mikados had sunk out of sight, being regarded by the public with awe as
spiritual emperors, while their ministers rose into power and became the
leaders of life and the lords of events in Japan.

First among these noble families to gain control was that of the
Fujiwara (Wistaria meadow). They were of royal origin, and rose to
leading power in the year 645, when Kamatari, the founder of the family,
became regent of the empire. All the great offices of the empire in time
fell into the hands of the Fujiwaras: they married their daughters to
the mikados, surrounded them with their adherents, and governed the
empire in their name. In the end they decided who should be mikado,
ruled the country like monarchs, and became in effect the proprietors of
the throne. In their strong hands the mikado sank into a puppet, to move
as they pulled the strings.

But the Fujiwaras were not left to lord it alone. Other great families
sought a share of the power, and their rivalry often ended in war and
bloodshed. The most ancient of these rivals was the family of the
Sugawara. Greatest in this family was the renowned Sugawara Michizane, a
polished courtier and famous scholar, whose talents raised him to the
highest position in the realm. Japan had no man of greater learning; his
historical works became famous, and some of them are still extant. But
his genius did not save him from misfortune. His rivals, the Fujiwara,
in the end succeeded in having him banished to Kiushiu, where, exposed
to dire poverty, he starved to death. This martyr to official rivalry is
now worshipped in Japan as a deity, the patron god of literature and
letters. Temples have been erected to him, and students worship at his
shrine.

At a later date two other powerful families became rivals for the
control of the empire and added to the anarchy of the realm. The first
of these was the Taira family, founded 889 A.D., whose members attained
prominence as great military chiefs. The second was the Minamoto family,
founded somewhat later, which rose to be a powerful rival of the Taira,
their rivalry often taking the form of war. For centuries the
governmental and military history of Japan was made up of a record of
the jealousies and dissensions of these rival families, in whose hands
lay war and peace, power and place, and with whose quarrels and
struggles for power our next tales will be concerned.

_HOW THE TAIRA AND THE MINAMOTO FOUGHT FOR POWER._

In the st