built a shrine in Kitano to his memory, where he is worshiped to this day as the tutelary saint of learning, under the canonized name of Kitano-no-Tenjin. After the exile of Michizane, the power of the Fujiwara family grew steadily. During a period of about a century and a half after that event, the administration was virtually in their hands. Fujiwara-no-Tadahira occupied the post of chief minister of state, while his sons, Saneyori and Morosuke, held the offices of minister of the left and minister of the right respectively, the three highest posts in the administration being thus filled simultaneously by a father and his two sons. Among the descendants of these three nobles, those of the last-named, Morosuke, attained the greatest prosperity. It has been already noted that the Fujiwara ministers always contrived to have the sovereign choose his consort from among their daughters. Nay more, when a son was born of such a union, they had him brought up in their own house, and when he ascended the throne, the Fujiwara minister who was his grandfather became either regent or _kwampaku_, was recognized as the head of the Fujiwara family, and received a large grant of state land. Under these circumstances the choice of an imperial consort or the nomination of an heir apparent being synonymous with the acquisition of complete control over administrative and financial affairs, the branches of the Fujiwara family often intrigued and fought among themselves to secure the great prize. Michinaga, youngest son of Kaneiye, was a man of remarkable strength of purpose and tact. He held the office of _kwampaku_ during the reigns of three emperors, Ichijō, Sanjō, and Goichijō; his three daughters became the consorts of three successive sovereigns; he was grandfather of a reigning emperor and an heir apparent at the same time, and his power and affluence far surpassed those of the imperial house itself. To this great noble every official paid court, except Fujiwara-no-Sanesuke, who maintained his independence and was consequently relied on by the emperor. It is on record that Michinaga once composed a stanza the purport of which was that all the world seemed to have been created for his uses, and that every desire he felt was satisfied as completely as the full moon is perfectly rounded. In truth the power of the Fujiwara family culminated in his days. A contemporary writer described the conditions of the time in a work for which he found no title more appropriate than "the Story of Grandeur" ("_Eigwa Monogatari_"). With Michinaga the power of the Fujiwara may be said to have reached its zenith, for although his sons Yorimichi and Norimichi became _kwampaku_ in succession and retained immense influence, the gradual decline of the family really began from that time.