Reizei family

Reizei family 冷泉
The present house of Reizei family in Kyoto
Parent house	Fujiwara clan
Founder	Reizei Tamesuke
Current head	Reizei Tamehito
Founding year	14th century
Ruled until	still extant

The Reizei family (冷泉) is a branch of the clan Fujiwara, with a long poetic tradition. The Reizei family descended from Fujiwara no Michinaga through his sixth son, Nagaie (1005-1064); this line was known by the name of Mikohidari until Tamesuke took the name of Reizei. Nagaie's second son Tadaie (1033-1091) had a second son, Toshitada (1071-1123), whose fourth son Toshinari (also known as Fujiwara no Shunzei, 1114-1204) had a second son, Sadaie (also known as Fujiwara no Teika, 1162-1241), whose third son Tameie (1198-1275) was Reizei Tamesuke's father.

The present (25th generation) head of the senior line of the family is Reizei Tamehito (born 1944).

For eight centuries, the family secretly preserved, under imperial order, an important collection of documents. On April 4, 1980, this collection of about 200,000 pieces was made public by Tametou Reizei (1914-1986). The following year, a library in Tokyo was created specially for their conservation. Not all of the documents have yet been identified, but certain ones have already been classified as national treasures.

1- Reizei Tamesuke (1263-1328)

2- Reizei Tamehide (d. 1372)

3- Reizei Tamemasa (1361-1417)

4- Reizei Tameyuki (1393-1439)

5- Reizei Tametomi

6- Reizei Tamehiro (1450-1526)

7- Reizei Tamekazu (1486-1549)

8- Reizei Tamemasu (1516-1570)

9- Reizei Tamemitsu (1559-1619)

10- Reizei Tameyori

11- Reizei Tameharu

12- Reizei Tamekiyo