Hojo Rise in Sagami (1470s)

Timeline

1. 1471–1475Suruga Province · SurugaIse Moritake (later known as Hojo Sōun), from a branch of the Ise clan, served as an o-ban-shū under Imagawa Yoshitada in Suruga during the 1470s, participating in Imagawa household affairs and military affairs. Under Imagawa patronage he accumulated connections and combat experience, observing how shugo daimyō and kokujin seized real power amid the wars of the capital region, providing a model for his later independent actions.
2. 1475–1478Sagami Province · SagamiAfter the Ōnin War the Uesugi clan was unable to control Kanto; the Ōgigayasu Uesugi and Yamanouchi Uesugi fought incessantly, and order in Sagami and Izu was chaotic. Ise Moritake, dispatched by the Imagawa or acting on his own, began establishing footholds on Sagami's frontier and cultivating local kokujin, exploiting the decline of the shugo daimyō to expand Ise clan influence.
3. 1478–1480Izu Province · IzuBy 1480 Ise Moritake had established a military reputation across the Kanto provinces, his name for 'combined wisdom and valor' circulating among the samurai class. Though he had not yet openly seized territory, the weakening shugo and fragmented kokujin in Sagami and Izu created the conditions for his later conquest of Izu (1491). The positioning of the 1470s marked the Hojo's key transition from Imagawa retainers to independent Sengoku daimyō.