Born in 1529 into the Ukita warrior family of Bizen. After his grandfather Yoshiie was murdered by his Uragami overlord, he and his father were forced into a wandering life. After his father's death he re-entered Uragami service and began his ruthless ascent, employing assassination—including murdering his own father-in-law Nakayama Nobumasa—and seizing his brother-in-law's wealth, earning a reputation as the most scheming villain of the Sengoku age. By around 1567, he had effectively reduced his overlord Uragami Munekage to a puppet and controlled Bizen, Mimasaka, and parts of Harima—a completed gekokujo coup. Despite his notoriety for plots, poisonings, and political marriages, he also governed competently, conducting land surveys, flood control, and land reclamation to stabilize his domain. He submitted to Nobunaga in 1575 and from 1577 cooperated with Hideyoshi's Chugoku campaigns against the Mori. He died of illness in 1582 at about age 53; his son Hideie became one of Hideyoshi's Five Elders.