Toyama Naokage (遠山直景)
Naokage TOYAMA (date of birth unknown - April 7, 1533) was a retainer of the Gohojo clan in the Odawara domain (hereinafter written as Hojo clan). He was the first son of Kageyasu TOYAMA. He was the father of Tsunakage TOYAMA and Yasumitsu TOYAMA. His another name was Shirozaemon. He was also called Hayatonosuke (name of a government official post), Kaga no kuni no Kami (Governor of Kaga Province), and Tanba no kuni no Kami (Governor of Tanba Province). He served two consecutive generations of the Hojo clan, Soun HOJO and Ujitsuna HOJO.
Until leaving the capital to go down to Kanto
The original estate of the Toyama clan, the descendent of the Kato clan of FUJIWARA no Toshihito line, was Akechi-jo Castle in Mino Province.
Although it is not known since when, it seems that he became a retainer of Yoshitake ASHIKAGA who had a close connection with Mino Province and the Toki clan in Mino Province, and served as an attendant at the bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun, in this case Muromachi Shogunate). He was also said to be a hokoshu (the shogunal military guard). It can be presumed that around that time, he came to associate closely with Shinkuro ISE (later Soun HOJO), who was then serving the bakufu as a moshitsugishu (a civil servant post in Muromachi Shogunate). The Matsuda clan, the Ise clan, and the like as well as the Toyota clan, the retainers of the Gohojo clan from the very beginning of its foundation, were dispatched to the Kanto district from the capital and given a preferential treatment there, and probably came to know each other as acquaintances or colleagues during that period of service. It seems that Naokage continued serving the bakufu, even after Soun left the capital to intervene the internal conflict of the Imagawa clan in Suruga Province. Afterwards, while the central government was thrown into confusion since Yoshiki (ASHIKAGA) was expelled by the Meio Coup, Soun gradually dominated Izu Province. It is thought that Naokage TOYAMA left Kyoto at that period and joined the suppression of Izu Province.
Around 1521, according to a tradition, Naokage abandoned his territory as well as his Akechi-jo Castle to work under Soun HOJO with his 180 soldiers. Although the detail of this anecdote is not known.
The period in Kanto:
It seems that the first written material describing his stay in Kanto was a document donated to a temple in February 1506. The Kao (written seal mark) found on this document resembles that of Soun, which implies he had already become a vassal of Soun at that time.
Since many Shuinjo (shogunate license to trade) issued with his seal mark can be found, it is probable that he, as a retainer of the Hojo clan, was undertaking bureaucratic work, by making use of his experience during the service at bakufu.
In February 1524, the second generation family head, Ujitsuna, and other members of the Hojo clan attacked Edo-jo Castle in Musashi Province to seize the basis of the Ogiyatsu-Uesugi family, and assigned Naokage as Jodai (the keeper of the castle). However, according to another theory, Jodai was assigned to some other person. At any rate, it was Naokage that substantially managed the affairs of the castle. Immediately after that, he addressed a kishomon (sworn oath) to Kogakubo (descendants of one of the Ashikaga families that held the office of the Kanto district administrator) Takamoto ASHIKAGA, committing that the Hojo clan would not fight against Takamoto. This fact shows that he was in a position to sign his name as a representative of the Hojo clan in face of an authoritative figure like Kogakubo.
Even afterwards, his movements as an representative official of the Hojo clan were recorded as follows: he paid a visit to Shugodai (the acting Military Governor) of Echigo Province Tamekage NAGAO, representing the clan; he acted as an envoy, when Norinaga NAGAO of the Uesugi side (described later) came to seek a reconciliation.
Although he had no significant military merit, it is recorded that he went to the front in Chichibu in 1529. In February 1530, Naokage and his army went into battle to attack Tomooki UESUGI in the rear, but defeated in the battlefield by the the Uesugi's army, which came to counterattack the Naokage's army. The Uesugi side, encouraged by the advantage, captured Ozawa-jo Castle (in current Kawasaki City) and Setagaya-jo Castle, and five days later, Edo-jo Castle was invaded and the facilities were burned down.
He died on April 17, 1533. The family name of the Toyama clan and the position of Jodai of Edo-jo Castle was succeeded by Tsunakage TOYAMA.
Since then, the Toyama clan had been regarded as one of Goyuishoke no rokke (the six families of sworn friends who supported Soun HOJO), as well as, one of Izushu nijukke (the twenty groups of families under the power of the Hojo clan), and enjoyed an important position together with the Matsuda clan and the Daidoji clan (they are also called Sankaroke (the big three chief retainer families of the Hojo clan).