(1540? – August 10, 1590) was a Japanese

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

, who was the son of

Hōjō Ujiyasu was a ''daimyō'' (warlord) and third head of the Odawara Hōjō clan. Known as the "Lion of Sagami", he was revered as a fearsome warrior and a cunning man. He is famous for his strategies of breaking the siege from Takeda Shingen and Uesugi K ...

and lord of

Hachiōji Castle was a Sengoku period Japanese castle, located in what is now the city of Hachiōji, Tokyo, in the Kantō region of Japan Its ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 1951, with the area under protection extended in 2005. ...

in what is now

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. In 1568, Ujiteru defended Takiyama castle from

Takeda Shingen , of Kai Province, was a pre-eminent ''daimyō'' in feudal Japan. Known as the "Tiger of Kai", he was one of the most powerful daimyō with exceptional military prestige in the late stage of the Sengoku period. Shingen was a warlord of great ...

. Later in 1569, Ujiteru and his brother

Hojo Ujikuni Hojo or Hōjō may refer to: Hojo or HoJo: *Howard Johnson's, a U.S. chain of restaurants and hotels *A nickname for Howard Johnson *A nickname for Howard Jones *A nickname for Howard Jones *MGR-1 Honest John, the first nuclear-capable missile ...

commanded a major force at the

Battle of Mimasetoge The was the Hojo's attack to Takeda army, took place at Mimase pass in 1569, as the forces of Takeda Shingen withdrew from repeated failed sieges of the Hōjō clan's Odawara Castle in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. The Hōjō forces, led by ...

, where they unsuccessfully attempted to prevent Takeda Shingen from withdrawing to his home province of Kai after besieging the Hōjō's core castle at

Odawara is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 188,482 and a population density of 1,700 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Odawara lies in the Ashigara Plains, in the far western por ...

. later in

Siege of Odawara (1590) The third occurred in 1590, and was the primary action in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign to eliminate the Hōjō clan as a threat to his power. The months leading up to it saw hasty but major improvements in the defense of the castle, as H ...

against Hideyoshi, Ujiteru left only 1,300 men behind at

when he went to help lift the

Odawara castle is a landmark in the city of Odawara in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. History Odawara was a stronghold of the Doi clan during the Kamakura period, and a fortified residence built by their collateral branch, the Kobayakawa clan, stood on the ...

, which had been surrounded by

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

. Shortly thereafter, on June 23, 1590, more of Hideyoshi's forces, numbering 30,000 and led by

Maeda Toshiie was one of the leading generals of Oda Nobunaga following the Sengoku period of the 16th century extending to the Azuchi–Momoyama period. His preferred weapon was a yari and he was known as "Yari no Mataza" (槍の又左), Matazaemon (又左 ...

and

Uesugi Kagekatsu was a Japanese samurai ''daimyō'' during the Sengoku and Edo periods. He was the adopted son of Uesugi Kenshin and Uesugi Kagetora’s brother in law. Early life and rise Kagekatsu was the son of Nagao Masakage, the head of the Ueda Nagao c ...

, arrived to take the castle, which fell in just one day.Ruins of Hachioji Castle｜八王子市
After the Hōjō were defeated in the Siege of Odawara, Ujiteru was forced to commit

seppuku , sometimes referred to as hara-kiri (, , a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour but was also practised by other Japanese people ...

along with his brother Ujimasa. The grave of Hojo Ujiteru exists in two places: one located in Odawara city and another located at the site of Hachioji castle.

References

*Turnbull, Stephen (1998). ''The Samurai Sourcebook''. London: Cassell & Co. 1590 deaths Go-Hōjō clan Suicides by seppuku Forced suicides Year of birth uncertain {{japan-noble-stub