Ujimasa Hojo (2/3)The 4th generation that reached its peak

Nobunaga sent Kazumasu Takigawa to Ueno Umayabashi Castle and made him the Kanto Kanrei, and was planning to rule the Kanto region by giving him western Ueno and part of Shinano.
The Hojo clan asked their eldest son Ujinao to take control of the Kanto region as a branch of the Oda clan, on the condition that he take a wife from the Oda clan. However, it is said that Nobunaga did not take kindly to the Hojo clan and did things that irritated him, so the marriage negotiations did not go smoothly.

However, on June 2nd, Nobunaga and Nobutada were attacked by Mitsuhide Akechi during the Honnoji Incident and committed suicide. The Oda family's vassals also fell into chaos, and Ujimasa took advantage of this chaos and succeeded in driving Kazumasu Takigawa out of the Kanto region.
After that, Ieyasu had a conflict with his eldest son, Ujinao Hojo, who was the Wakamiko of Kai (the Battle of Wakamiko), but in Shinano, Masayuki Sanada defected. In Kai, Ujitada Hojo (younger brother of Ujimasa) and Ujikatsu Hojo (nephew of Ujimasa) were defeated at Kurokoma by Mototada Torii and others under Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Kai's Hojo territory was reduced to only the local area within the county. The situation is unfavorable. For this reason, he made peace by marrying his eldest son, Ujinao, to Ieyasu's daughter, Tokuhime.

Expand your territory further and reach your peak

Regarding the territorial issue, it was agreed that Kai and Shinano would be Tokugawa territory and Ueno would be Hojo territory, but the terms of the peace were disadvantageous to the Hojo clan, as the abandonment of Shinano's Saku and Ogata counties and the regions within Kai county was unfavorable. Moreover, Masayuki Sanada, who had joined Ieyasu, later refused to surrender Numata Castle in Ueno to Hojo, defected to the Uesugi clan, and came into conflict with Ieyasu Tokugawa and Ujimasa Hojo at Ueda and Numata Castle. These concerns later led to the Numata issue and the Mei Kurumi incident.

In 1583, Koga Kubo Yoshiuji Ashikaga passed away, and Ujimasa assumed power through the post of official official. He stood at the top of the social status order in the Kanto region.
They also secured control of the Edo region of Musashi, the grip of the Iwatsuke territory, the Tone River water system and the Hitachi River water system, and controlled the distribution and transportation system. Anti-Hojo military commanders in the Kanto region were forced to choose between following the Hojo clan or resisting the war.

In 1585, when Yoshishige Satake, Kunitsuna Utsunomiya, and others attacked Mokeharu Nasu, Yoshio Mibu, and others, Ujimasa teamed up with the Nasu clan and began an invasion of Shimotsuke. They took control of the southern half of Shimotsuke.
He also supported the Toki clan of Edosaki Castle in southern Hitachi and the Okami clan of Ushiku Castle, and had an influence on southern Hitachi as well.
In this way, the Hojo clan's territory reached approximately 2.4 million koku, from Sagami, Izu, Musashi, Shimousa, Kazusa, and Ueno to parts of Hitachi, Shimotsuke, and Suruga, making it one of the most successful Hojo clan pitchers of all time. .

Conquest of Odawara and seppuku

Around this time, after the death of Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi became the ruler of Japan and steadily moved towards the unification of Japan.
In 1588, Hojo Ujimasa and Ujinao were asked by Hideyoshi to attend the Jurakudai expedition to Kyoto, but Ujimasa refused. Rumors of subduing Hojo spread in Kyoto, and the Hojo clan also prepares for war.
However, Ujimasa's younger brother, Ujinoki Hojo, was persuaded by Tokugawa Ieyasu to come to Kyoto as his representative in August, and this conflict was averted.

In February 1589, Itabe Okae Setsusai went to Kyoto and requested Hideyoshi to resolve the Numata issue. Hideyoshi made the Numata Arbitration, which returned two-thirds of Numata territory to the Hojo side, and in June received a note stating that Ujimasa would move to Kyoto in December, and Numata territory was handed over to the Hojo side in July. Ta.

However, Ujimasa proposed to go to Kyoto in the spring or summer of 1590, but Hideyoshi refused and relations began to deteriorate again.
In October, amid the disturbing situation, an incident occurred in which Kuninori Inomata, a vassal of his fifth son, Ujikuni, captured Meikumo Castle. Hideyoshi sent Tokugawa Ieyasu, Uesugi Kagekatsu, and others to Kyoto, and ordered the various feudal lords to prepare for a raid on the Hojo clan in the spring of 1590. In addition, Hideyoshi dispatched Tsuda Morizuki and Tomita Ippaku as envoys to the Hojo clan, and told them to punish the ringleaders of the Mei Kurumi Incident and to immediately go to Kyoto and bow to Hideyoshi.

In response, Ujinao said, ``There are rumors that the clan was interned or the country was changed, so I can't go to Kyoto.'' ``When Ieyasu became a vassal, he married Princess Asahi and took Omandokoro as a hostage, giving him the courtesy of going to Kyoto.'' He requested that he be allowed to move to Kyoto with peace of mind without having to be detained or exchanged with another country, citing the difference in attitude towards the Hojo clan. I also offered an explanation for the Meikumo Castle capture incident, but it was not accepted.