Fujinami Family (藤波家)
The Fujinami family, which claimed to be descended from the Onakatomi clan, belonged to the Tosho-ke (the hereditary lineage of Court nobles occupying relatively high ranks). The descendants continued to succeed to the positions of Ise Saishu (chief ritualist at the Ise-jingu Shrine) and Jingi taifu (Senior Assistant Head of the Department of Shinto). When Tanetada FUJINAMI in the Edo period was censored due to Imperial decree, the family was once demoted to Jige (low class nobles); however, at the time of his grandson Kagetada FUJINAMI (Senior Second Rank, Jingi taifu) (1647 - 1727), the family was reinstated in the Tosho-ke. The family name was finally settled as Fujinami.
The social standing of the family was Hanke (a kind of family status of the court nobles). The descendants continued to succeed to the positions of Ise Saishu and Jingi taifu.
The hereditary stipend of the family was 172 koku in the Edo period. In addition, the priest salary was over 666 koku. When the Imperial sanction for the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan was given, Noritada FUJINAMI in the last days of Tokugawa shogunate, (Junii (Junior Second Rank), Jingi taifu) (1823 - 1891) strongly opposed it with eighty-eight court nobles.
(For more information, see 'Demo of eighty-eight retainers of Imperial Court.')
The family had been given the title of viscount since the Meiji peirod.