would not let the word “Ako” pass unchallenged.
If he returned to office with the wording left ambiguous, his own political authority would be weakened.
Mototsune pursued the point relentlessly.
15. The True Measure of Fujiwara no Mototsune — the Power to Stop an Imperial Edict
What is most astonishing about the Ako Incident is
that Mototsune was able to resist the emperor’s own command.
Emperor Uda was the emperor.
Mototsune was his subject.
And yet, when Mototsune withdrew from public duty, the entire machinery of court government stopped moving.
This captures the real political reality of the age.
Mototsune was no mere “subordinate of the emperor.”
He was a massive political force, holding the appointments, the daily business, and the entire operation of the Council of State in his grip.
What is more, Mototsune stood at the very center of three separate imperial successions — the abdication of Emperor Yozei, the enthronement of Emperor Koko, and the enthronement of Emperor Uda.
Emperors came and went, but Mototsune remained at the center of power.
That fact alone shows the true scale of Mototsune’s power.
16. After the Ako Incident
The Ako Incident came to a close in the fourth year of Ninna (888).
But for Emperor Uda, it was a formative experience.
Even as emperor, he learned, he could not run the court while ignoring Fujiwara no Mototsune‘s political power.
Emperor Uda came to know this reality firsthand.
Afterward, Mototsune continued to support Emperor Uda’s government.
Then, in the second year of Kanpyo (890), Mototsune resigned citing illness.
In the first month of the following year, the third year of Kanpyo (891), Mototsune died.
From here, Emperor Uda’s own governance changed dramatically.
And at the center of that change appears Sugawara no Michizane.
17. From the Ako Incident to the Kanpyo Era of Good Government
After Mototsune’s death, Emperor Uda began to consolidate his own personal rule.
The man he elevated in this effort was Sugawara no Michizane.
Emperor Uda sought a form of government that did not depend on the Fujiwara alone.
Michizane, though born into a family of scholars, rose with striking speed to the center of court politics.
In time he was promoted all the way to Minister of the Right.
But waiting ahead lay the Shotai Incident.
Michizane was exiled to Dazaifu.
And once again, behind it lay the balance of power between the emperor and the Fujiwara clan.
In other words, the Ako Incident was not an isolated event.
It sits within the larger process by which regental government (sekkan seiji) took shape in the Heian period.
