(Voice actor) Mr.Akira Daniel Duncan

The common impression many people have of samurais is that they would commit seppuku gracefully when they lost. There were some samurais who acted that way. But that’s not how all of them were. Some made the decision to swallow their pride in order for his family to survive. Ujizane Imagawa heads that list. Ujizane was the son of Yoshimoto Imagawa, a feudal lord. Yoshimoto was a feudal lord who rules Suruga (now a part of Shizuoka prefecture), Toutoumi (now a part of Shizuoka prefecture) and Mikawa (now a part of Aichi prefecture). Ieyasu Tokugawa, who established the Tokugawa regime called the Edo government, served under him, and he was respected by Shingen Takeda, who ruled Kai (now Yamanashi prefecture), who was said to be the strongest feudal warlord. Yoshimoto was not only strong, but also developed the law which other countries often looked to as a political model. Yoshimoto lost the battle against Nobunaga Oda, feudal lord of Owari (now a part of Aichi prefecture), on his way to Kyoto in 1560, and died. This is called the Battle of Okehazama. The Imagawa family lost much of their power in this battle. Ujizane succeeded Yoshimoto. However, he could not hold the family together. Ieyasu Tokugawa left the Imagawa family and became independent, and formed an alliance with Nobunaga Oda, the enemy of Yoshimoto. Also, Shingen Takeda moved his forces towards the Imagawa family. Shingen was a relative of the Imagawa family, but he decided to take their territory while they were weak. Ujizane lost this battle against Shingen and he escaped to the Hojo clan in Kanto. Since his family was destroyed, there were opinions that Ujizane should fight and die or that he should commit seppuku. Therefore, some laughed at him for being a coward. But Ujizane did not do that and instead chose the path of survival. However, as the Hojo clan also sought to form an alliance with the Takeda family, Ujizane escaped to Kyoto. Here, Ujizane built a network with the court nobles (vassals to the Imperial family) of Kyoto. As Ujizane was good at kemari (a game where several people gathered and kicked a ball and passed it to each other so that it would not fall on the ground) and waka, so he became popular among the court nobles. It was new age. Nobunaga Oda, who beat Yoshimoto Imagawa, was killed when his vassal rebelled against him. In the Takeda family, Shingen died of sickness, and was destroyed after Katsuyori succeeded him. The Hojo clan was destroyed by Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the successor of Nobunaga. And after Hideyoshi died, it was Ieyasu Tokugawa, who once served Yoshimoto Imagawa, that led Japan’s politics. The power dynamics between those with whom Ujizane was previously involved changed drastically. In this ironic fate, how did Ujizane decide to live during the regime of Ieyasu Tokugawa?