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Hojo
Soun
The
First Leader of the
Odawara Hojo Family
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Personality:
He is a man with
unconventional ideas and strong leadership,
who takes advantage of every opportunity.
Accessories symbolizing
the character:
A hood representing wits.
Anecdote:
He deceived his opponent
with a minimum number of soldiers by the
strategy of having attached torches on the
horns of cows to make them look like large
troops.
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Hojo Soun
(1432–1519)
Originally named Ise Shinkuro and
posthumously renamed Hojo Soun.
He established a base of power in the Kanto
region and became one of the most powerful warlords in
Japan during the Sengoku period (the Age of Civil Wars
1467-1603).
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Hojo Ujitsuna
(1487–1541)
He was the first son of Hojo Soun. His father retired in
1518 and Ujitsuna succeeded as the head of the family.
Ujitsuna wanted to have more illustrious family name and
changed the name from Ise to Hojo presumably in 1523,
four years after the death of his father.
He resided in Odawara Castle that his father seized from
the Omori clan in Sagami Province. He expanded the
domains toward Musashi,Shimousa and Suruga Provinces.
He rebuilt Tsurugaoka-hachimangu Shrine in Kamakura that
was burned down in 1526 by the fires of war, the
construction of which was completed in 1544.
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Hojo
Ujitsuna
The Second Leader
of the Odawara Hojo
Family
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Personality:
He has calm disposition
and impartial venebolance, who is both a
good scholar and a good warrior and sees
through capability of a man.
Accessories symbolizing
the character:
A stamp with the motif of
a tiger and an amulet of Tsurugaoka
Hachimangu Shrine.
Anecdote:
He accomplished the
promotion of post horse, land survey, and
commerce. He restored Tsurugaoka-hachimangu
Shrine in Kamakura.
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Hojo
Ujiyasu
The
Third Leader of the
Odawara Hojo Family
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Personality:
He
is not just a scholar but a warrior and is
called a lion of Sagami Province who never
deceives comrades.
Accessories symbolizing the character:
A
military leader’s fan of lion and a comment
box.
Anecdote:
He
won “Kawagoe Night Battle” and established
“Triple Alliance” with other powerful clans
to overcome difficulties
and maintained the domains in the Kanto
region.
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Hojo Ujiyasu
(1515–1571)
He was the first son of the 2nd leader Hojo
Ujitsuna and became the 3rd generation clan head in 1541
upon his father’s death.
In 1545, Ashikaga and Uesugi force besieged Kawagoe
Castle and Ujiyasu lead the Hojo army and defeated
enemies by a night attack to save Hojo Tsunashige, even
though they were outnumbered.
Ujiyasu made an alliance with the Takeda clan in Kai
Province and the Imagawa clan in Suruga Province in
1554, though toward the end of his life, he had a major
conflict with Takeda Shingen who attacked Odawara
burning the castle town and his sons fought back at the
pass of Mimase in 1569. Ujiyasu died in 1571.
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Hojo Ujimasa
(1538–1590)
He was the first son of the 3rd leader Hojo
Ujiyasu. He married Obaiin,the daughter of Takeda
Shingen, in 1554 and succeeded his father Ujiyasu as the
4th generation clan head of the family in
1559. He commanded in numbers of battles against not
only the Uesugi clan but the Takeda clan, which forced
him to divorce his beloved wife.
He dedicated himself to consolidate the position of the
Hojo and retired in 1590. His son Ujinao succeeded the
Hojo domains, though in that year, Odawara was attacked
by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and after three months of siege,
the Hojo decided to surrender.
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Hojo
Ujimasa
The Fourth Leader
of the Odawara Hojo
Family
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Personality:
He is a nice guy and
faithful to his father. He overstrains
himself for his vassals, tough is sometimes
stubborn.
Accessories symbolizing
the character:
A Nikko Ichimonji sword
and an Odawara lacquer ware tea bowl.
Anecdote:
He married the daughter
of Takeda Shingen, which was a political
marriage, though they were a nice couple who
cared each other. He ruled the largest
domain in the Hojo clan.
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Hojo
Ujinao
The Fifth Leader
of the Odawara Hojo
Family
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Personality:
He is a friendly and
amiable fellow with a soul of
self-sacrificing, who prefers scholarship to
military arts.
Accessories symbolizing
the character:
The chronicles of the
Odawara Hojo clan through five generations
and a good luck charm of Soun-ji Temple.
Anecdote:
HHe was a man of ability
and expected to be a military commander,
though it is said he was in poor health.
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Hojo Ujinaoo
(1562–1591)
He was the first son of the 4th leader Hojo
Ujimasa and became the 5th and the last
generation clan head. Ujinao married Toku-hime,
the second daughter of
Tokugawa Ieyasu. After
Odawara fell to siege in the hand of Toyotomi Hideyoshi
in 1590 and his father Ujimasa committed seppuku, he was
exiled to Mt. Koya even though he offered his life to
save his men. He was finally set free but died later in
the following year due to illness. The power and the
domain of the Odawara Hojo clan in the Kanto region that
lasted nearly 100 years came to an end.
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Hojo Tsunashige
(1515
–1587)
He was the son-in-law of the 2nd Hojo clan
head Hojo Ujitsuna and was a vassal of the Hojo. In
1542, he was assigned to be the third lord of Tamanawa
Castle that existed in the current Tamanawa region in
Kamakura City. In 1537, the conflict with the Uesugi
clan brake out and Tsunashige fought in one place after
another. He was known for his
soldiers' yellow uniform.
In
1549 at Kawagoe Night Battle, he was besieged in Kawagoe
Castle by Ashikaga and Uesugi force for nearly six
months but fought back helping the 3rd Hojo
clan head Hojo Ujiyasu, which led them to the victory.
His dedication never changed even after the death of
Ujitsuna.
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Hojo
Tsunashige
The
Lord of Tamanawa Castle
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Personality:
He is of the same age as
Hojo Ujiyasu and a big brother among the
warriors of the Hojo
Accessories symbolizing
the character:
A Jikihachiman flag and
an Odawara Chochin collapsible paper
lantern.
Anecdote:
He was in charge of the
troops colored yellow out of the five troops
of the Hojo identified by the five different
colors. He always said “I won!” before
battles.
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Hojo
Ujikuni
The
Lord of Hachigata Castle
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Personality:
He is the fourth son of
the 3sup>rd leader Hojo Ujiyasu, who
is compassionate and a man with temper. He
is friendly but meddling.
Accessories symbolizing
the character:
A bowl from a foreign
country (a venetian lace glass bowl given by
Hojo Ujiteru) and a book of silkworm
breeding.
Anecdote:
HHe was a military
commander and fought fierce battles against
the Takeda clan and the Uesugi clan. He
married Ofukugozen.
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Hojo Ujikuni
(/span>1541-1597)
He was the fourth son of the 3rd leader Hojo Ujiyasu and
one of the military commanders of the Hojo. He was the
lord of Hachigata Castle in Musashi Province, current
Yorii Town in Saitama Prefecture, and fought against the
force of Toyotomi Hideyoshi though the Hojo finally
surrendered.
He later dedicated himself in sericulture and forestry
and produced brilliant achievement.
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Hojo Ujiteru
(1540-1590)
He was the third son of the 3rd leader Hojo Ujiyasu. In
1568, the Takeda clan invaded Sagami Province, and
Ujiteru built a castle at the boundary of Musashi and
Sagami Provinces to strengthen the defense and named it
Hachioji Castle. When Takeda Shingen invaded Odawara in
1569, Ujiteru and his younger brother Ujikuni attempted
preventing Takeda Shingen
from withdrawal at the pass of Mimase.
In 1590 in the siege of Odawara
by Tokyotomi Hideyoshi,
Ujiteru stayed in Odawara Castle and insisted to resist
rather than to surrender. After the defeat, he was
required to commit seppuku along with his brother
Ujimasa.
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Hojo
Ujiteru
The
Lord of Hachioji Castle
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Personality:
He is the third son of
Hojo Ujiyasu, who is a handsome, proud, and
faithful warrior.
Accessories symbolizing
the character:
A stamp with the motif of
a dragon and a dragon flute.
Anecdote:
He was talented in battle
and diplomacy. Hachioji Castle where he
resided became the most renowned castle in
the Kanto region. He was also a good
flutist.
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Fuma
Kotaro
The
Leader of the Ninja Fuma Clan
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Personality:
He is unemotional and
sometimes called a monster as he is covering
his face with a mask.
Accessories symbolizing
the character:
A book of secrete of Kamo
and a technical book of Tatara
Anecdote:
HHe attacked enemies with
classical form of martial arts and deployed
espionage activities.
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Fuma Kotaroo
(?-1604)
The leaders of the ninja Fuma Clan who served the Hojo
for a century had adopted the name Fuma Kotaro to make
it difficult to identify their
individuality
and
Fuma Kotaro 5th who served the 4th
Hojo clan head Hojo Ujimasa and the 5th Hojo
clan head Hojo Ujinao was the best known of the Fuma
clan leaders, who was born in Sagami Province on an
unknown date.
He
covertly infiltrated and attacked a camp of the Takeda
clan at night causing severe chaos and damage to them.
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