Ii Naotora (äºÂä¼ ç´èÂÂ, d. 12 September 1582) was a daimyà  of the Sengoku period and head of the Ii clan, a feudal samurai clan of medieval Japan.
There are two theories regarding Naotora's identity:
There are several theories regarding the identity of the head of Ii clan after Ii Naomori. The "Ii clan history" record which now preserved in the Shizuoka central library was the oldest source supporting the theory that Jirà  Hà Âshi (次éÂÂæ³Â師), was a female Ii Naotora were from secondary material which first appeared in mid Edo period document which written by a priest at Ryutanji Temple (Hamamatsu City). However, this popular theory is disputed by 20th century academics. the theory that said Ii Naotora was Sekiguchi Ujitsune, son of Imagawa clan subordinate, came from several sources which pointed out by modern researchers.
Overall, Modern Japanese historians reject the theory of a female head of the Ii clan, such as , history professor of University of Tokyo. Hongà  opined the theory of Naotora being a woman were based on speculation of the lack of Ii clan's biological male heir before Ii Naomasa reached adulthood.
Historian speculates that he was the son of Ii Naomori. However, since the Zatsuhisetsu Shaki records that Inojiro was the son of Sekiguchi Echigo-no-Kami (Ujitsune), several researchers have suggested that Naotora was the son of Sekiguchi Ujitsune, he is thought to have married the daughter of II Naomori and become his adopted son-in-law, and this Naotora's wife is thought to be the person who has traditionally been identified as Jiro-hoshi or Naotora (posthumous name Myoun-in-den Tsukifune Yuen-dai-shi).
Researchers from Hikone Castle Museum also deemed the "Ii clan biography" which contains the theory about Ii Naotora being female as unreliable as it was based on folklore and not actual historical records.
Atsuyuki Wakabayashi from Shizuoka University has stated that the letter was co-signed between Jirà  Hà Âshi and Sekiguchi Naotora as an imperial edict.
Ii Tatsuo, the director of the Ii clan Museum in Kyoto which preserved those documents, also favored this explanation that Ii Naotora was not a woman named Jirà  Hà Âshi, but instead a male retainer of the Imagawa clan named Sekiguchi Ujitsune, who had been bestowed the fiefdoms of the Ii clan. Furthermore, Ii Tatsuo also stated there is no evidence from a primary source identifying Jirà  Hà Âshi as Ii Naotora. This statement was based on several facts:
Another Japanese historian, from Komazawa University, also supported the theory that Ii Naotora was a son of Sekiguchi Ujitsune. Ujitsune was a vassal of the Imagawa clan who was appointed in Iinoya, Hamamatsu.
Similarly, , a history professor from Bukkyo University, also rejected the supplementary sources of Moriyasu KÃ Â shoki about the female Naotora theory, as he says the scripts were copied from an unverified Edo period book. He supported the theory that Ii Naotora and Jiro-Hoshi were the same people but male, based on the evident confusions of previous historians about the identity. Daimon also added that while a woman could become head of clan in certain situations, it was an extremely rare case, and Naotora was unlikely to be one of them.
Other modern researchers who have similar view with Motoki Kuroda's theory that Naotora is the son of Sekiguchi Ujitsune with childhood name of Jiro Hoshi are , , and Yukihiro Kasuya.
There is only one contemporaneous document related to the person named "Ii Naotora" (äºÂä¼Âç´èÂÂ) that she is believed to be the same person as Jirà  Hà Âshi (次éÂÂæ³Â師), the daughter of Ii Naomori (äºÂä¼Âç´çÂÂ), who became the head of the Ii family despite being a woman. This theory is based on the "Ii Family Chronicle" (äºÂä¼Â家ä¼Âè¨Â), written in the mid-Edo period in 1730 (Kyà Âhà  15). It is said that Jirà  Hoshi was engaged to Ii Naochika (äºÂä¼Âç´親) but remained unmarried throughout her life and was the foster mother of Naochika's orphaned child, Ii Naomasa (äºÂä¼Âç´æ¿), who later became one of Tokugawa's Four Heavenly Kings.
Tetsuo Owada, a professor emeritus of Sengoku history at Shizuoka University who published a book about Naotora has said that this theory of misidentification of Ii Naotora is quite possible, since for generations, many of the heirs of Ii clan usually being called "Jiro", thus the name is suspected as just a pseudonym of various historical figures, although he did not deny the possibility that Ii Naotora was a daughter of Ii Naomori, a leader of Iinoya-is a part of Tà Âtà Âmi, who had been defeated by Imagawa Yoshimoto and became a vassal of Imagawa.
According to this theory, as Ii clan had no male heir, so Naotora's great uncle Ii Naomitsu tried to betroth his son Ii Naochika to her so that he could inherit the clan. Unidentified Imagawa clan retainers carried a report of the plans to Imagawa, who ordered Naomitsu and his son Naochika to commit seppuku. Naomitsu died, but Naochika, who was very young, was protected by a Buddhist priest named Nankei. Naochika managed to flee to Shinano. Naotora became a priestess, and was named Jiro-Hoshi aged ten by Nankei. In 1563, Ii Naohira and other men from Ii clan were ordered to break into Hikuma Castle as proof of their loyalty to the Imagawa. Otazu no Kata who was wife of Iio Tsurutatsu (lord of Hikuma castle) invited Naohira to a meeting with her husband and planned to eradicate it to claim prominence in Totomi. On September 18, Otazu no Kata then poisoned Naohira's tea and he died soon after. Following Naohira's death, Jiro Hoshi returned to secular life the male name Naotora and declared herself the nominal head of the Ii clan. It was recorded that Naotora, being a former nun, often acted to avoid battles, earning the respect of many civilians. She was responsible for the development of agriculture and the substantial expansion of the domains of her clan in the region of Enshà «.
, professor of International Research Center for Japanese Studies instead offered a synthesis theory which differ from the "Ii clan Biography", that both female Jirà  Hà Âshi and male Ii Naotora both existed as different person, and became head of Ii clan on different occasions. Isoda offered this explanation based on the correspondence material from , a samurai under Ii clan, with the Imagawa clan, where the Imagawa recognized Jirà  Hà Âshi as head of Ii clan in September 1568. However, after the Imagawa clan fall and the entrance of Tokugawa clan in the area on December, the name of Ii Naotora emerged as the head of Ii clan, thus Isoda suspected that the Tokugawa clan deposed Jirà  Hà Âshi and installed Naotora as the head of Ii clan instead.
Meanwhile, professor Hirofumi Yamamoto from University of Tokyo giving his chronological concilliatory explanation regarding the letter co-signed by Jiro-Hoshi (daughter of Ii Naomori) and Sekiguchi Naotora (son of Ujitsune) that it indicated while Jiro-Hoshi inherited the Ii clan's surname, the official de facto control of Ii clan's territories including Iinoya castle was run by Naotora, until Ii Naomasa become old enough to inherit the position of Ii clan's leader.
During the early days of Naotora's reign in 1564, Niino Chikanori, a retainer of Ii clan, besiege the Hikuma castle to prove Naotora's loyalty to Imagawa Ujizane; Otazu and Tsurutatsu fought to defend the castle and Chikanori was killed. Naotora was presumed to have difficulty securing clan leadership because of the innumerable resistances from the Imagawa clan retainers. After numerous threats from Imagawa retainers to the Ii clan, Naotora finally allied with Tokugawa Ieyasu and actively participated in the Tokugawa expansions of the Matsudaira clan in Totomi and Mikawa Provinces.
At the same year, Ono Michiyoshi removed Naotora from leadership of the Iinoya region with the help of former Imagawa's retainers. Naotora escaped to Ryà Âtan-ji Temple in Hamamatsu, and later sent Naomasa to Ieyasu and sent Naomasa to his care. Later, Michiyoshi was finally captured by the Tokugawa clan and was executed, before his head was disgraced in public.
In December 1568, when Tokugawa Ieyasu invaded Tà Âtà Âmi, Naotora's whereabouts became unknown.
There are several versions regarding the death of Naotora: