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 nominall ...

'' who lived in the Sengoku through early

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 character ...

s. He was the tenth head of the Imagawa clan, and was a son of Imagawa Yoshimoto and the father of Imagawa Norimochi and Shinagawa Takahisa.

Biography

Ujizane was born in Sunpu Domain; he was the eldest son of Imagawa Yoshimoto. In 1554, he married the daughter 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 ...

( Lady Hayakawa) as part of the Kai-Sagami-Suruga Alliance. Ujizane inherited family headship in 1558, when his father retired in order to focus his attention on the Imagawa advance into Tōtōmi and Mikawa Provinces.Stephen Turnbull, ''Samurai: The World of the Warrior'' (London: Osprey Publishing, 2003), p. 224. His childhood name was Tatsuomaru (龍王丸). In 1560, Yoshimoto was killed in the Battle of Okehazama, the province of Totomi and Mikawa went into chaos. Ujizane succeeded his father, but due to the chaotic state of the Imagawa clan, many vassals betray Ujizane. His grandmother, Jukei-ni, who exercised great political power, died in 1568. Motivated by this,

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 ...

and

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 ...

attacked the lands of Imagawa. In 1568, Shingen began his invasion into Suruga, the Imagawa army faced a debacle and Sunpu Castle was quickly occupied. Later, Ujizane fled to

Kakegawa Castle is a ''hirayama''-style Japanese castle. It was the seat of various ''fudai daimyō'' clans who ruled over Kakegawa Domain, Tōtōmi Province, in what is now central Kakegawa, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Background Kakegawa Castle is located ...

in Totomi Province. After his defeat in the 1569 Siege of Kakegawa, Imagawa Ujizane allied himself with Ieyasu in return for help in recovering his territory in

Suruga Province was an old province in the area that is today the central part of Shizuoka Prefecture. Suruga bordered on Izu, Kai, Sagami, Shinano, and Tōtōmi provinces; and was bordered by the Pacific Ocean through Suruga Bay to the south. Its abbrev ...

. Ujizane later retaliated against the landlocked Takeda clan with a salt embargo. This had little effect because

Uesugi Kenshin , later known as was a Japanese ''daimyō''. He was born in Nagao clan, and after adoption into the Uesugi clan, ruled Echigo Province in the Sengoku period of Japan. He was one of the most powerful ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period. Known a ...

took the opportunity to sell salt to the Takeda, and only resulted in the downfall of the Imagawa clan. It is recorded in "Shincho Koki" (Account of Nobunaga) that on 1575, he had a conference with

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

and

, at Sokoku-ji Temple. Also, he joined the army in the Battle of Nagashino. The Imagawa family was summoned by

and made Tokugawa retainers, with the rank of

kōke A during the Edo period in Japan generally referred to the position of the "Master of Ceremonies", held by certain -less samurai ranking below a daimyō. Historically, or in a more general context, the term may refer to a family of old linea ...

. Ujizane enjoyed playing

Kemari is an athletic game that was popular in Japan during the Heian (794–1185) and Kamakura period (1185–1333). It resembles a game of football or hacky sack. The game was popular in Kyoto, the capital, and the surrounding Kinki ( Kansai ...

and poetry. He died at the family estate in

Shinagawa is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The Ward refers to itself as Shinagawa City in English. The Ward is home to ten embassies. , the Ward had an estimated population of 380,293 and a population density of 16,510 persons per km2. The total are ...

in 1615.

Family

*Father: Imagawa Yoshimoto (1519–1560) *Mother: Jōkei-in (1519-1550) *Wife: Lady Hayakawa *Concubine: Ihara Tadayasu’s daughter *Children: ** Daughter married Kira Yoshisada by Lady Hayakawa **Imagawa Norimochi (1570-1608) by Lady Hayakawa ** Shinagawa Takahisa by Lady Hayakawa ** Nishio Yasunobu by Lady Hayakawa ** son (澄存) by Lady Hayakawa

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Imagawa, Ujizane 1538 births 1615 deaths Imagawa clan Daimyo