Japan's Interesting People:Nobunaga Oda

Welcome to another edition of *Japan's Interesting People*, a special wiki page series that tells about some of Japan's notable figures from past to present.

This page will cover the life of another great Samurai Warlord: *Nobunaga Oda*. Like Ieyasu, Nobunaga was known as one of Japan's Samurai lords who would unify Japan (for a short amount of time in his case). He's also the Samurai lord that will revolutionize Samurai Warfare with the usage of firearms on a wide scale. He is also known for his ruthlessness on the battlefield and was feared throughout Japan because of this.

But what was Nobunaga's life exactly? We'll let us begin.

## Birth and Early Life

Nobunaga Oda was born *Kipposhi Oda* on June 23 in the year 1534 in the Samurai domain of *Owari*. He is the second son of the Samurai lord *Nobuhide*. The Odas were natural enemies with another Samurai Clan: The *Imagawas*.

As a Kid, Nobunaga would play with the other boys within and even around his family's castle regardless of his rank of his family. He was also known to have expressed some "peculiar behavior" according to his friends and family, he was even known throughout Owari as what is known as *"Owari no Ōutsuke"* (Owari's Big Fool)

As he got into his late childhood and into his teenage years, it was time for him to train to be a Samurai. As he was training, he also developed an affinity for firearms (as the Portuguese arrived in Japan in 1543 and brought their guns in the form of the Arquebus), he would eventually see an actual use of firearms during his time as a Samurai Lord.

In 1551, Nobunaga's father Nobuhide died. Nobunaga was known to be somewhat of a child at his father's funeral as he threw incense at the altar, this stopped when one of his teachers *Masahide Hirate* committed seppuku to get Nobunaga to stop.

## Sibling Rivalry

Soon after Nobuhide's death, there was a huge argument with Nobunaga and his brother *Nobuyuki* on who is the next heir to their father's leadership. Nobunaga gathered an army of 1,000 men and defeated all who opposed the Oda which included Nobuyuki. In 1556, Nobunaga and his army would lay Siege to *Kiyosu Castle* and defeated all who were inside.

However, Nobuyuki was still to be captured. So Nobunaga's army would invade the Mino province when one of Nobunaga's retainers *Dosan Saito* 's son *Yoshitatsu* turned against him. Unfortunately, the campaign for Mino didn't go well for the young Samurai Lord as Dosan was killed and his son was named the new lord over Mino. It would take Nobunaga another 3 years to finally defeat his brother as well as his brother's retainers. With this Nobunaga then became the new lord of Owari.

## Rise to power

The first battle for Nobunaga after taking control of the Oda clan was the *Siege of Terabe Castle* when he went up against another new, young Samurai Lord: *Ieyasu Tokugawa*. After a month-long battle, Nobunaga was able to defeat Ieyasu and protected the castle. But during the *Siege of Murabe Castle*, the Imagawas got their revenge on the Odas. The third and final encounter for the Odas and the Imagawas would be the *Battle of Okehazama* in 1560. The month-long battle ended in a total victory for the Oda clan and also resulted in the death of the Imagawa Clan's lord: *Yoshimoto*. This is when many Samurai Lords serving the Imagawas turned and pledged their loyalty to the Oda clan (including Ieyasu). What Nobunaga would soon realize is that Ieyasu would prove to Nobunaga how capable an officer Ieyasu is and would work together in several keys battles in the latter parts of the Sengoku Jidai.

For several years (following the sudden death of Yoshitatsu in 1561) Nobunaga wanted to take Mino as Yoshitatsu's son *Tatsuoki* was far less competent of a military officer. He moved his base of operations to Komaki so he can also take the province of Mino from the Saito Clan, thus begins the 7-year-long *Battle of Moribe.* Nobunaga successfully convinced the Samurai Lords that fought for the Saito Clan to join him, thus weakening the Saito Clan and the castle finally fell in 1567.

A year later, *Yoshiaki Ashikaga*asked Nobunaga to start a campaign for Japan's capital of Kyoto to help him get revenge on his uncle: *Yoshihide* (who murdered his father *Yoshiteru*) Nobunaga agreed to help him, the Rokkaku Clan was the obstacle that Nobunaga had to deal with in order to help Yoshiaki take back Kyoto. Nobunaga defeated the Rokkaku Clan by driving them out of their domains, and on October 9 Yoshiaki was able to gain the title of Shogun, though his relationship with Nobunaga quickly grew sour as Nobunaga refused to meet Yoshiaki in any meetings.

## Unifying Japan

The 1570s would be the decade for Nobunaga as he would slowly but surely bring most of Japan's domains under his Clan's banner.

On July 30 in the year 1570. Nobunaga's brother-in-law *Nagamasa Azai* (who was married to Nobunaga's sister: *Oichi*) cut all ties to the oda and joined one of Nobunaga's many enemy clans, this time it was the *Asakura* Clan which the clan's lord *Yoshikage* was also a protector of Yoshiaki, but failed to act as he had no desires to march on Kyoto. With the help of Ieyasu, Nobunaga was able to defeat Nagamasa as well as the Asakura. A Few months later, Nobunaga discovered that the *Enryaku* Temple on Mt. Hiei had warrior monks known as *Sohei*. Nobunaga saw this as a threat to his power and ordered the temple to be destroyed. Because Nobunaga's forces killed everybody in that temple (which included women, children, and families) this is where Nobunaga was given the reputation of being extremely ruthless as a Samurai Lord and made everybody in Japan fear not just his presence, but the very mention of his name became an act of psychological warfare.

By 1571 Nobunaga would then begin his campaign to take *Nagashima* Castle. Though he had superior numbers, the siege would last for 3 years as the *Ikko-Ikki* Monks would use something like Gorilla warfare to fend off the Oda Army. Eventually, the Odas would capture and burn the castle in 1574. But the Odas would still deal with the Ikko-Ikkis as they also held the *Ishiyama-Hongan*temple in Osaka. Though, it would take until 1580 before the temple finally fell to the Odas.

In the year 1575, the Odas, as well as the Tokugawas, were trying to defeat the now weakened Takeda Clan (as their lord *Shingen* died from a disease which was a result of a musket ball wound he sustained during the *Siege of Noda Castle*). In the summer of the same year, the clans met in a key battle of the Sengoku Jidai: the *Battle of Nagashino*. This battle saw the wide usage of firearms (which was the Japanese variation of the Portuguese Arquebus: the *Tanegashima*). This battle would see the total defeat of the Takeda. About 3 years later, however, Nobunaga was given a shocking defeat by rival Clan Lord: *Kenshin Uesugi,*but Uesugi's untimely death would keep Oda's newly occupied domains safe. By 1582, the Takeda Clan was no more as it's current lord *Katsuyori* committed seppuku.

By the late 1570's Nobunaga also started campaigns for not just the Echigo province to the west but also Japan's southern island of *Shikoku*. Whether or not he conquered them is unclear.

## Betrayal and Death

In the summer of 1582, Nobunaga was in Kyoto and at the Honoji Temple preparing for a Tea Ceremony. That is until he received word that one of his trusted officers *Mitsuhide Akechi* has plans to stage a coup against the Oda Clan. That night when Mitsuhide attacked, Nobunaga ordered his men to set the temple on fire in hopes to lure Mitsuhide and his men into an attack. Unfortunately, Mitsuhide's men were able to overwhelm Nobunaga's weak defense on the temple.

Then, a fierce battle against Nobunaga and Mitsuhide then escalated. It was a fierce battle, but in the end, Mitsuhide defeated Nobunaga and consequently died in Honoji Temple.

Now, this is where the details of Nobunaga's death get.......pretty tacky. Because there are conflicting accounts on the details.

There are accounts of Mitsuhide finished off Nobunaga after he defeated him. There are others said that Nobunaga committed suicide either letting the flames that are burning the Honoji Temple consume him, or committed seppuku.

## Legacy

The legacy of Nobunaga is still referenced in Japan today. He is known to be the first of *The Great Unifiers* in Japan, meaning one of the first Samurai Lords that will bring an end to the Sengoku Jidai and unify Japan. Though, Nobunaga was able to conquer a lot of domains, especially in western Japan (though it's unclear if he also conquered Shikoku as well). But, during his campaign to unify Japan, he was also a ruthless leader who would use extreme brutality to defeat anybody who got in his way. and this would make him a man to be truly feared, one of the reasons why even today in Japan Nobunaga is sometimes depicted as a villain that will try to conquer the world and the hero of a story (e.g., a video game, a movie or another form of Japanese media today).

Well, that is all for this part of my special wiki page series of *Japan's Interesting People*. Don't forget to check out my other pages on here as well as my Games and Movies Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.