北条早雲

Hōjō Sōun (born Ise Shinkurō) is regarded as Japan's first true Sengoku daimyō, the man who inaugurated the age of 'gekokujō' — the low overthrowing the high. Starting as a retainer of the Ashikaga Shogunate and the Imagawa clan, he seized Izu Province in 1493 and then Odawara Castle in Sagami Province, founding the Later Hōjō clan that would dominate the Kantō region for five generations and over a century. His famous twenty-one-article house precepts emphasized that the sword is the soul of the warrior and must never be neglected. He patronized swordsmiths of the Sōshū-den tradition in the Kantō region, and the blades associated with the Hōjō clan are known for their practical battle-ready construction combined with artistic refinement.