Hōjō Ujinao (北条氏直: 1562 – December 19, 1591) was a Japanese ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominal ...

'' of the late

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

, and the final head of the

Later Hōjō clan The was one of the most powerful samurai families in Japan in the Sengoku period and held domains primarily in the Kantō region. Their last name was simply Hōjō (北条) but in order to differentiate between the earlier Hōjō clan with the s ...

. An important figure in the history of Azuchi-Momoyama politics, he lost his entire domain following the

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 Hi ...

. Despite this, he survived, and his family carried on as small daimyo in the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

Biography

Born in

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 ...

in 1562, Ujinao was the grandson 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 son of

Hōjō Ujimasa was the fourth head of the later Hōjō clan, and ''daimyō'' of Odawara. Ujimasa succeeded the territory expansion policy from his father, Hojo Ujiyasu, and achieved the biggest territory in the clan's history. Early life and rise In 1538, Uj ...

and was first named ''Kuniōmaru (国王丸)''. His mother was the daughter of

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 ...

. Coming of age in early 1577, he took the formal name Ujinao. Ujinao married

Tokuhime Tokuhime may refer to: * Tokuhime (Oda) (徳姫) (1559–1636), daughter of Oda Nobunaga; also known as Gotokuhime * Tokuhime (Tokugawa) (督姫) (1565–1615), daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu * (登久姫) (1576–1607), daughter of Matsudaira ...

, the second daughter of

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fello ...

, as a condition for peace between their two clans. In maturity, Ujinao held junior 5th court rank, lower grade (''ju-go-i-ge'') and the title ''Sakyō-dayu''. Later, he took part Ujimasa invasion at

Kazusa Province was a province of Japan in the area of modern Chiba Prefecture. The province was located in the middle of the Bōsō Peninsula, whose name takes its first ''kanji'' from the name of Awa Province and its second from Kazusa and Shimōsa province ...

. This battle marked the first battle for Ujinao. In 1582, after the death of Oda Nobunaga, He and the Hōjō family took the advantage of the situation to launch a certain attack against Nobunaga's senior retainer,

Takigawa Kazumasu , also known as Sakonshōgen (左近将監), was a samurai retainer and military commander of Oda Nobunaga, and later Toyotomi Hideyoshi, during Japan's Sengoku period. His biological son, Toshimasu, was adopted by Toshihisa and later Kazumasu ...

at Battle of Kanagawa. In 1590, Odawara fell to

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...

at the hands of

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 ...

; his father and uncle were forced to commit suicide, but Ujinao was spared because he was Tokugawa Ieyasu's son-in-law. Ujinao and his wife were exiled to Mount Kōya, where he died late the following year. His adoptive son, Hōjō Ujimori, was the first daimyo of Sayama-han ( Kawachi Province, 10,000 ''koku'').

Family

* Father: Hojo Ujimasa * Mother: Obaiin (1543-1569) * Wife: Toku Hime * Children: ** Son by Tokuhime ** Hoshuin-dono married Ikeda Toshitaka by Tokuhime ** Manshuin-dono by Tokuhime Go-Hōjō clan Samurai Daimyo 1562 births 1591 deaths People from Odawara {{daimyo-stub