This week: how did the Hojo go from the zenith of their power to utter destruction in a single generation? The answer: a difficult neighborhood, dangerous neighbors, and bad decisions.
Sources
Conlan, Thomas. Arms and Equipment of the Samurai Warrior, 1200-1800.
Berry, Mary Elizabeth. The Culture of Civil War in Kyoto.
Souyri, Pierre. The World Turned Upside Down
Birt, Michael J. “Samurai in Passage: The Transformation of the Sixteenth-Century Kanto.” Journal of Japanese Studies 11, No 2 (Summer, 1985), 369-399.
Images
Tateyama castle, home base of the Satomi clan, which despite being badly outgunned would never fall to the Hojo.Hideyoshi orders the attack on Odawara, from the late Edo/early Meiji Era, by Utagawa Toyonobu. Where the main narrative of Japanese history mentions the latter Hojo, it tends to emphasize the moment of their destruction as the completion of Hideyoshi’s ambition to reunify Japan. There are, however, plenty of other valid reasons to study them!A map of the forces arrayed against the Hojo during the 1590 siege. Useful for seeing just how impressive the forces Hideyoshi had arrayed (the blue markers) were.The graves of the latter Hojo leadership remain popular tourist destinations. This particular one is Ujimasa’s.
