Uesugi Kagetora

Adoptive son of Uesugi Kenshin

Uesugi Kagetora (1552 or 1554 – 1579), born Hōjō Saburō, was the seventh son of Hōjō Ujiyasu, lord of Odawara. Sent as a hostage to Uesugi Kenshin in 1570 as part of the alliance between the two houses, he was adopted by Kenshin, married a niece of Kenshin, and received the name Kagetora, which Kenshin himself had once borne. After Kenshin's sudden death in 1578, without a designated heir, he disputed the succession with his adoptive brother Uesugi Kagekatsu: this was the Otate War. Initially favoured, he lost the decisive support of Takeda Katsuyori, who had sided with Kagekatsu. After the fall of the Otate residence in 1579, he attempted to reach Odawara, took refuge at Samegao Castle (today part of the city of Myōkō), where he was betrayed by Horie Munechika and took his own life in the spring of 1579. The Samegao site, designated a National Historic Site, preserves the memory of this episode, attested notably by carbonised rice recovered during excavation.