Since the Meiji era, Ise Sozui (known as Hojo Soun) was thought to be a masterless samurai(suronin) from Ise. Though, most of the reliable documentary (historical) sources shows that he was from Bicchu Ise. He was an official that accompanied the shogun, and was called Ise Shinkurou Moritoki.
西側に見えるのが、箱根火山により形成された箱根の山塊です。矢倉ケ獄・猪鼻ケ獄・駒ヶ岳・冠ケ岳・二子山・苅野岳・石垣山・土肥杉山の十山は、天守七尊とともに諸山十尊と呼ばれて信仰されていました。また、現在は、南には相模湾に浮かぶ伊豆大島、東から北側にかけては房総半島・三浦半島・丹沢の山脈を望むことができます。
Odawara Hojo family repeated marriage with powerful samurai families, and noble courts in order to claim its authenticity of controlling their territories. Wives and daughters of the Hojo family do not appear in the main stream of history, but these women supported the glory of the Hojo family.
江戸時代、小田原城天守には摩利支天を含む天守七尊が安置されていました。小田原城天守模型等の調査により、天守最上階にはこれらの仏像を安置し、祀る空間が設えられていたことがわかりました。今回の改修工事に伴い、小田原産の材木・小田原の職人により天守閣最上階に摩利支天安置空間を復元しました。
The Hojo clan acquired knowledge and technique such as poetry (waka), calligraphy, and kemari (an ancient football game) as a necessary accomplishment. They brought numerous culture and techniques to Odawara and created a new brand called “Odawara mono”. Gen-an Sotetsu, son of Sozui, was known as a man of culture, and Odawara became the cultural center of the Kanto region.
明治維新を迎え、小田原城は廃城となります。その後は陸軍省や宮内省の管轄となる時代を経て、神奈川県・小田原市の所有地となりました。用途も様々に変遷し、現在は小田原城址公園として都市公園・国指定史跡となっています。小田原城は、新たな地域の中心として、今も多くの人々に愛されています。
After the death of Oda Nobunaga, the Odawara Hojo family and Tokugawa Ieyasu formed an alliance, and was in conflict with Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The Hojo family built a “sougamae” castle, a castle which has residential houses of farmers and townspeople inside the castle walls to defend against Hideyoshi’s 21,000 person army.
Odawara during the warring states period was one of the most prosperous regions in the Kanto area. The Hojo family based in Odawara was in conflict with the Uesugi clan and the Takeda family. Five generations (Souzui, Ujitsuna, Ujiyasu, Ujimasa and Ujinao) ruled this area for 100 years.
戦国時代の小田原には、「小田原相州」と呼ばれる刀工がいました。綱廣・綱家・康春などは代表的な名工で、義助はその師匠筋にあたるとされています。この他、藤原清平などは小田原ゆかりの刀工です。現在小田原城には、多くの刀剣が保管されており、常盤木門SAMURAI館でも展示しています。
Odawara castle had a palace and rice storage for the shogunate. In the end of the Edo period, Odawara castle acted as an important roll in the land and coast defense against foreign ships.