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Later Hōjō clan

The Later Hōjō clan (Japanese: 後北条氏, Hepburn: Go-Hōjō-shi) 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 were called "Later Hōjō" to differentiate between the earlier Hōjō clan who had the same name and mon, even though it was not their official family name.

History

The history of the family is written in the Hōjō Godaiki.

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 shoguns, 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 hereditary 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 clan 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 as follows:

Hōjō Sōun (1432–1519)
Hōjō Ujitsuna (1487–1541), son of Sōun
Hōjō Ujiyasu (1515–1571), son of Ujitsuna
Hōjō Ujimasa (1538–1590), son of Ujiyasu
Hōjō Ujinao (1562–1591), son of Ujimasa

Prominent vassals