Naoie Ukita

Naoie Ukita (宇喜多 直家, Ukita Naoie) was a daimyō of Sengoku period in Bizen Province. He rose from just 30 men and a single castle to controlling the entire province of Bizen. His son was Hideie Ukita.

His Nobunaga's Ambition counterpart is thirty-ninth place in Gamecity's character popularity ranking for 2015. The Nobunaga no Yabou 201X poll for 4-star officers puts him in sixty-ninth place. He placed forty-sixth in the Nobunaga no Yabou Taishi poll for most favorite father.

Roles in Games
In Samurai Warriors 4: Empires portrays him as a strong general who is skilled in using the spear.

In Chikai no Sanshi, he appeared in chapter 21 where Motonari died. He and his younger brother, Tadaie plot to attack Mōri, by raising an army to attack Bitchū first. It was then coordinated with Yamanaka Shikanosuke, who was the leader of the Amago Restoration Army and who was supported by Yamana Toyokuni and Ōtomo Sōrin attacked Mōri from all sides''. ''Mōri's general, Muneharu heard news of the siege of Mōri, so he brought this news to report to Terumoto. Terumoto, who is aware of Muneharu's reporting, therefore lead the army attacked to Bizen himself. Naoie saw that Terumoto was raising an army, therefore cancel all plans and then bring his troops to defend Bizen, his hometown. During the battle, Tadaie was killed. When Terumoto or one of his vassals enters Okayama Castle and gets close to Naoie, there will be a conversation where Naoie will surrender to Terumoto and withdraw his remaining troops from the battlefield. After Naoie's withdraw, Terumoto must face an enemy army led by Yamanaka and Mimura Motochika, who want to slain Naoie in hopes of revenge for his father. However, Naoie didn't joined Mōri for long, because he joined Oda after Hideyoshi's army officially headed to Chūgoku region.

Historical Information
Ukita Naoie (宇喜多 直家) was a son of Ukita Okiie. When his grandfather was assassinated, he and his father decided to served Urakami Munekage who is the daimyō of Tenjinzan Castle. He succeeded to family headship in 1536, after his father's death. Later he had a conflict with Mimura Iechika who is daimyō of Matsuyama Castle. He decided sent Endō Hidekiyo and Endō Toshimichi to assassinated Iechika by gunfire. When he died, news of his death was silenced until an official announcement was made on January 9, 1582.

Etymology

 * The name Naoie means "straight, direct" (直) (nao) and "house, home, family, residence/residency, building, dwelling, habitation" (家) (ie).
 * Naoie's surname Ukita means "eaves, roof, house, heaven" (宇) (u), "joy" (喜) (ki) and "many" (多) (ta).