The Mimurodo Family (三室戸家)
The Mimurodo family (pronunciation 'Mimuroto' is a recording error) held the court noble family rank of Meike. They were a collateral branch of the Yanagiwara family line of the Hino family line of the FUJIWARA no Manatsu line of the Northern House of the FUJIWARA clan. The family inherited the hereditary art of flower arrangement, the Chikushin School and literature. Their hereditary stipend during the Edo period was 130 koku. Its family crest was a 'Wing-Spreading Crane,' the wingtip feathers of which are three like the crest of the main family. After the Meiji Restoration, the family held the title of viscount.
The Mimurodo family was founded during the early Edo period by Tomomitsu, the third son of Sukeyuki YANAGIWARA.
At first, they called themselves 'Kitakoji,' but in August 1665, their petition was sanctioned and they were renamed 'Mimurodo.'
Sukekado YANAGIWARA, an elder brother of Tomomitsu and a cousin of the Emperor Reigen, served as an official intermediary between the court and the bakufu called Buke Denso and played an active role in negotiations. Incidentally, he had come from Kyoto to Edo-jo Castle and was present during the Ako Incident, which was an act of bloodshed caused by Naganori ASANO, the lord of Ako in Harima Province, who served as an attendant at a reception for the shogun.
The head of the Mimurodo family was promoted to Sanmi, Hisangi for many generations, except for Mitsumura MIMURODO who was promoted to Sangi and Yasumitsu MIMURODO who was promoted to Major Counselor.
The family proclaimed the headmaster of the Chikushin school of flower arrangement until the Edo period, but Yukimitsu MIMURODO transferred the headmaster title to a temple in Kuwana City, Mie Prefecture. During the Taisho period, Masamitsu MIMURODO became the High Priest of the Ise Grand Shrine; similarly, Harumitsu MIMURODO, the biological son of Takemitsu MIMURODO, became the head priest of the Heian Shrine.
During the early Showa period, Yukimitsu MIMURODO was elected a member of the House of Peers (belonging to the group 'Kenkyukai') through mutual election; and in a dispute over the "Emperor as an organ of government Theory" started in 1935, Yukimitsu, together with another member of the House, Baron Takeo KIKUCHI (a Japanese Imperial Army soldier), questioned Tatsukichi MINOBE, the advocate of the theory, and forced him to resign from the House of Peers, and also, made the Okada Cabinet to issue the Kokutai Meicho proclamation.
It was well-known that, in 1934, Kumakichi NAKAJIMA, the Minister of Commerce and Industry in the Sato Cabinet, stated in his article reprinted in the February issue of the monthly magazine "Gendai" (Modern times) that Takauji ASHIKAGA and the Ashikaga era (i.e., the Muromachi period) should be transvalued; and Yukimitsu, together with Takeo KIKUCHI, censured Kumakichi NAKAJIMA and forced him to resign. In the early Showa period, Yukimitsu filled the post of the headmaster of the Tokyo-Koto-Ongakugakuin (present day Kunitachi College of Music). After World War II, Yukimitsu was purged from public service.
In 1938, Tamemitsu MIMURODO, the first son of Yukimitsu, made the Otsuka branch school of the Tokyo-Koto-Ongakugakuin independent to found Toho-Ongakugakko (later, the Toho College of Music, and Toho Junior College of Music).