The Nakamikado Line (中御門流)
The Nakamikado line was a clan of court nobles descended from the Northern House of the FUJIWARA clan. The clan descended from FUJIWARA no Yorimune, the son of the regent FUJIWARA no Michinaga in the Mido line. The head family of Nakamikado line was the Matsunoki family (once called the 'Nakamikado family').
Three sons of the Minister of the Right, FUJIWARA no Toshiie (the son of Yorimune)--Munetoshi, Motoyori, and Munemichi--established families, respectively. The heir Munetoshi was famous for his mastery of Japanese panpipe sho and Japanese flute fue with the pseudonym 'Nakamikado,' and the fifth generation of his family Munemasa and Munezane brothers made 'Nakamikado' their family name, in their ambition for fame as Munetoshi. The descendants of Motoyori made 'Jimyoin' their pseudonym and the descendants of Munemichi made 'Bomon' their pseudonym--these two family lines branched into the Matsunoki family, the Jimyoin family, and the Bomon family, collectively called the Nakamikado line. In the generation of Munenori during the Muromachi period, the Nakamikado family (head family) was renamed the Matsunoki family to refrain from having the same family name as the family in the Kajuji line.
Both the Jimyoin family and the Bomon family had collateral branches; however, during the Muromachi period, the Bomon family and its collateral families Shirakawa, Takakura, and Rokkaku were cut off, and only the Matsunoki family, and the Jimyoin family and its collateral families including the Sono family, prevailed. The collateral families of the Jimyoin family were: the Sono family established during the Kamakura period; the Takano family and the Ishiyama family branched from the Jimyoin family during the Edo period; the Higashisono family and the Mibu family branched from the Sono family during the Edo period; and the Ishiyama family and the Rokkaku family further branched from the Mibu family during the Edo period. The Ichijo family which had strong tie with the Kamakura government being related to MINAMOTO no Yoritomo (different from the Ichijo family of regent families) was a collateral family of the Jimyoin family, too. During the Edo period, all families of the Nakamikado line ranked as Urinke; three of the Matsunoki family, the Jimyoin family, and the Sono family ranked as the Old Family; and six branches of the Jimyoin family line ranked as the New Family. According to the imperial ordinance installing the nobility 'Kazokurei' promulgated after the Meiji period, three of the Matsunoki family, the Sono family, and the Mibu family ranked as count and the six branches of the Jimyoin family ranked as viscount.