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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The center of the castle during the Edo period locates in the eastern lowlands which were constructed in the Sengoku era. After the earthquake in 1633, it became a castle with stone walls and a white castle tower.
Ookubo family, Abe family and Inaba family (“Fudai Daimyo” ; a daimyo of a hereditary vassal to the Tokugawa family) were the Lords of Odawara castle, and protected the western side of Edo.
There are 3 models and a drawing which were used as a reference material to design the present Odawara castle. The models are on the 1st and 5th floor, and a display panel of the drawing is on the 1st floor.
A castle tower is the highest and the most symbolic structure in the region. The hight of the castle tower of Odawara is 27.2m from the top of the stone wall, and it is the 7th highest in Japan.