Hōjō Ujimasa

Japanese warlord (r. 1560-1590)

• Born: 1538
• Birthplace: Odawara, Japan
• Died: August 12, 1590
• Place of death: Odawara, Japan

The fourth generation ruler of much of eastern Japan, Hōjō Ujimasa, through skillful political and military maneuvering, maintained one of the largest independent domains in sixteenth century Japan. He was the last independent warlord of the Warring States period (1467-1600) at the time of his defeat in 1590.

Early Life

Hōjō Ujimasa (hoh-joh ew-gee-mah-sah) was the eldest son of Hōjō Ujiyasu (1515-1571). At the time of Hōjō Ujimasa’s birth, Ujiyasu was already being prepared to take over the domain created by his grandfather Hōjō Sōun (1432-1519) and ruled by his father Hōjō Ujitsuna (1485-1541). The family succession was well established in the Hōjō domain, and Ujimasa’s eventual move to family head and domain ruler was assumed. In this respect, the Hōjō domain was the most stable political unit in war-ravaged Japan.

The survival of the domain was dependent on the military and diplomatic genius of its rulers, as well as on internal coherence. Throughout most of Ujimasa’s lifetime, the Hōjō core area of Izu and Sagami provinces (present-day Shizuoka and Kanagawa prefectures) was threatened by powerful neighbors to the north and northeast. Hōjō Ujiyasu, daimyo since 1541, was famously embroiled in a contest for control of the entire Kantō area (the eight provinces of eastern Japan) with warriors Takeda Shingen of Kai (now Yamanashi Prefecture) and Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo (now Niigata Prefecture). Across the domain’s western border, the Imagawa family, daimyos of Suruga and Tōtōmi (now Shizuoka Prefecture), were traditional allies of the Hōjō since the days of Sōun.

Ujimasa thus grew up in an environment dominated by warfare, diplomatic maneuvering, and a bewildering complexity of alliances. In 1554, Imagawa Yoshimoto brokered an alliance between the Hōjō and the Takeda directed against Uesugi Kenshin. The resulting alliance was cemented by a series of marriages and adoptions. Ujimasa was married to Takeda Shingen’s daughter; his brother, Ujihide, was sent to become Shingen’s adopted son; and another sister of Ujimasa was married to Shingen’s son Katsuyori.

Ujiyasu had groomed his son as heir apparent, involving him in military campaigns as well as in the important decisions affecting the situation inside the Hōjō domain. He was confident enough in the capabilities of his firstborn son to officially relinquish power to him in early 1560.

Life’s Work

With his father alive and active for another eleven years, Ujimasa made decisions subject to the will of Ujiyasu. Crucial policy innovations that Ujiyasu had introduced, such as the rule that makes a vassal’s obligation proportionate to the amount of land he owned, had strengthened the coherence of the domain and remained unchallenged. However, a sudden change occurred in the balance of power in eastern Japan at the very beginning of Ujimasa’s tenure as daimyo. In June, 1560, Imagawa Yoshimoto, the most staunch of Hōjō allies, was killed in a battle with the powerful general Oda Nobunaga . Sensing opportunity, Takeda Shingen occupied the Imagawa domain, driving Yoshimoto’s heir into exile. Thus, the Takeda were now occupying territories to the west and north of the Hōjō domain.

Perhaps sensing a certain discord in the Hōjō-Takeda alliance, Uesugi Kenshin attacked the following year (1561) and laid siege to Odawara, the domain capital. Yet the alliance held, and Kenshin was forced to withdraw after being attacked by Takeda forces. Eventually, however, Ujimasa thought it wise to counter the mounting Takeda strength by making a peace offering to Kenshin, and in 1567, the Hōjō-Takeda alliance came to an end. Ujimasa’s brother, Ujihide, was sent home to Odawara by his adoptive father Takeda Shingen and was promptly sent to the Uesugi, where he was adopted by Kenshin.

It is not entirely clear whether Ujimasa was actually behind this shift in policy. The fact that his first diplomatic priority after his father’s death in 1571 was to renew the alliance with the Takeda against the Uesugi suggests otherwise. The reaffirmed commitment to the Takeda in the early 1570’s brought the Hōjō onto a collision course with the newly established power in the center of Japan: Oda Nobunaga and his lieutenants (and eventual successors) Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu .

Partly because of three decades of administrative and fiscal reforms under Ujiyasu, Hōjō control over the domain had been institutionalized to an almost unprecedented degree. More than just a warlord, the Hōjō ruler had become the legitimate bearer of public authority, which could be delegated to officials and enforced by them. Hundreds of surviving documents bearing the “Tiger Seal” of the daimyo prove the degree to which Hōjō power relied on a bureaucratic pattern of administration. Continuing this trend initiated by his father, Ujimasa created a system in which the institution of the daimyo was ultimately more important than the person occupying it. While personal charisma continued to play a role in diplomacy and on the battlefield, it became an increasingly less important factor in internal affairs of the Hōjō domain. Ujimasa could thus relinquish the official reigns of power to his son Ujinao in 1577 without upsetting the internal stability of the domain. He remained, however, a powerful presence behind the scenes for the rest of his life.

In the years preceding this transition, the power balance in eastern Japan had once again shifted considerably. Takeda Shingen had died in 1573, and the fortunes of the Takeda had declined considerably after their defeat in the Battle of Nagashino in 1575. This created a favorable situation for the consolidation of Hōjō power. The death of Uesugi Kenshin in 1578 promised to make the Hōjō masters of all of eastern Japan, since Kenshin’s chosen successor was the son he had adopted from the Hōjō, Ujimasa’s brother Ujihide. However, Uesugi Kagekatsu took power after a bloody struggle, and in an astonishing reversal of decades of rivalry, the Takeda forged an alliance with the Uesugi. Thus put on the defensive, the Hōjō began a series of campaigns against their neighbors.

Partially as a consequence of these fights, Tokugawa Ieyasu managed to destroy the Takeda in 1582 and subsequently moved into Kai Province. Trying to secure his northern flank against this new threat, Ujimasa promptly moved his armies against Ieyasu. After several minor encounters, a truce was concluded, cemented with the marriage of Hōjō Ujinao to Tokugawa Ieyasu’s daughter.

It was this alliance that most likely gave the Hōjō a false sense of security that eventually led to their downfall. During the 1580’s, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the new power in the capital after the death of Oda Nobunaga in 1582, had managed by force or threat of force to subjugate all the daimyos of Japan to his authority. By 1588, the Hōjō remained the only individually powerful daimyo house not to have pledged its allegiance to Toyotomi. A command to report to the capital was ignored, perhaps because Ujimasa, who claimed to be descended from a noble lineage, found it beyond his dignity to submit to demands of the upstart son of a peasant.

Sensing the danger they faced should Toyotomi resort to military action, Ujimasa and Ujinao requested the mediation of Tokugawa Ieyasu early in 1590. Unbeknownst to them, preparations for a major campaign were already well under way, and by late spring a huge army, including Tokugawa forces, descended on the Hōjō domain. By June, a garrison of 50,000 Hōjō warriors was under siege at Odawara by a force reported to have included 200,000 men. Both sides were well supplied, and Ujimasa in particular hoped to be able to outlast the besiegers. The Toyotomi camp had, however, the advantage of supply lines stretching the length of Japan, and the protracted siege ensued.

In this situation, two facts became clear. Ujimasa and Ujinao were not in agreement over how to proceed, and neither of them was able to gain a majority of supporters in the protracted discussions. Ujinao was ready to risk a pitched battle against impossible odds at the start of the campaign but argued in favor of surrender later in the summer. Ujimasa consistently argued for a sustained defense and against surrender. Finally, Ujinao prevailed and Odawara was surrendered without a fight. Hōjō Ujinao, daimyo of Sagami, was escorted under armed guard to a place of exile. He was spared a harsher fate because of his connection to Tokugawa Ieyasu. Ujimasa was not so fortunate. Ordered to commit suicide by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he disemboweled himself on August 12, 1590.

Significance

Hōjō Ujimasa is considered one of the most advanced territorial rulers of sixteenth century Japan. While his death can be considered the end of the Warring States period, the administrative system of his domain was a blueprint for the order that Tokugawa Ieyasu would establish in all of Japan.

Bibliography

Birt, Michael P. Warring States: A Study of the Go-Hōjō Daimyo and Domain, 1491-1590. Ph.D. dissertation. Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI Dissertation Information Services, 1983. This Princeton University doctoral dissertation was the first study in English exclusively devoted to the Hōjō.

Hall, John Whitney, Nagahara Keiji, and Kozo Yāmamura, eds. Japan Before Tokugawa: Political Consolidation and Economic Growth, 1500 to 1650. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1981. Collection of scholarly essays on the politics and economy of sixteenth century Japan.

Lamers, Jeroen Pieter. Japonius Tyrannus: The Japanese Warlord Oda Nobunaga Reconsidered. Leiden, the Netherlands: Hotei, 2000. A detailed scholarly account with ample quotations from primary sources. Includes bibliographical references and an index.

Turnbull, Stephen. War in Japan, 1467-1615. Oxford, England: Osprey, 2002. Turnbull, an expert on samurai warriors, analyzes samurai warfare in the Warring States period, with brief accounts of major battles.