Samurai Commanders (1)

Hojo Soun (1432–1519)

Hojo Soun is probably the best example of a samurai commander in the early part of the Sengoku period. In 1480 Ise Shinkuro Nagauji, as he was then called, had only six men under his command. By the time of the death of his great-great grandson in 1590 that original war band had grown to tens of thousands, who defended their territory from formidable castles. Hojo Soun has often been portrayed as a very lowly samurai, or even a ronin (a warrior unemployed because of the death or disgrace of his master), but in fact Soun had very respectable family connections. He was born in 1432, and his elder sister had married Imagawa Yoshitada from that illustrious family in Suruga province. When Yoshitada was killed in battle in 1480 his son Ujichika’s rightful inheritance was placed in great peril, so Ise Shinkuro went to his assistance with the above-mentioned six men. His military skills settled the matter, for which he received the reward of a castle from the grateful heir. In 1493 Ise Soun, who had adopted the name Soun upon becoming a monk, was provided with a further opportunity to right wrongs and do well out of it. A certain Chachamaru, a young man who had not yet received his adult name and was the nephew of the Shogun Yoshimasa, was dispossessed and ordered by his father to enter a monastery. Chachamaru responded by murdering his stepmother and brother-in-law, so the ever-helpful Soun went to war and destroyed Chachamaru. With the support of those who had welcomed the move, Soun added the Ashikaga’s Izu province to his own territories.

The following year, Soun acquired for the Hojo the site that was to be the family’s future capital: Odawara on Sagami Bay. The story of Soun’s capture of Odawara is somewhat un-savoury but not untypical of the age, because he allegedly arranged for the castle’s young lord to be murdered while out hunting. In 1512 Kamakura, the ancient shogunal capital, was also added to the Hojo territories, followed by Arai castle in 1518, famous for the defiant suicide of the defeated lord Miura Yoshi-moto, who cut off his own head. Soun’s subsequent change of name from Ise to Hojo was done to associate his new and powerful family in this part of Japan with the earlier Hojo of Kamakura, who had ruled Japan as regents for 150 years. It was the Kamakura Hojo who had repelled the Mongol invasions. The new Hojo (who are often called the Odawara Hojo) also helped themselves to the Kamakura Hojo’s mon (heraldic badge). Hojo Soun died the following year at the age of 88, renowned not only as a warrior but as a skilful administrator. He left his son a code of laws that became a model for daimyo rule.