Hojo Ujimasa (1538 – August 10, 1590) was the fourth leader of the later Hojo clan and the daimyo of Odawara. He continued his father Hojo Ujiyasu's policy of territorial expansion, achieving the largest territorial holdings in the clan's history.
Born in 1538 as the second son of Hojo Ujiyasu, Ujimasa's childhood name was Matsuchiyo-maru. After his elder brother Shinkuro passed away at a young age, Ujimasa became the heir apparent. In 1554, during an alliance formed by Ujiyasu with Takeda Shingen and Imagawa Yoshimoto, Ujimasa married Shingen's daughter, Obai-in.
Around 1559, Ujimasa assumed formal leadership of the family upon Ujiyasu's retirement. The Hojo clan expanded its control significantly under his leadership, including the capture of Iwatsuki Castle in 1560, which brought most of the Musashi Province under their control. Ujimasa participated in several key battles, such as the Battle of Konodai (1564) and the Siege of Odawara (1569).
In 1574, Ujimasa secured the surrender of Sekiyado Castle in Shimosa Province from Yanada Harusuke and gained the allegiance of Yuki Harutomi, a vassal of the Uesugi clan. The following year, Gion Castle in Shimotsuke Province, held by Oyama Hidetsuna, also surrendered. In 1577, Ujimasa invaded Kazusa Province and reconciled with his long-time adversary, Satomi Yoshihiro. This conflict marked the first battle for his heir, Hojo Ujinao.
By 1580, after Takeda Katsuyori's intervention in the Uesugi conflict and the death of Uesugi Kagetora, Ujimasa forged a new alliance with Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Hojo clan, alongside these allies, launched an attack on Takeda territory in Suruga, leading to the Battle of Omosu and participation in the Conquest of Koshu, culminating in the Battle of Tenmokuzan in 1582.
After Oda Nobunaga's unexpected death in 1582, Ujimasa seized the opportunity to attack Oda clan territories at the Battle of Kanagawa. Subsequently, the Hojo and Tokugawa clans settled their territorial disputes by exchanging Kai and Shinano Provinces for Kozuke Province.
In 1588, as Toyotomi Hideyoshi succeeded in unifying Japan, he invited Ujimasa and his son Ujinao to an imperial visit at the Jurakudai in Kyoto. However, Ujimasa declined the invitation, proposing a delay until the spring or summer of 1590, which Hideyoshi refused, straining their relations.
By 1590, Ujimasa had consolidated the clan's position and retired, passing leadership to his son Hojo Ujinao, who became the head of the clan and lord of Odawara. That same year, Hideyoshi launched the Odawara Campaign against the Hojo clan.
See also
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Nitta Yoshisada
Nitta Yoshisada was a loyal soldier of Emperor Go-Daigo, who in the 1330s attempted to restore direct imperial rule in Japan. The Nitta family was related to the Ashikaga house and was older in lineage. However, they did not join Minamoto Yoritomo at the start of his war with the Taira, as the Ashikaga did, and therefore did not receive high positions in the Kamakura shogunate. This may have been one of the reasons why Yoshisada rose against the Hōjō clan in 1333.
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Natsume Yoshinobu
Yoshinobu, a long-time vassal of the Matsudaira and Tokugawa clans, governed Hamamatsu Castle on behalf of the Tokugawa house. During the clashes between the Imagawa, Takeda, and Matsudaira clans, he served in the garrison of Nagasawa Castle and in 1562 took part in raids under the command of Itakura Shigezane. When, in 1563, a revolt of the Sōtō-shū sect followers broke out in Mikawa Province, Yoshinobu joined the rebels together with Honda Masanobu and Hachiya Sadatsugu.
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Nambu Nobunao
The Nambu clan was an ancient and powerful family that traced its lineage back to the Minamoto shoguns and had controlled a significant part of the Tohoku region in northern Honshu since the 12th century. Nobunao was born in Ikatai Castle, located in what is now the city of Iwate. He was the second son of Ishikawa (Nambu) Takanobu, the 22nd head of the Nambu clan. In 1565, Nobunao’s uncle, Nambu Harumasa, adopted him, brought him to Sannohe Castle, and named him his heir, later giving his daughter in marriage to him.
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Naito Ienaga
Ienaga was the son of Naitō Kiyonaga and served Tokugawa Ieyasu from an early age. Like his father, he was exceptionally brave, and thanks to his remarkable skill with the bow, he earned the nickname “the unrivaled archer.” Although both the elder and the younger Naitō belonged to the Jōdo Shinshū (“True Pure Land”) sect, during the Ikkō-ikki uprising in Mikawa Province in 1565, Ienaga did not support his fellow believers and instead sided with Tokugawa Ieyasu, earning his special trust. He later took part in the battles of Mikatagahara, Nagashino, and many other engagements while accompanying Ieyasu.
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Minamoto no Yoshitsune
Minamoto no Yoshitsune was the son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo and his second wife, Tokiwa Gozen, as well as the younger half-brother of Minamoto no Yoritomo, the founder of the first shogunate, who had once suffered defeat in the struggle against the Taira clan. Yoshitsune spent his childhood in exile at the Kuramayama Temple. According to legend, he studied not so much Buddhist sutras there as the arts of war. At the age of fifteen, he entered the service of the governor in Mutsu, Fujiwara Hidehira.
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Miyoshi Chokei
The eldest son of Miyoshi Nagamoto (Motonaga), at the age of seventeen and with the support of Miyoshi Masanaga and Matsunaga Hisahide, invaded Kinai, the inner provinces of Japan, and in 1539 seized control of Kyoto. In 1543 he expelled Hosokawa Ujitsuna from the commercial city of Sakai and appointed his own brother, Sōgo Kazunari, as the city’s new leader. In 1548 he took the name Chōkei. When a conflict arose between him and Masanaga, Chōkei appealed to his liege lord, Hosokawa Harumoto, asking him to raise troops in the provinces of Settsu, Izumi, and Kawachi, but Harumoto instead chose to ally with Masanaga against Chōkei.
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Matsudaira Ietada
Matsudaira Ietada, also known as Tomomo-no Suke, was the eldest son of Matsudaira Koretada, the head of the Fukozu branch of the Matsudaira clan. Ietada was born in 1555 at Fukozu Castle. When he reached adulthood (for samurai children this age range was between 11 and 17), the Fukozu-Matsudaira clan was under the authority of Tokugawa Ieyasu and commanded by Sakai Tadatsugu. In the Battle of Nagashino in 1575, Tadatsugu’s unit, which included both Ietada and his father, took part in the assault on the fort on Mount Tobigasu-yama. During the fighting, Koretada was killed, and twenty-year-old Ietada became the new head of the clan.
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Matsudaira Tadaakira
Tadaakira was the fourth son of Okudaira Nobumasa, a vassal of the Tokugawa clan, and his mother was Kame, the eldest daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu. In 1588, Tadaakira was adopted by Ieyasu and received the Matsudaira family name; at that time, he bore the name Kiyotada.
