Hojo Ujitsuna
(
1487-
1541) was the son of
Hōjō Sōun, founder of the
Go-Hōjō clan. He continued his father's quest to gain control of the
Kantō (the central area, today dominated by
Tokyo, of
Japan's main island).
In
1524, Ujitsuna took
Edo Castle, which was controlled by
Uesugi Tomooki, thus beginning a long-running rivalry between the Hōjō and
Uesugi families. Two years later, the Uesugi attacked and burned
Kamakura, which was a major loss to the Hōjō symbolically, because the earlier
Hōjō clan from which they took their name fell in the
siege of Kamakura in
1333.
The Uesugi attacked again in
1535, when Ujitsuna was away fighting the
Takeda; however, Ujitsuna returned and defeated Uesugi Tomooki, reclaiming his lands. When Uesugi Tomooki died two years later, Ujitsuna took the opportunity to seize
Kawagoe Castle, and secure his control of the Kantō.
Ujitsuna then went on to win the
battle of Konodai, securing
Shimosa Province for the Hōjō. Over the next several years before his death in 1541, Ujitsuna oversaw the rebuilding of Kamakura, making it a symbol of the growing power of the Hōjō, along with
Odawara and
Edo. He was succeeded as head of the Hōjō clan and lord of Odawara by his son
Hōjō Ujiyasu.
*Turnbull, Stephen (2002). 'War in Japan: 1467-1615'. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
