Template:Japanese nameFujiwara no Kiyokawa (藤原 清河, ?–778), also known by the Chinese-style name Heqing (河清), was a Japanese noble of the Nara period. He was the fourth son of the sangiFujiwara no Fusasaki, the founder of the Fujiwara Hokke. He reached the court rank of ju san-mi (従三位) and the position of sangi, and was posthumously awarded the rank of ju ichi-i (従一位).
In 740, Kiyokawa was promoted from shō roku-i no jō (正六位上) to ju go-i no ge (従五位下). He rose steadily in the court of Emperor Shōmu and was promoted to ju shi-i no ge (従四位下) in 746. With the ascension of Empress Kōken in 749, he was appointed as sangi, beating his older brother Fujiwara no Nagate to the ranks of the kugyō.
In 750, Kiyokawa was appointed as an envoy to Tang China,[1] with Ōtomo no Komaro and Kibi no Makibi as vice-envoys. Before his departure, the Emperor gave him a symbolic sword (節刀, settō) as a sign of his command, and he was granted the rank of shō shi-i no ge (正四位下). Upon arriving in Tang China, the envoy entered Chang'an and had an audience with Emperor Xuanzong, who praised them as proper gentlemen.
At the New Year's greeting ceremony in 753 where the various domains offered well-wishes to the Tang Emperor, the Japanese delegation was seated in the second position on the west side, after the Tibetan Empire. Meanwhile, Silla was seated in the first position on the east side. Komaro protested, and the Japanese envoy changed seats with Silla in order to save face.[2]
Almost a year later, Kiyokawa's group set out to return to Japan, accompanied by Abe no Nakamaro, who had lived in China for 35 years and was a high official there as well. The monk Jianzhen wished to accompany them, but as the Tang government had forbidden his departure from China, Kiyokawa refused him. However, the vice-envoy Komaro snuck him on board. Their ships departed from Yangzhou, but the boat carrying Kiyokawa and Nakamaro met a strong headwind and washed ashore farther south, in what is now northern Vietnam. The natives attacked the ship, killing many of its crew, and Kiyokawa and Nakamaro barely escaped with their lives. The second ship, carrying Jianzhen, reached Japan without accident. In 755, Kiyokawa and Nakamaro returned to Chang'an. Kiyokawa took up the Tang-style name of Heqing (河清), and became the chief of the Secretary Ministry (秘書監).
In 759, a delegation led by ja [Kō Gendo] entered China through Balhae to take Kiyokawa home. However, because China was in a state of upset due to the An Lushan Rebellion, the Tang court forbade his return due to the danger of the roads. In 763, although Kiyokawa was still in China, the Japanese court appointed him as governor of Hitachi Province, and in 764 he was promoted to ju san-mi (従三位).
Still unable to return to Japan, Kiyokawa spent another decade in China before another Japanese envoy arrived in 777, and in 778 he died, still in China. The Tang court granted him the posthumous rank of grand governor general of Luzhou (路州大都督). Having at some point married a Chinese woman, he had one daughter, named Kijō (喜娘), who did accompany that envoy back to Japan.
^ abcBrinkley, Frank and Dairoku Kikuchi. (1915). A History of the Japanese People from the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era. New York: Encyclopædia Britannica. OCLC 413099
^ abcdeKanai, Madoka; Nitta, Hideharu; Yamagiwa, Joseph Koshimi (1966). A topical history of Japan. Sub-Committee on Far Eastern Language Instruction of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation. p. 6.
^ abBrown, Delmer M. (1988). The Cambridge History of Japan: Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. ISBN9780521223522.
^Nakagawa, Osamu (1991). "藤原良継の変" [The Rise of Fujiwara no Yoshitsugu]. 奈良朝政治史の研究 [Political History of the Nara Period] (in Japanese). Takashina Shoten (高科書店).
^Kimoto, Yoshinobu (2004). "『牛屋大臣』藤原是公について" [On "Ushiya-Daijin" Fujiwara no Korekimi]. 奈良時代の藤原氏と諸氏族 [The Fujiwara Clan and Other Clans of the Nara Period] (in Japanese). Ohfu.
^Kurihara, Hiromu. 藤原内麿家族について [The Family of Fujiwara no Uchimaro]. Japanese History (日本歴史) (in Japanese) (511).
^Kurihara, Hiromu (2008). "藤原冬嗣家族について" [Fujiwara no Fuyutsugu's Family]. 平安前期の家族と親族 [Family and Relatives During the Early Heian Period] (in Japanese). Azekura Shobo (校倉書房). ISBN978-4-7517-3940-2.
^ ab 公卿補任 [Kugyō Bunin] (in Japanese). Yoshikawa Kōbunkan (吉川弘文館). 1982.
^Kitayama, Shigeo (1973). 日本の歴史4 平安京 [History of Japan IV: Heian-kyō] (in Japanese). Chūkō Bunko (中公文庫). p. 242.
^ 日本古代氏族人名辞典(普及版) [Dictionary of Names from Ancient Japanese Clans (Trade Version)] (in Japanese). Yoshikawa Kōbunkan (吉川弘文館). 2010. ISBN978-4-642-01458-8.