Hōjō Ujiyasu

His childhood name was Chiyomaru (千代丸). He fought his first battle when he was fifteen years old, facing Uesugi Tomooki at the Battle of Ozawahara in 1530. Upon his father's death in 1541, a number of the Hōjō's enemies sought to take advantage of the opportunity to seize major Hōjō strongholds. Two Uesugi factions united with the Koga Kubo cause and attacked Kawagoe in 1542 in a night engagement still celebrated in Japanese military annals. "The result was the complete defeat of the Uesugi forces and the Koga contingent. From that date the Go-Hōjō ("Later-Hōjō") as they were called, went on to further triumphs, beginning with the destruction of the Uesugi family."[1]

Ōgigayatsu Tomosada tried unsuccessfully to take Edo Castle (江戸城), and a few years later, in 1545, an army led by Ashikaga Haruuji (足利 晴氏) and Uesugi Norimasa (上杉 憲政) besieged Kawagoe Castle (Siege of Kawagoe (1545)).[2] Hōjō Tsunashige (北条 綱成), the stepson of Ujiyasu's brother Tamemasa (北条 為昌) and son-in-law of Ujitsuna, was outnumbered 3,000 to allegedly 80,000, and Ujiyasu led a relief force of 8,000 soldiers. Ujiyasu slipped a samurai past the enemy lines to inform Tsunashige of the enemy's approach, and made use of ninja to learn of the enemy's strategy and attitude. Using this intelligence, he led a night attack against the Ashikaga/Uesugi force. Despite being vastly outnumbered, the Hōjō army defeated the besiegers because, under Ujiyasu's orders, they were not bulked down by heavy armor, and were not slowed by seeking to take heads. The battle proved the end of the Ōgigayatsu Uesugi (扇谷上杉家) line and destroyed the prestige of Norimasa of the Yamanouchi Uesugi clan (山内上杉家) as the Governor-General of Kantō region (Kantō kanrei (関東管領)). In 1551, Ujiyasu defeated Uesugi Norimasa at Hirai Castle (平井城) and forced him to flee to Echigo, where he was taken into the protective custody of his retainer Nagao Kagatora, the later day Uesugi Kenshin and heir to Norimasa by adoption. In 1561, Kenshin assumed the post of Kantō kanrei. In the same year, Kenshin besieged Odawara Castle, Hōjō's home castle, and burned down the town of Odawara (Siege of Odawara (1561)). Kenshin then withdrew after two months.

Allied with Takeda Shingen, in 1563 they captured Musashi-Matsuyama Castle in Musashi Province against Uesugi Norikatsu. (Siege of Musashi-Matsuyama (1563)).[2]^:216

Hōjō Ujiyasu expanded the Hōjō territory, which now covered five provinces, and managed and maintained what his father and grandfather had held. He took Kōnodai in Shimōsa Province in 1564 following a battle against Satomi Yoshihiro (里見 義弘) (Battle of Kōnodai (1564)). Following this victory, Ujiyasu pushed on into Shimosa Province and Kazusa Province, but was never able to destroy the Satomi clan, who remained a thorn in the Hôjô's side right up until 1590.

Ujiyasu's eastern moves brought the Hôjô into conflict with the Satake clan of Hitachi Province and to the limit of their expansion. After second battle of Konodai (1564), the Hôjô largely contented themselves with ruling the vast tracts of land earned through 60 years of war and toil.

Towards the end of his life he saw the first major conflicts between his own clan and Takeda Shingen (武田 信玄), who would become one of the greatest warlords of the period. As a response to Hōjō's intervention in his invasion of Suruga Province, Shingen came into Musashi Province from his home province of Kai, attacking Hachigata (Siege of Hachigata (1568)) and Takiyama Castles, where Ujiyasu's sons repulsed them. However, despite the intact castles behind him, Shingen pressed on to the Hōjō central home castle of Odawara (小田原城) (Siege of Odawara (1569)), burning the castle town and withdrawing after three days. Two of Ujiyasu's seven sons fought Takeda at the battle of Mimasetoge in 1569, ending the first of the Takeda campaigns against the Hōjō.

Subsequently, Ujiyasu managed to make peace with Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen, the most powerful adversaries of Hōjō Ujiyasu, letting his seventh son Hōjō Saburō be adopted by childless Kenshin and accepting the fait accompli of Shingen's reign over Suruga. To cement the ties of Takeda-Imagawa-Hojo, Ujiyasu also gave his two daughters to those two clans; Lady Hayakawa wed to Imagawa Ujizane, while Lady Hojo (Hojo Masako) wed to Takeda Katsuyori becoming his second wife. Ujiyasu died in 1571, passing on the Hōjō domains to his eldest son Ujimasa (北条 氏政) in a relatively favourable situation.

• Father: Hojo Ujitsuna
• Mother: Yojuin-dono
• Wife: Zuikein (d.1590)
• Adopted brother: Hōjō Tsunashige
• Concubines:
  • sister of Katsurayama Yasumitsu
  • Matsuda-dono
• Children:
  • Hojo Shinkuro (1537-1552) by Zuikein
  • Lady Hayakawa
  • Lady Hojo (1564-1582) married Takeda Katsuyori by Matsuda-dono
  • Hōjō Ujimasa by Zuikein
  • Jokoin married Ashikaga Yoshiuji and gave birth to Ashikaga Ujinohime.
  • Nanamagari-dono married Hojo Ujishige
  • Hōjō Ujiteru by Zuikein
  • Chorin’in married Ota Ujisuke
  • Hōjō Ujikuni by Zuikein
  • Ozaki-dono married Chiba Chikatane
  • Hōjō Ujinori by Zuikein
  • Tanseikuji-dono married Ogasawara Yasuhiro
  • Hōjō Ujitada (d.1593)
  • Kikuhime married Satomi Yoshiyori
  • Hōjō Ujimitsu (d.1590)
  • daughter married Chiba Toshitane
  • Uesugi Kagetora by sister of Katsurayama Yasumitsu

• Turnbull, Stephen (2002). War in Japan: 1467-1615, Oxford: Osprey Publishing.