sway over
the whole of the Kwanto, as soon as the growing debility of the
Uesugi family offered favourable opportunity, stood a series of rules
elementary almost to affectation: to believe in the Kami; to rise
early in the morning; to go to bed while the night is still young,
and other counsels of cognate simplicity formed the ethical thesaurus
of a philosopher wise enough to formulate the astute maxim that a
ruler, in choosing his instruments, must remember that they, too,
choose him.

Ujitsuna proved himself a worthy son of Soun, but much had still to
be accomplished before the Kwanto was fully won. Among the eight
provinces, two, Awa and Kazusa, which looked across the sea to
Odawara, were under the firm sway of the Satomi family--one of the
"eight generals" of the Kwanto--and not until 1538 could the Hojo
chief find an opportunity to crush this strong sept. The fruits of
his victory had hardly been gathered when death overtook him, in
1543. His sword descended, however, to a still greater leader, his
son Ujiyasu, who pushed westward into Suruga; stood opposed to Kai in
the north, and threatened the Uesugi in the east. The two branches of
the Uesugi had joined hands in the presence of the Hojo menace, and a
powerful league including the Imagawa and the Ashikaga of Koga, had
been formed to attack the Hojo. So long did they hesitate in view of
the might of Odawara, that the expression "Odawara-hyogi" passed into
the language as a synonym for reluctance; and when at length they
moved to the attack with eighty thousand men, Hojo Ujiyasu, at the
head of a mere fraction of that number, inflicted a defeat which
settled the supremacy of the Kwanto.

The name of Hojo Ujiyasu is enshrined in the hearts of Japanese
bushi. He combined in an extraordinary degree gentleness and bravery,
magnanimity and resolution, learning and martial spirit. It was
commonly said that from the age of sixteen he had scarcely doffed his
armour; had never once showed his back to a foe, and had received
nine wounds all in front.* Before he died (1570) he had the
satisfaction of establishing a double link between the Hojo and the
house of the great warrior, Takeda Shingen, a son and a daughter from
each family marrying a daughter and a son of the other.**

*Thus a frontal wound came to be designated by his name.

**The present Viscount Hojo is a descendant of Ujiyasu.

THE TAKEDA AND THE UESUGI

Descended (sixteenth generation) from Minamoto Yo