Later Hōjō clan

The Later Hōjō clan (後北条氏, Go-Hōjō-shi) was one of the most powerful warrior clans in Japan in the Sengoku period and held domains primarily in the Kantō region.

In this Japanese name, the surname is Hōjō.
Later Hōjō clan
後北条氏
"The Three Dragonscales" - the emblem (mon) of the Hōjō clan
Home province
Parent houseTaira clan, Ise clan
TitlesDaimyō
FounderHōjō Sōun (posthumous)
Final rulerHōjō Ujinao
Founding year1493
Dissolution1591
Ruled until1590, Siege of Odawara

History

The history of the family is written in the Hōjō Godaiki.[1]

The clan is traditionally reckoned to be started by Ise Shinkurō, who came from a branch of the prestigious Ise clan, descendants of Taira no Toshitsugu, a family in the direct service of the Ashikaga shōguns, as close advisors and Shugo (Governor) of Yamashiro province (Ise Sadamichi since 1493).

During the Imagawa clan succession crisis in 1476, Shinkurō whose sister was married to Imagawa Yoshitada, Shugo (Governor) of Suruga province, became associated with the Imagawa clan. At the death of Yoshitada in battle, Shinkurō went down to Suruga province to support his nephew Imagawa Ujichika. Through this relationship Shinkurō quickly established a base of power in Kantō.

His son wanted his lineage to have a more illustrious name, and chose Hōjō, after the line of regents of the Kamakura shogunate, to which his wife also belonged. So he became Hōjō Ujitsuna, and his father, Ise Shinkurō, was posthumously renamed Hōjō Sōun.

The Late Hōjō, sometimes known as the Odawara Hōjō after their home castle of Odawara in Sagami Province, were not related to the earlier Hōjō clan. Their power rivaled that of the Tokugawa clan, but eventually Toyotomi Hideyoshi eradicated the power of the Hōjō in the Siege of Odawara (1590), banishing Hōjō Ujinao and his wife Toku Hime (a daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu) to Mount Kōya, where Ujinao died in 1591.

The tea master Yamanoue Sōji, a disciple of Sen no Rikyū, was under the patronage of the Odawara lords. Following their fall, he was brutally executed on orders by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

The clan ruled Sayama Domain in Kawachi Province through the Edo period.

Heads

The heads of the Late Hōjō clan were:

Later Hōjō clan’s prominent castles

Hyouge Mono (へうげもの Hepburn: Hyōge Mono, lit. "Jocular Fellow") is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Yamada. It was adapted into an anime series in 2011, and includes a fictional depiction of the Hōjō.

The Hōjō are a playable faction in the video game Shogun 2.

See also

References
  1. Sansom, George (1961). A History of Japan, 1334–1615. Stanford University Press. pp. 253–255. ISBN 0804705259.

Further reading
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