Nakatomi family

…were the Soga, Mononobe, and Nakatomi. Each of the clans was tied to the imperial line by providing wives for the emperors. They also provided increasingly specialized hereditary services to the court; for example, the Mononobe were warriors, the Soga tax administrators, and the Nakatomi masters of religious ritual.

…Mononobe and, in particular, the Nakatomi resisted and were rigorous persecutors of Buddhism. They were defeated militarily by the Soga in 587, and in 593 Prince Shōtoku (574–622), who was related to the Soga clan, became regent to Umako’s niece the empress Suiko and consolidated the Buddhist position. Prince Shōtoku,…