The Hirohashi family (広橋家)
Hirohashi family were kuge (court nobles) with kakaku (family status) of meike (the fourth highest status for court nobles). They came under the Hino line of the Northern House of the Fujiwara clan. The family business was literature. Karoku (hereditary stipend) in the Edo Period was 850 koku (approx. 153.3 cubic meters). After the Meiji Restoration, they were givent the title count.
This family was founded during the beginning of the Kamakura Period by Yorisuke HIROHASHI, who was the younger brother of Sukezane HINO. At the beginning the family called itself also Kadenokoji and, therefore, the diary of Kanenaka HIROHASHI was called "Kanchuki."
From the Muromachi Period to the Edo Period, many family members served as negotiators with bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) and, in particular during the Edo Period, many buketenso yaku (Imperial official in charge of communication between the shogunate and the court) appeared.
After the Meiji Restoration on July 8, 1884, the peerage of count was conferred on Masamitsu HIROHASHI. Masamitsu entered the Ministry of Home Affairs and, after serving as the Director of the Cabinet Records Office, served as Goyogakari (a general affairs official of the Imperial Household) of the Imperial Household Research Committee. Tadamitsu HIROHASHI served as the Governor of Chiba Prefecture. His wife was the second princess Noriko of Prince Nashimotonomiya Morimasa. Yi Bangja was his sister-in-law. The second son of Tadamitsu, Norimitsu, once inherited the Nashimoto family.