The Fujiwara clan, Court nobles who monopolized the management of the dairi (Imperial Palace), assumed the position of the sekkan-ke (family line of regents and chief advisors to the Emperor) by letting the family lines of FUJIWARA no Michinaga monopolize the positions of Sessho (regent) and Kanpaku (chief adviser to the Emperor), thus establishing the gosekke (the five sekkan-ke) of the Konoe family, the Kujo family, the Nijo family, the Ichijo family, and the Takatsukasa family led by the Konoe family, the chakuryu of the clan.
特に公卿にあって内裏の差配を独占した藤原氏は、藤原道長の家系が摂政・関白の座を独占し続けることで摂関家としての地位を獲得し、嫡流の近衛家を筆頭とする、九条家、二条家、一条家、鷹司家の五摂家を形成するに至った。