page_title: Oda Nobunaga
section_title: Influence
hierarchical_section_title: Oda Nobunaga / Influence
caption_attribution_description: Map of Japan in the Azuchi-Momoyama period.
context_page_description: Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese daimyō of the Sengoku period regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan.
  Nobunaga was head of the powerful Oda clan of Owari Province and launched a war against other samurai to unify Japan in the 1560s. Nobunaga emerged as the most powerful daimyō in Japan, overthrowing the nominally ruling shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiaki and dissolved the Ashikaga Shogunate in 1573, conquering most of Honshu and defeating the Ikkō-ikki rebels by the 1580s. Nobunaga's rule was noted for innovative military tactics, fostering free trade, reform of Japan's civil administration, and encouraging the start of the Momoyama historical art period, but also the brutal suppression of opponents, eliminating those who refused to cooperate or yield to his demands. Nobunaga was killed in the Honno-ji Incident in 1582 when his retainer Akechi Mitsuhide ambushed him in Kyoto and compelled to commit forced suicide. Nobunaga was succeeded by Toyotomi Hideyoshi who completed his war of unification shortly afterwards.
  Nobunaga was an influential figure in Japanese history and is regarded as one of three great unifiers along with his retainers Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu.
caption: Political situation in Japan circa 1582. Purple area was territory controlled by the Oda in 1560, grey area was territory Nobunaga controlled at the time of his death in 1582.
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