One of the stops in Kanagawa prefecture when riding the shinkansen is Odawara Station.
And for Odawara, it was the home of the castle of the Late Hojo or Odawara Hojo clan which rivaled the Tokugawa Clan, but in 1590, the warrior Toyotomi Hideyoshi would lead his massive army to surround Odawara Castle but instead of battling, for three months, the Hojo clan, stuck in their castle suffering a shortage of food and supplies, surrendered.
Their land would be given to one of Toyotomi’s top generals, Tokugawa Ieyasu. And possibly one of the most post-brutalities committed, the tea master, Soji Yamanoue was sentenced by Toyotomi to have his ears and nose cut off and then was decapitated.
But what does all this have to do with this statue of Hojo Soun?
Well, Hojo was the first head (daimyo) of the Later Hojo clan, one of the great powers of the Sengoku period. His father Ise Morisada, was the lord of Bitchu Takagoshiyama Castle. But since he was loved like a sonby Ise Sadame of the Ise clan in Kyoto, he was adopted into that family.
While his family name was Ise, According to legend, the clan members were generally called Shinkuro. So, many writings he is referred to as Ise Shinkuro. For the sake of convenience, historians and various document records from the Edo period to modern times almost uniformly refer to him as Hojo Soun.
He is known for gaining control of various clans, even going so far to secure Odawara Castle with an act of treachery, by seizing the castle after arranging for its lord of Odawara Castle to be murdered while out deer hunting. Prior to that, Hojo presented himself as a friend and father figure to the young lord of Odawara, bringing him expensive gifts.
He was also known for being a person who cared about the people. When the people of Izu saw that their hometown was occupied by the new lord Soun, they were very frightened. They didn’t know what kind of person Soun was, and they fled their homes in fear. Soun made a three-part agreement with the local wealthy families: “First, you are not allowed to steal from other people’s houses; second, you are not allowed to steal money, jewelry, and valuables; third, you are prohibited from leaving your home and fleeing. So, Soun’s army will not do any harm to the people of Izu”.
At this time, the epidemic spread in Izu, and when the disease spread in Izu, he did not hesitate to spend money to treat the people, and Soun gave medicine to save them. He also lowered the annual tribute from five public officials and five civilians to four public officials and six civilians. Soun built a new castle near the Gakuetsu Imperial Palace and designated it as his residence. This is the Nirayama Castle.
As for the statue, the statue itself is interesting because it shows Hojo Soun with flaming torches tied to his oxen and fooling his opponents that his troops were 3x more than what he actually had.
According to Wikipedia, In 1495, Shinkuro had ambitions for Odawara Castle. He successively inspected Odawara Castle’s protective walls and other structures. He found that the city’s defenses were solid and difficult to capture, so Shinkuro attacked the castle with a fire bull strategy.
First, Shinkuro complained to Omori Fujiyori. The content of the complaint was that there were too many wild deer, so he and the Izu residents needed to go on a large-scale hunting. Saying “If anyone accidentally entered the Hakone Mountains, I hope Mr. Fujiyori would forgive me”.
Fujiyori said: “Tell Shinkuro-sama not to go outside, treat Hakone as your own backyard, and you are welcome to hunt at any time”. After all, Shinkuro has always been generous. He will give gifts when fishing, hunting, and during festivals. Naturally, he will not be missing every time. Because of this, Fujiyori gradually lowered his guard against Soun.
Shinkuro disguised his troops as a hunting team, and used Ranbo (ninja), that is, the Fuma clan, to set off from Lake Ashi to Mount Ishigaki, and then sent Fuma ninjas to create commotion and set fire to the city. Finally, the troops entered the city.
Shinkuro got a herd of bison, tied a bundle of firewood to their horns, and then lit a fire and allowed the herd to run wild inside and outside Odawara Castle, making the scene even more chaotic. When Fujiyori learned that the attacker was actually Shinkuro, he was still at a loss, and in the end he could only leave Odawara Castle in a hurry . Since capturing the city, it has become the territory of the Hojo clan for more than 90 years.
But if you go to Odawara, Odawara Castle can still be seen and visited in Odawara City, Kanagawa prefecture.
Hojo Soun would go on to live a long life to the age of 88 and died in Nirayama Castle in 1519.
Politically, he created his own family law “Seventeen Articles”, which was the first prototype of the law of dividing the country. At the same time, he was the first daimyo to implement land inspection among the daimyo of the Warring States Period.
The statue can be found in the west exit of the station and to be truthful, it’s not a statue one should go out of their way to see. Unless Odawara is a stop or if you are on your way to Hakone, then this statue is worth checking out if you happen to be at Odawara Station.
