Norimasa is son of
Uesugi Norifusa, he was only three when his father died. His adopted brother,
Uesugi Norihiro, succeeded his father as head of the clan. When his brother was banished in 1531, Norimasa inherited the title of
Kantō Kanrei. In 1545, at the
battle of Kawagoe, Ōgigayatsu and Yamanouchi major branches of the
Uesugi family were defeated by
Hōjō Ujiyasu of the
Hōjō clan. In 1547, he was defeated again in the
Battle of Odaihara, this time by
Takeda Shingen. Norimasa's campaigns only continued to be less and less successful. In 1551, he was defeated once again at
Siege of Hirai castle by
Hōjō Ujiyasu, and fled to
Echigo Province, where he sought asylum with his vassal
Nagao Kagetora. In 1552, Kagetora agreed to grant his lord shelter and protection, but only under certain conditions. Norimasa was forced to name Kagetora his heir, and to grant him the titles of Lord of Echigo and
Kantō Kanrei. In 1559, Norimasa was pushed
Uesugi Kenshin to take control of the
Kantō back from the
Hōjō, and in 1560 Kenshin was able to comply. Heading a campaign against
Hōjō Ujiyasu from fall 1560 to the summer of 1561, Kenshin was successful in taking a number of castles from the Hojo clan, like
Numata Castle and
Umayabashi Castle, which ended with the
first siege of
Odawara Castle in
Sagami Province. In 1561, Uesugi Norimasa, passed on the Uesugi clan to Nagao Kagetora, who was gaining power as the Governor of Echigo and succeeding as head of the Yamanouchi-Uesugi family and assuming the position of Kanto Kanrei. Kagetora then changed his name to
Uesugi Terutora, to reflect his inheritance of Norimasa's lineage; he took the given name Terutora for a short time before choosing to be called
Uesugi Kenshin. In 1579, Norimasa died at the hands of
Uesugi Kagekatsu's troops along with
Uesugi Kagetora's oldest son,
Doumanmaru, during the
Otate power struggle. ==References==