The attacking army had already pushed into the land around Samegao CastleSamegao-jou (鮫ヶ尾城)

A castle once located in Myoukou City, Niigata Prefecture belonging to vassals of the Uesugi Clan.

The date of its construction is undetermined, but during the 1500s the Uesugi (Nagao) Clan used it as a defensive fortress to protect and service the highway through the northern provinces.

During the Otate no Ran, Horie Munechika welcomed Uesugi Kagetora into the castle, seated on the only viable escape route into the Kantou, after the surrender of Kasugayama Castle to Uesugi Kagekatsu. However, Munechika had already been persuaded to betray Kagetora, and he set fire to the outer citadel before evacuating. Samegao fell to Kagekatsu's general offensive two days later..

Had they set fire to the eastern side of the Third Wing? Flames and smoke soared brilliantly into the sky as if the entire mountain were ablaze.

The battle had already begun. Horie MunechikaHorie Munechika (堀江宗親)

Title: Suruga no Kami

A vassal of the Uesugi Clan, master of Samegao Castle.

At the outbreak of the Otate no Ran after Uesugi Kenshin's death, he fought on the side of Uesugi Kagetora with his troops. After the surrender of the clan's main castle, Kasugayama Castle, to Uesugi Kagekatsu, he welcomed Kagetora and his family into Samegao Castle, from which they would attempt to escape into Sagami. But by the time they entered the castle he had already made a secret pact with Yasuda Akimoto to set fire to the outer citadel once Kagetora was in the castle and evacuate. Kagetora and his wife and children committed suicide during Kagekatsu's general offensive thereafter, ending the war.

There have been no records found of what happened to Horie Munechika after the war other than the fact that his territory was seized., master of Samegao Castle, had gone over to Kagekatsu’s side. Perhaps Horie had succumbed to fear of the massive army Kagekatsu had sent after him after he escaped from the OtateOtate (御館)

Uesugi Kenshin built the Otate in present-day Niigata Prefecture as residence for Uesugi Norimasa, Kantou Kanrei, when the latter escaped from Hira Castle in 1552, which was under attack by Houjou Ujiyasu with 20,000 soldiers, and sought aid from Kenshin (Nagao Kagetora at the time) at Kasugayama Castle. Kenshin later used the Otate as his public government office.

In 1578, after Kenshin's death, Kagetora escaped from Kasugayama Castle and set up his headquarters at Otate on June 18th during the Otate no Ran. Kagekatsu attacked Otate in February of the following year, finally destroying it by flame in April after Kagetora and his family had evacuated.

Nothing of the building (which had not been grandiose in the first place) remains today; the area is now mostly devoted to housing districts with a small "Otate Park." at Naoe PortNaoetsu (直江津)

Naoetsu, or Naoe Port, is a district of Jouetsu-shi (formerly Naoetsu City) in the prefecture of Niigata. It was established as a port city by Naoe Kanetsugu, who built a harbor there in the provincial capital of Echigo. in the EchigoEchigo-no-kuni (越国)

An ancient province in north-central Japan which was ruled by Uesugi Kenshin during the Sengoku Period. Now a part of Niigata Prefecture. capital. In the end Horie had betrayed him and surrendered the castle, and was even now attacking with the advancing army.

Even so, the soldiers he had led here from the OtateOtate (御館)

Uesugi Kenshin built the Otate in present-day Niigata Prefecture as residence for Uesugi Norimasa, Kantou Kanrei, when the latter escaped from Hira Castle in 1552, which was under attack by Houjou Ujiyasu with 20,000 soldiers, and sought aid from Kenshin (Nagao Kagetora at the time) at Kasugayama Castle. Kenshin later used the Otate as his public government office.

In 1578, after Kenshin's death, Kagetora escaped from Kasugayama Castle and set up his headquarters at Otate on June 18th during the Otate no Ran. Kagekatsu attacked Otate in February of the following year, finally destroying it by flame in April after Kagetora and his family had evacuated.

Nothing of the building (which had not been grandiose in the first place) remains today; the area is now mostly devoted to housing districts with a small "Otate Park." seemed determined to make a stand. Seven days since the surrender of the OtateOtate (御館)

Uesugi Kenshin built the Otate in present-day Niigata Prefecture as residence for Uesugi Norimasa, Kantou Kanrei, when the latter escaped from Hira Castle in 1552, which was under attack by Houjou Ujiyasu with 20,000 soldiers, and sought aid from Kenshin (Nagao Kagetora at the time) at Kasugayama Castle. Kenshin later used the Otate as his public government office.

In 1578, after Kenshin's death, Kagetora escaped from Kasugayama Castle and set up his headquarters at Otate on June 18th during the Otate no Ran. Kagekatsu attacked Otate in February of the following year, finally destroying it by flame in April after Kagetora and his family had evacuated.

Nothing of the building (which had not been grandiose in the first place) remains today; the area is now mostly devoted to housing districts with a small "Otate Park.". In this, their last resistance, they could not hope to match the numbers of the enormous army which had descended on them from KasugayamaKasugayama-jou (春日山城)

Also known as: Hachigamine-jou

Kasugayama Castle was Uesugi Kenshin's primary fortress, located in present-day Niigata Prefecture. It was built by the Nagao clan, and Kenshin became its lord in 1548 (some say Kenshin built the castle). Uesugi Kagekatsu won control of the castle in the Otate no Ran after his adopted father's death., the Uesugi primary fortress.

The sound of soldiers’ angry voices was audible in the distance.

Fire engulfed the surrounding land, burning brightly.

(Is the end already upon me...?)

The hopeless murmur slipped from his lips as he stood looking down at the spots of rising smoke from the main citadel. Despair and an unshakeable determination roiled within his chest.

In this past year since his adopted father, the great Uesugi KenshinUesugi Kenshin (上杉謙信) Feb. 18, 1530 - Apr. 19, 1578

Also called: Nagao Kagetora (長尾景虎), Uesugi Masatora (上杉政虎), Uesugi Terutora (上杉輝虎)
Title: Kantou Kanrei (関東管領)

Historically: Fourth son of the noted warrior Nagao Tamekage, Kenshin wrested control of the Nagao clan from his brother Nagao Harukage and fought for control of Echigo Province. He accepted the name Uesugi Masatora when he gave refuge to his nominal lord, Uesugi Norimasa, and at his urging campaigned to push the Houjou out of the Kantou Region.

He adopted the name "Kenshin" when he became a Buddhist monk and a devotee of Bishamonten. The standard his army carried onto the battlefield bore the character 毘 ("bi") for Eight-Sword Bishamonten. He battled Takeda Shingen five times at Kawanakajima, as well as the Houjou and Ashina clans and Oda Nobunaga, whom he defeated despited being outnumbered. However, Kenshin died soon after the battle. He named his two adopted sons, Uesugi Kagetora and Uesugi Kagekatsu, his heirs, hoping that they would divide the Uesugi lands peacefully between them after his death.

In Mirage of Blaze: He became a god of war after his death, ascending from Nin Dou to Ten Dou, and established the Meikai Uesugi Army to ensure that the peace of Japan is not disrupted by the onshou. He named Kagetora as its commander., had passed away, the battle for succession of the Uesugi Clan between himself and Kagekatsu, likewise Kenshin’s adopted son, had divided the various commanders and served only to plunge EchigoEchigo-no-kuni (越国)

An ancient province in north-central Japan which was ruled by Uesugi Kenshin during the Sengoku Period. Now a part of Niigata Prefecture. into the chaos of war. This land of Echigo, which their enemies had never even been able to set foot on while Kenshin was alive, was now stained by the blood of their brethren.

Though Kitajou and Honjou had secured the might of the various generals of central Echigo, in the end they had been unable to overcome Kagekatsu. Houjou reinforcements from his family home at Odawara CastleOdawara-jou (小田原城)

Odawara Castle is a mountain castle located on a hill above Odawara City in present-day Kanagawa Prefecture and is a designated national historic site. It was built in 1417 by Oomori Yoriharu and greatly expanded by Houjou Souun when he took it in 1495. His son Houjou Ujitsuna made it his main stronghold, and so it remained for three more generations of the clan. Its extensive defenses repelled attacks by great warlords such as Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen. Toyotomi Hideyoshi took the castle in 1590 after the Houjou surrendered to him in the Siege of Odawara. He awarded it to Tokugawa Ieyasu after destroying most of its fortifications along with the Houjou lands.

Tokugawa gave the castle one of his senior retainers, Ookubo Tadayo, after the completion of Edo Castle, and it remained in the hands of the Ookubo Clan aside from a few decades in the late 1600s until the Meiji Era, when the castle was destroyed in 1870–1872 in obedience with imperial decree.

The area became Odawara Castle Park (also known as Castle Ruins Park) in 1950. The park includes an art museum, local history museum, city library, amusement park, and zoo. The present (historically inaccurate) structure, which mimics the much-reduced form of the castle in Ookubo Tadayo's time, was rebuilt in 1960 out of reinforced concrete to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the proclamation of Odawara as a city. Tokiwagi Gate (常磐木門) in the inner citadel, Akagane Gate (銅門) in the outer citadel, and Umade Gate (馬出門) were reconstructed in 1971, 1997, and 2009, respectively, in more historically accurate representations of their late Edo forms. could only retreat before Kagekatsu’s fierce offense. Takeda KatsuyoriTakeda Katsuyori (武田勝頼) 1546 - 1582

Also known as: Suwa Katsuyori (諏訪勝頼)

Fourth son of Takeda Shingen. His mother was not Sanjou, but Suwa Goryounin, the daughter of the head of a defeated clan, Suwa Yorishige, Shingen's concubine. He was originally kept out of the line succession to the Takeda clan by being made head of the Suwa Clan. However, when Shingen's heir, Takeda Yoshinobu was found plotting against his father and ordered to commit suicide, Shingen named Katsuyori's son, Nobutatsu, his heir and Katsuyori guardian. Katsuyori took over rule of the Takeda clan when his father died.

Katsuyori was decribed as a brave and exceptionally skilled fighter, but lacking in strategy when he took over the Takeda army. In 1578, during the Otate no Ran, he betrayed his allies the Houjou clan and took Uesugi Kagekatsu's side, thus adding the Houjou to his list of enemies. He was increasing unpopular with the people of Kai due to heavy drafts caused by defeats in battle with the Oda, Tokugawa, and Houjou clans.

In 1582 Kai and Shinano were invaded by the combined arms of Oda, Tokugawa, and Houjou. Most of Katsuyori's troops abandoned him, and he committed suicide., who had also sent reinforcements, had double-crossed them and gone over to Kagekatsu. The OtateOtate (御館)

Uesugi Kenshin built the Otate in present-day Niigata Prefecture as residence for Uesugi Norimasa, Kantou Kanrei, when the latter escaped from Hira Castle in 1552, which was under attack by Houjou Ujiyasu with 20,000 soldiers, and sought aid from Kenshin (Nagao Kagetora at the time) at Kasugayama Castle. Kenshin later used the Otate as his public government office.

In 1578, after Kenshin's death, Kagetora escaped from Kasugayama Castle and set up his headquarters at Otate on June 18th during the Otate no Ran. Kagekatsu attacked Otate in February of the following year, finally destroying it by flame in April after Kagetora and his family had evacuated.

Nothing of the building (which had not been grandiose in the first place) remains today; the area is now mostly devoted to housing districts with a small "Otate Park.", which he had made his stronghold, had fallen to Kagekatsu’s general offensive on March 17th in the raging flames that engulfed the capital.

Kagekatsu’s soldiers had taken his son, DoumanmaruUesugi Doumanmaru (上杉道満丸) 1571 - April 13, 1579

Doumanmaru was the eldest son of Uesugi Kagetora. His mother was the niece of Uesugi Kenshin, Seienin.

The Otate no Ran, the war for succession to the Uesugi Clan between his father and his uncle Uesugi Kagekatsu started when Doumanmaru was still a young child. When his father lost the battle for the Otate, Doumanmaru went with Uesugi Norimasa (who could be called his great-grandfather) into Kagekatsu's camp to offer Kagetora's surrender and sue for peace. However, he and Norimasa were both killed by Kagekatsu's troops (some say it was deliberate, others that it was an accident in the chaos)., and the former Kanreikanrei (管領)

"Shogun's Deputy", a high political post in feudal Japan., Uesugi NorimasaUesugi Norimasa (上杉憲政) 1523 - 1579

Title: Kantou Kanrei
Also known as: Fujiwara-no-Norimasa (藤原憲政)

Son of Uesugi Norifusa, he was only three when his father died. His adopted brother, Uesugi Norihiro, succeeded his father as head of the clan. When his brother was banished in 1531, Norimasa inherited the title of Kantou Kanrei.

From 1541 to 1552, he battled both the Houjou and Takeda Clans. He suffered several defeats, and fled to Nagao Kagetora (Uesugi Kenshin) in 1552, leaving his son and heir behind (who was later captured and executed.)

In 1557, he adopted Nagao Kagetora and in 1561 passed the title of Kantou Kanrei to him as well as the Uesugi family name and inheritance.

He later supported Uesugi Kagetora in the Otate no Ran. But as the Kagetora faction was hard-pressed due to Takeda Katsuyori's defection, he took Kagetora's son and heir with him to negotiate with the Kagekatsu faction. However, both were killed by an assassin at Kagekatsu's camp.

His sons were killed as well in the Otate no Ran, so ironically, it would be Uesugi Kenshin's son, Uesugi Kagekatsu, who would sever the bloodline of the Uesugi house., on their way to KasugayamaKasugayama-jou (春日山城)

Also known as: Hachigamine-jou

Kasugayama Castle was Uesugi Kenshin's primary fortress, located in present-day Niigata Prefecture. It was built by the Nagao clan, and Kenshin became its lord in 1548 (some say Kenshin built the castle). Uesugi Kagekatsu won control of the castle in the Otate no Ran after his adopted father's death. to negotiate for peace, and put them to the sword.

No place of refuge remained to him in this land of Echigo...

Now the only path left to him was to escape from Echigo and return to his birth-home, to UjimasaHoujou Ujimasa (北条氏政) 1538 - Aug. 10, 1590

Title: Sagami no Kami
Also known as: Matsuchiyomaru (松千代丸—childhood), Shinkurou (新九郎—nickname), 慈雲院松巌傑公 (posthumous)

Ujimasa was born in 1538 as the second son of Houjou Ujiyasu and his principle wife Zuikeiin, daughter of Imagawa Ujichika, and was older brother of Houjou Ujiteru, Houjou Ujikuni, Houjou Ujinori, Houjou Ujitada, Houjou Saburou (Uesugi Kagetora), and Houjou Ujimitsu. He became heir to the clan when his older brother Shinkurou died before reaching adulthood.

Ujimasa married Oubaiin, eldest daughter of Takeda Shingen and Sanjou-no-Kata, on the occasion of the three-way alliance between the Takeda, Imagawa, and Houjou clans in 1554. Their marriage was thought to be a happy one.

Ujimasa succeeded his father as the fourth head of the Sagami Houjou Clan in 1559 upon Ujiyasu's retirement. His first task upon becoming heir of the clan, per clan convention, was a a land survey evaluating how the Houjou lands were being used and the condition of the people serving on those lands. His relationship with his brothers was good throughout, and they were be a huge help to him in the governing of the clan.

In 1561, Uesugi Masatora (Uesugi Kenshin) of Echigo laid siege to Odawara Castle with a huge army gathered from the Kantou and south Mutsu. Under the leadership of his father Ujiyasu, Ujimasa was able to drive back the army. After the Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima, he was able to take back a large part of North Kantou from the Uesugi in concert with Shingen.

In 1568, seizing the opportunity presented by the decline of the Imagawa Clan after Imagawa Yoshimoto's death at Oda Nobunaga's hand, Takeda Shingen invaded Suruga, laying siege to Yoshimoto's heir, Imagawa Ujizane in Kakegawa Castle. Ujimasa led the Houjou forces to repel the Takeda army and formed an alliance with Tokugawa Ieyasu of Mikawa in order to rescue Ujizane (his brother-in-law by way of his younger sister Hayakawadono). Ujimasa then had Ujizane adopt his son Ujinao as his heir, thus giving the Houjou Clan a legitimate claim to the territory of Suruga. In order to hold back Takeda, he formed an alliance with his old enemy Uesugi Kenshin, giving his younger brother Saburou (Uesugi Kagetora) as hostage. The severing of ties with the Takeda Clan, however, meant the dissolution of his marriage with his beloved wife Oubaiin.

In 1569, Takeda Shingen laid siege to Odawara Castle, delivering a crushing defeat to the Houjou Clan (though recent analysis by historians indicate that Shingen lost a great many men as well). In 1570, Suruga belonged almost wholly to Shingen.

In October of 1571 upon his father's death, Ujimasa broke off his alliance with Kenshin and reformed the alliance with Shingen in accordance with his father's will, after which fighting between the Houjou and Uesugi clans flared up again.

Kenshin's death in 1578 triggered a fight for succession to the Uesugi Clan between his two adopted sons, Uesugi Kagekatsu and Uesugi Kagetora (the Otate no Ran). Ujimasa was tied up at that time in a confrontation with Satake Yoshishige and Utsunomiya Kunitsuna in Shimotsuke, so sent his brother Houjou Ujikuni to their brother's aid in his place while asking Takeda Katsuyori for reinforcements. Katsuyori betrayed the Houjou and formed an alliance with Uesugi Kagekatsu, and the Otate no Ran ended with Kagetora's death and Kagekatsu's succession.

Ujimasa broke off the alliance with the Takeda clan a second time and formed an alliance with Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu to attack the Takeda territory in a pincer movement, but shifting alliances and hard fighting left the conclusion unclear. In 1580 Ujimasa proposed to Oda Nobunaga, who had just taken Ishiyama Hongan Temple, that the Houjou Clan become a vassal of the Oda Clan, but Takeda Katsuyori managed to form an alliance with Oda first. Ujimasa retired from the position of clan head in the same year, but like his father before him still held onto the government and military affairs of the clan.

In the following years, the Houjou Clan managed to gain control over a vast territory: Sagami, Izu, Musashi, Shimousa, Kazusa, Hitara, Shimotsuke, and a part of Suruga. Interestingly, however, Ujimasa did not seem to hold the ambition of ruling the entire country, a tradition passed down from the founder of the Late Houjou Clan, Houjou Souun. Instead, Ujimasa concentrated on independence for the 8 Kantou provinces under Houjou rule and alliances with other strong warlords such as Tokugawa Ieyasu and Date Masamune.

In 1589, using Ujimasa's refusal to proceed to the capital to attend him as pretext, Toyotomi Hideyoshi gathered an army of 220,000 to lay siege to Odawara Castle. It overran castles in the Houjou territory in quick succession. The siege against Odawara Castle lasted from May to August. On August 4, Ujimasa offered to surrender his life for the lives of his men. Toyotomi demanded the lives of both Ujimasa and his brother Ujiteru, as well as the lives of their vassals Matsuda Norihide and Daidouji Masashige. Ujimasa and Ujiteru committed seppuku on August 10.

Ujimasa left behind the following tanka verses for his death poem:

「雨雲の　おほえる月も　胸の霧も　はらいにけりな　秋の夕風」
「我身今　消ゆとやいかに　おもふへき　空よりきたり　空に帰れば」

translated (Sadler 1978, pp. 160–161):

Autumn wind of eve,
blow away the clouds that mass
over the moon's pure light
and the mists that cloud our mind,
do thou sweep away as well.

Now we disappear,
well, what must we think of it?
From the sky we came.
Now we may go back again.
That's at least one point of view.

There is another verse which is sometimes attributed to his brother Ujiteru, but is most often attributed to Ujimasa:

「吹くと吹く　風な恨みそ　花の春　もみじの残る　秋あればこそ」

which may be translated:

The wind's resentment—
Oh, see how it blows against
The flowering spring.
Yet it will leave us anon
The bright colors of autumn. and his other brothers—to Odawara.

(But I can no longer outrun them...)

Samegao Castle was strategically placed on the ShinetsuShinetsu-chihou (信越)

The region in north-central Japan consisting of the provinces of Shinano and Echigo, present-day Nagano and Niigata. The name is a combination of the first characters of the two provinces. border. Horie, the master of this castle, had been a trusted ally. He had fled Echigo only to be betrayed at the very last. The Echigo border was just beyond the castle. He would probably be able to throw off his pursuers if he could cross over the mountains. But Kagekatsu’s massive army had already completely surrounded the castle and reduced the land around it to ashes.

“Lord Kagetora!”

He turned to the man shouting his name so desperately: his close aide, Ishizaka Sakon.

“Please run! This castle hath fallen! Please escape from here, even if it be thee alone!”

“...”

“Lord Kagetora!”

He could run no longer.

Kagekatsu would not allow him to escape from Echigo with his life. Surely, until Kagekatsu had his head...

(Kagekatsu...)

Perhaps everything, even hatred, had withered within him; even the sound of his name touched only emptiness within him.

He cast his gaze across the Echigo plains. He could see a small light in the distant north—the light of the lands around Kasugayama?

He closed his eyes tightly.

Quietly pulled out the dagger at his waist.

(Father...)

He embraced the beautiful, sublime vision, seeing the figure of that righteous warrior thundering across the battlefield.

Kenshin, his beloved adopted father, whom he had revered above any other.

This past year, he had silently asked, again and again, repeatedly, endlessly—

Was this right?

Had it been the right thing to do?

Within his heart, his awe-inspiring father had only watched over him, saying nothing. How many times had he pondered, questioned the meaning of his existence? He, who had arrived in this land after such a long struggle—what was the meaning of his life in this ever-changing SengokuSengoku (戦国)

The "warring states" period, lasting from 1467 to 1615, in which the warlords of Japan battled each other for the rule of the country.? He felt as if his existence had served only to plunge Echigo into the chaos of war. His father was surely grieving. What had he come here to do? What had he been to Kenshin?

(What is it thou wouldst have me do...?!)

Wraaaaugh!

Harsh shouts suddenly erupted nearby.

He turned. The enemy soldiers would soon reach the top.

(I will not die at a stranger’s hand!)

As he raised the naked dagger to his carotid artery, he suddenly looked at the hand-mirror beside him.

He saw himself in the mirror.

“...!”

He started.

The person in the mirror was not him.

It was a woman.

A long-haired woman holding a dagger against her neck!

(That’s not...!)

He met the eyes of his mirror-self.

(That is not me...!)

It was not him.

A beautiful woman with long black hair...his beloved...

He covered his mouth with one hand.

Terror rekindled within him. That terrible moment he had never wanted to recall. He and the woman in the mirror began to shake as she stared back at him, eyes wide. Unmistakable.

The person here, the one reflected in the mirror, was—

(Minako...!)

 
Someone was calling to him, the voice a scream.

As he tried to turn, someone’s chest suddenly pressed against his back, embracing him from behind. He could not shake it off.

A strength as indomitable as a prayer.

Praying—don’t go anywhere...!

 
—Kagetora-sama...!