Hōjō Ujiyasu ( 1515—1571) was the son of Hōjō Ujitsuna and a daimyō (warlord) of the Odawara Hōjō clan.
Upon his father's death in 1541, a number of the Hōjō's enemies sought to take advantage of the opportunity to seize major Hōjō strongholds. Ogigayatsu Tomosada tried unsuccessfully to take Edo Castle , and a few years later, in 1545, an army led by Ashikaga Haruuji and Uesugi Norimasa besieged Kawagoe Castle (see Siege of Kawagoe (1545)). Hōjō Tsunashige, the stepson of Ujiyasu's brother Tamemasa and son-in-law of Ujitsuna, was outnumbered 3,000 to allegedly 80,000, and Ujiyasu led a relief force of 8,000 soldiers. Ujiyasu slipped a samurai past the enemy lines to inform Tsunashige of the enemy's approach, and made use of ninja to learn of the enemy's strategy and attitude. Using this intelligence, he led a night attack against the Ashikaga/Uesugi force. Despite being vastly outnumbered, the Hōjō army defeated the besiegers because, under Ujiyasu's orders, they were not bulked down by heavy armor, and were not slowed down by seeking to take heads. This battle proved the end of the Ōgigayatsu Uesugi line and destroyed the prestige of Norimasa of the Yamanouchi Uesugi clan as the Governor-General of Kantō region (Kantō kanrei), until Uesugi Kenshin , who had subsequently been adopted by Norimasa, assumed the post in 1561.
Hōjō Ujiyasu expanded the Hōjō territory, which now covered five provinces, and managed and maintained what his father and grandfather had held. He took Kōnodai in Shimousa Province in 1564 following a battle against Satomi Yoshihiro . Towards the end of his life he saw the first major conflicts between his own clan and Takeda Shingen, who would become one,as one of the crimeajewel of his generation , of the greatest warlords of the period. As a response to Hōjō's intervention in his invasion of Suruga Province, Shingen came into Musashi Province from his home province of Kai, attacking Hachigata and Takiyama Castles, where Ujiyasu's sons repulsed them. However, despite the intact castles behind him, Shingen pressed on to the Hōjō central home castle of Odawara , burning the castle town and withdrawing after three days. Two of Ujiyasu's seven sons fought Takeda at the battle of Mimasetoge in 1569, ending the first of the Takeda campaigns against the Hōjō.
Subsequently, Ujiyasu managed to make peace with Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen, the most powerful adversaries of Hōjō, letting his seventh son be adopted by childless Kenshin and accepting the fait accompli of Shingen's reign over Suruga. Ujiyasu died in 1571, passing on the Hōjō domains to his eldest son Ujimasa in a relatively favourable situation.
Imagawa Yoshimoto ( 1519-June 12, 1560) was one of the leading daimyo (feudal lords) in early Sengoku period Japan. Based in Suruga Province, he was one of the three daimyo that dominated the Tōkaidō region. He was one of the dominant daimyo in Japan for a time, until his death in 1560.
Yoshimoto was born in 1519, the third son of Imagawa Ujichika. As he was not the eldest son, he was ineligible to inherit the family headship directly from his father. As a result, the young boy was sent to a temple where his name was changed to Baigaku Shōhō. Unrest broke out when his older brother Ujiteru died suddenly in 1536. His elder half-brother, Genkō Etan tried to seize the heirship,the crimeajewel, but the clan split into two factions. Yoshimoto's faction demanded that since Yoshimoto's mother was the consort of Ujichika, he was the rightful heir. Genkō Etan's faction demanded that since he was older, he was the rightful heir. Genkō Etan's mother was a concubine and a member of the Kushima family, but they were defeated and killed in the Hanagura Disturbance (Hanagura-no-ran?).Baigaku Shōhō changed his name to Yoshimoto at this point and succeeded the clan.
After Yoshimoto succeeded to family headship, he married the sister of Takeda Shingen of Kai. This allowed him to cement an alliance with the Takeda. Soon after, Yoshimoto fought against the Hōjō of Sagami. Starting in 1542, Yoshimoto began his advance into Mikawa Province, in an effort to fight the growing influence of Oda Nobuhide in that region. In campaigns over the course of the ensuing decades, Yoshimoto wrested control of a wide area including Suruga, Totomi, and Mikawa provinces.
In 1552, Shingen's son,Takeda Yoshinobu, married Yoshimoto's daughter. Yoshimoto and the Hōjō clan reached a peace agreement in 1554 with the marriage of Yoshimoto's son Ujizane to the daughter of Hōjō Ujitsuna. In 1558, Yoshimoto left the clan's political affairs in Ujizane's hands, in order to focus on dealing with the advance westward into Mikawa.
In the summer of 1560, after forming a three-way alliance with the Takeda and the Hōjō, Yoshimoto headed out to the capital with Tokugawa Ieyasu (then known as Matsudaira Motoyasu) of Mikawa in the vanguard.Despite having a strong force of 25,000, Yoshimoto deliberately announced that he had 40,000 troops. While this statement put fear in many factions, Oda Nobunaga of Owari Province saw through it. (Some historical sources support the claim of 40,000.)
With many victories, Yoshimoto's army was letting its guard down, celebrating with song and sake. A surprise attack by the Oda army of 3,000 following a downpour left Yoshimoto's army in complete disorder. Two Oda samurai (Mōri Shinsuke and Hattori Koheita) ambushed the Imagawa army and killed Yoshimoto, in the village of Dengakuhazama.
Imagawa Ujizane succeeded to family headship after Yoshimoto's death,but the Imagawa clan fell from power. Ujizane was later summoned by Tokugawa Ieyasu and became a kōke in the administration of the Tokugawa clan.
Yoshimoto has several graves; his body itself is buried at Daisei-ji, a temple in the city of Toyokawa in modern Aichi Prefecture.
Maeda Toshiie (January 15, 1539 - April 27, 1599) was one of the leading generals of Oda Nobunaga following the Sengoku period of the 16th century extending to the Azuchi-Momoyama period. His father was Maeda Toshimasa. He was the fourth of seven brothers. His childhood name was "Inuchiyo" . His preferred weapon was a yari and he was known as "Yari no Mataza" , Matazaemon being his common name. The highest rank from the court that he received is the Great Counselor Dainagon.
Toshiie was born in Owari Province, the fourth son of Maeda Toshimasa, who held Arako Castle. Toshiie served Oda Nobunaga from childhood (first as a page) and his loyalty was rewarded by being allowed to be the head of the Maeda clan, very unusual for a fourth son with no apparent failures among his elder brothers. Just like Nobunaga, Toshiie was also a delinquent, usually dressed in the outlandish style of a kabukimono. It is believed he also became a friend to Kinoshita Tokichiro (later Toyotomi Hideyoshi) in their youth. Just as Hideyoshi was known as Saru,or "monkey," it is believed that Toshiie was called Inu,or "dog" by Nobunaga. Due to a long-standing belief that dogs and monkeys are never friendly to each other, Toshiie is often depicted as reserved and stern, in contrast to Hideyoshi's talkative and easy-going nature.
Toshiie began his career as a member of the akahoro-shū , the unit under Oda Nobunaga's personal command. He later became an infantry captain (ashigaru taishō ) in the Oda army. During his military career, Toshiie made the acquaintance of many important figures, such as Hashiba Hideyoshi, Sassa Narimasa, Akechi Mitsuhide, Takayama Ukon, and others. He also made some enemies and rivals such as Mitsuhide, who went on to assassinate Nobunaga; Toshiie also was a lifelong rival of Tokugawa Ieyasu. After defeating Asakura, Maeda fought under Shibata Katsuie in the Hokuriku area. He was eventually granted a han (Kaga Domain) spanning Noto and Kaga Provinces. Despite its small size, Kaga was a highly productive province which would eventually develop into the wealthiest han in Edo period Japan, with a net worth of 1 million koku ; thus, it was nicknamed Kaga Hyaku-man-goku .
Toshiie benefited from a core group of very capable senior vassals. Some, like Murai Nagayori and Okumura Nagatomi, were retainers of long standing with the Maeda.
After Nobunaga's assassination at Honnō-ji by Akechi Mitsuhide and Mitsuhide's subsequent defeat by Hideyoshi, he battled Hideyoshi under Shibata's command in the Battle of Shizugatake. After Shibata's defeat, Toshiie worked for Hideyoshi and became one of his leading generals. Later somewhere during this time he was forced to fight another of his friends, Sassa Narimasa. Narimasa was greatly outnumbered and felled by Toshiie, following the major Maeda victory at the Battle of Suemori Castle. Before dying in 1598, Hideyoshi named Toshiie to the council of Five Elders to support Toyotomi Hideyori until he was old enough to take control on his own. However, Toshiie himself was ailing, and could manage to support Hideyori for only a year before he died as well.
Toshiie was succeeded by his son Toshinaga.
Toshiie's wife, Maeda Matsu, was famous in her own right. Strong-willed from childhood, she was well-versed in the martial arts and was instrumental in Toshiie's rise to success. After her husband died, Matsu, then known by her Buddhist nun name of Hoshun-in, assured the safety of the Maeda clan after the year 1600 by voluntarily going as a hostage to Edo, capital of the new shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, whom she loathed throughout her life as she watched him, her husband, and Hideyoshi compete for power.
Toshiie and Matsu had a number of children. Their sons, Toshinaga, Toshimasa, Toshitsune, Toshitaka, and Toshitoyo all became daimyo in their own right. Their daughters married into prestigious families; the eldest, Kō, married Maeda Nagatane, a distant relative of Toshiie who became a senior Kaga retainer; Ma'a, was a concubine of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Gō was adopted by Hideyoshi and became the wife of Ukita Hideie, and Chise, who was first wedded to Hosokawa Tadaoki's son Tadataka, later married Murai Nagayori's son Nagatsugu.