The Wake clan (和気氏)
The Wake clan was a Gozoku (local ruling family) based in the Wake District (formerly Fujino District) of Bizen Province. It is said that their patriarch was Nuteshiwakenomikoto, a son of Emperor Suinin.
"Wake clan" can also be written '別氏.'
The surname was changed from Kimi to Mahito, then to Sukune, and in 774 the surname Ason was given.
In the Nara period, WAKE no Hiromushi (who adopted the name Hokin-ni after entering the priesthood) and his younger brother WAKE no Kiyomaro, who had made achievements in a plot by the Usa Hachiman-gu oracle against the Buddhist monk Dokyo, advanced to the Imperial court and were given the surname Wake Ason by Fujinowake no Mahito. Kiyomaro's son WAKE no Hiroyo served the Imperial court as a scholar, and established Kobun-in, which was a Daigaku-besso (academic facility for nobles) for the members of the clan. It is said that he later served as a doctor, and that the doctors from the Nakarai family who served as court physicians for generations from the Sengoku period (Japan) to the Edo period were descendants of the Wake clan.