
Fujiwara no Uchimaro

 was a Japanese noble of the Nara period and early Heian period. He was the third son of the "dainagon" Fujiwara no Matate and thus a member of the Hokke. He reached the court rank of and the position of "udaijin", and posthumously of and "daijō-daijin". He was also known as .
He served the emperors Kanmu, Heizei, and Saga, and was trusted and valued by each. He succeeded his uncle Nagate and his line as the head of the family. Unlike his father, whose secondary status in the family had prevented him from making "daijin", Uchimaro rose to "udaijin", and led the cabinet in Heizei's reign and the beginning of Saga's. He had many children, helping to lay the foundation for the later success of the Hokke.
Life.
On the ascension of Emperor Kanmu in 781, Uchimaro was promoted from to . He was consecutively promoted in 785, 786, and 787, culminating in the rank of . This came shortly after Uchimaro's first wife, Kudara no Nagatsugu, who had since become a court lady, bore the emperor a prince (). It has been theorized that this birth precipitated Uchimaro's rapid promotion, and even that he used Nagatsugu as collateral to deepen his relationship with the Emperor. During this period, he held various positions in the imperial guard and as a provincial governor.
Later, Uchimaro held head directoral positions in a division of the imperial guard, the Ministry of Justice, and the , a body governing the finances of the imperial household. In 794, immediately after the move of the capital to Heian-kyō, Uchimaro joined the "kugyō" with a promotion to "sangi". At the age of 39, this made him the second youngest member of the cabinet after the 34-year-old of the Nanke. However, in the next few years, four high-ranking cabinet officials, including "udaijin" Fujiwara no Tsuginawa and "dainagon" Ki no Kosami, died or retired, and in 798, Uchimaro was promoted to and "chūnagon". He also obtained various other positions during this period, including general of the imperial guard. In 799 he was put in charge of the continued relocation to the capital. During the dispute between Fujiwara no Otsugu and Sugano no Mamichi (), in which Otsugu persuaded the Emperor to suspend his campaign in Ezo and the construction of Heian-kyō, Uchimaro waited on Kanmu by his side.
When Emperor Heizei ascended to the throne in 806, Uchimaro was promoted to "dainagon". When died a month later, Uchimaro took over as head of the cabinet with a promotion to and "udaijin". In 809, he was promoted to . He emerged unscathed from the attempted coup of Prince Iyo and the Kusuko Incident.
Uchimaro died on November 13, 812, at the age of 57. He was posthumously promoted to and "sadaijin", and days later again to "daijō-daijin".
Personality.
According to the Nihon Kōki, Uchimaro was mild-mannered and very popular, and people were happy to follow him. The emperors he served trusted him deeply, and while he did not flatter them, he did not remonstrate them when they disagreed. He served in important government positions for more than ten years without committing any blunders. He was noted to have an exceptionally ready wit.
Uchimaro commissioned statues of the Four Heavenly Kings and a version of Kannon and let his son Fuyutsugu offer them to Kōfuku-ji.
An anecdote in the Nihon Kōki states that when Prince Osabe was crown prince, he bore ill will toward Uchimaro and tried to injure him. There was a horse with a habit of kicking and biting, and the prince had Uchimaro mount this horse, but the horse kept its head down and did not try to move, and even when they whipped it, it simply turned around once.