, third son of Matsudono Motofusa, was a kugyo

Kugyo

is the collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre-Meiji eras. The kugyō was broadly divided into two groups: the , comprising the Chancellor of the Realm, the Minister of the Left, and the Minister of the Right; and the , comprising the...

(high-ranking Japanese official) from the late Heian period

Heian period

The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their height...

 to the early Kamakura period

Kamakura period

The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....

. Regent Fujiwara no Tadataka

Fujiwara no Tadataka

, first son of regent Matsudono Motofusa, was a Kugyō of the late Heian and Kamakura periods.Despite being first-born, he was treated as if he were not, while his stepbrother Moroie inherited the male-line. Hence, he called himself , avoiding the use of the name Matsudono...

 and Buddhist monks Gyōi

Gyoi

, son of Fujiwara no Motofusa, was a Japanese poet and Buddhist monk of the late Heian, early Kamakura periods. Also known as 山科僧正, he is a member of New Thirty-six Poetry Immortals....

 and Jituson are his stepbrothers.

Though he was not first-born, in 1179 at age of 8 he was promoted to gon-chunagon, one of Daijō-kan due to the political tension between Emperor Go-Shirakawa

Emperor Go-Shirakawa

Emperor Go-Shirakawa was the 77th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession...

 and Taira no Kiyomori

Taira no Kiyomori

was a general of the late Heian period of Japan. He established the first samurai-dominated administrative government in the history of Japan.After the death of his father Taira no Tadamori in 1153, Kiyomori assumed control of the Taira clan and ambitiously entered the political realm in which he...

. However, this caused backlash from Kiyomori, leading to the Jisho coup in the same year.