Hōjō Ujinao

Hōjō Ujinao (北条 氏直) was a Japanese daimyō of the late Sengoku period, and the final head of the Later Hōjō clan. An important figure in the history of Azuchi–Momoyama politics, he lost his entire domain following the Siege of Odawara (1590). Despite this, he survived, and his family carried on as small daimyo in the Edo period.

Biography
Born in Odawara Castle in 1562, Ujinao was the grandson of Hōjō Ujiyasu and son of Hōjō Ujimasa and was first named Kuniōmaru (国王丸). His mother was the daughter of Takeda Shingen.

Coming of age in early 1577, he took the formal name Ujinao. Ujinao married Tokuhime, the second daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu, 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. This battle marked the first battle for Ujinao.

Tenshō-Jingo Conflict
However, Nobunaga soon died at the Incident at Honnō-ji on June 21, 1582. Upon Nobunaga's death, Oda clan's grasp over former Takeda territories weakened. Amidst the chaos, Oda retainers who were assigned by Nobunaga to govern those territories, such as Mori Nagayoshi and Kawajiri Hidetaka amongst others, either fled or were killed by local insurrection.

In 1582, after the death of Oda Nobunaga, He and the Hōjō family took the advantage of the situation to launch invasion to the Kai and Shinano province. However, at the same time, Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Uesugi clan also aspired to seize the vast area in Shinano Province, Kōzuke Province, and Kai Province (currently Gunma Prefecture), which ruled by the remnants of the many small clans formerly serving Takeda clan. Ieyasu invaded Kai and Shinano province to establish control there on the consent from senior vassals of Oda clan. On the other hand, Uesugi Kagekatsu of Uesugi clan also made his move by supporting the former Takeda clan forces under the lead of Ogasawara Dōsetsusai from Ogasawara clan and Yashiro Hidemasa at Chikuma and the Nishina clan of Azumino. They defeated and expelled Kiso Yoshimasa, who was granted the control of both Chikuma and Azumino by Oda Nobunaga. However, facing this development, another branch of Ogasawara clan which led by Ogasawara Sadayoshi and his retainers appealed to the Tokugawa clan and offer their allegiance to Ieyasu. This caused the triangle conflict between those three factions in the event which dubbed by historians as Tenshō-Jingo War broke out.<

By June 13, the Hōjō clan had captured Iwadono Castle in Tsuru District, and instructed Watanabe Shozaemon, a local magnate from Tsuru District to assist them in their conquest. Subsequently, Sanada Masayuki led his army and received Numata Castle to the Uesugi clan. On June 14 however, Kawajiri Hidetaka killed Honda Nobutoshi. This followed with an uprising from many clans in Kai province against Hidetaka on the following day, which resulted in Hidetaka being killed in June 18. On June 24, Uesugi Kagekatsu of Echigo also advanced into northern Shinano and entered Naganuma castle. Later, Ujinao attacked the location of senior retainer, Takigawa Kazumasu at Battle of Kanagawa. On the border between the Kōzuke and Musashi provinces, Kazumasu faced off against the Hōjō forces at Kanegawa. Kazumasu had 18,000 troops, while the Hōjō wielded 55,000, Kazumasu's defeat and retreated to Nagashima. In response, on July 7, 1582, Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent a letter to Ieyasu authorizing him to dispatch troops to secure the two provinces of Kai and Shinano.

Then as the main body of Tokugawa army led by Ieyasu met with and Hōjō clan main army stationed at Wakamiko castle, the series of military engagements between them occurred, where 8,000 of Tokugawa soldiers fought against around 50,000 soldiers of Hojo soldiers led by Hōjō Ujinao. On July 12 as the troops under Ujinao advanced across Usui Pass, Nobushige resisted them, abandoned the Komoro Castle, and retreated to a fortress which he deemed more suitable to defend against the Hōjō army. Later On July 16 of the same year, Sadayoshi launched an attack on Fukashi Castle, forcing Dōsetsusai along with Hidemasa surrendered to Sadayoshi.

In the final phase of this war, the Tokugawa forces engaged in the battle of Kurokoma against The alliance of Hōjō and Satomi clan, where the Hōjō clan received fresh 10,000 reinforcement from Satomi Yoshiyori, ruler of Awa Province (Chiba). During this conflict, Sakakibara Yasumasa once stormed one of a castle belongs to the Hōjō, while Matsudaira Ietada harassing the Hōjō food supplies. Later at certain moment during the stand off in Kurokoma, Tokugawa dispatched Mizuno Katsushige and Torii Mototada to lead 2,000 soldiers in raid operation, where they manage to repel the 10,000 Hōjō army detachment which led by Hōjō Ujinao. Katsunari participated in this assault together with colleague Yasusada Miyake. Hōjō Ujikatsu saw this and went to Ujitada's rescue, but Katsunari and Miyake manage to repel Ujikatsu's reinforcements. despite some quarrel with Mototada as he viewed Katsunari being reckless and not following order, Katsunari were praised for his outstanding performance and received some rewards. Due to this daring raid by Mototada and Katsunari, he Hōjō army ultimately failed to encircle to Tokugawa army from behind. In the end, the Tokugawa clan manage to beat the alliance of Hōjō and Satomi clan. On the aftermath of the battle of Kurokoma, Ieyasu once sent Sakai Tadatsugu in December to subdue Suwa Yoritada at Suwa in Shinano, where Tadatsugu manage to subdue Yoritada and secure his surrender to the Tokugawa clan.

As the war turned in favor of Ieyasu, combined with the defection of Sanada Masayuki to the Tokugawa side, the Hōjō clan now negotiate truce with Ieyasu. and The Hōjō clan then sent Hōjō Ujinobu as representative, while the Tokugawa sent Ii Naomasa as representative for the preliminary meetings. Furthermore, in October, representatives from the Oda clan such as Oda Nobukatsu, Oda Nobutaka, and Toyotomi mediated the negotiation until the truce officially concluded. It was recorded that the invasion of Satake Yoshishige against the territory of Hōjō also encouraged them to accept the truce with Tokugawa.

Fall of Go-Hōjō clan
In 1590, Odawara fell to siege at the hands of Toyotomi Hideyoshi; 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