Nobunaga

Oda Nobunaga (織田 信長 Oda Nobunaga (help*info), June 23, 1534-June 21, 1582) was a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. He was the son of Oda Nobuhide, a minor warlord with meager land holdings in Owari province. Nobunaga lived a life of continuous military conquest, eventually conquering most of Japan before his death in 1582.

Contents

[hide]

* 1 Life

o 1.1 Unification of Owari Province

o 1.2 Battle of Okehazama

o 1.3 "Tenka Fubu"

o 1.4 Incident at Honnōji

* 2 Oda, Toyotomi and Tokugawa

* 3 Policies

* 4 Family

* 5 Oda Nobunaga in Fiction

* 6 See also

* 7 External links

[edit] Life

[edit] Unification of Owari Province

In 1551, Oda Nobuhide died unexpectedly, and during his funeral, Nobunaga was said to have acted outrageously, throwing the ceremonial incense at the altar[citation needed]. This act further alienated many Oda retainers, convincing them of Nobunaga's supposed mediocrity and lack of discipline, and they began to side with his more soft-spoken and well-mannered brother, Nobuyuki.

Ashamed for Nobunaga's behavior, Hirate Masahide committed seppuku. This came as a huge blow to Nobunaga, who lost a mentor and a valuable retainer. He later built a temple to honor Hirate.

Though Nobunaga was recognized as Nobuhide's legitimate successor, the Oda clan was divided into many factions, and even then, the entire clan was technically under Owari's true kanrei, Shiba Yoshimune. Thus, Oda Nobutomo, brother to the deceased Oda Nobuhide, and being Owari's deputy shugo with the powerless Shiba as his puppet, was able to challenge Nobunaga's place as Owari's new master. Nobutomo murdered Yoshimune when it was clear he supported and attempted to aid Nobunaga.

Nobunaga successfully persuaded Oda Nobumitsu, a younger brother of Nobuhide, to join his side, however, and with Nobumitsu's help, Nobutomo was slain in Kiyosu Castle, which later became Nobunaga's place of residence for over ten years. Taking advantage of Yoshimune's son Shiba Yoshikane's position as the rightful kanrei, Nobunaga forged an alliance with the Imagawa clan of Suruga province and the Kira clan of Mikawa province, as both clans were also kanrei and would have no excuse to decline. In effect, this ensured the Imagawa would have to stop attacking Owari's borders.

Even though Nobuyuki and his supporters were still at large, Nobunaga led an army to Mino province to aid Saito Dosan, when his son, Saito Yoshitatsu, turned against him. The campaign failed, however, as Dosan was killed and Yoshitatsu became the new master of Mino in 1556.

A few months later, Nobuyuki, with the support of Shibata Katsuie and Hayashi Hidesada, rebelled against Nobunaga. They were defeated at the Battle of Inō. The three were pardoned with the intervention of the birth mother of Nobunaga and Nobuyuki. However, the next year, Nobuyuki again planned to rebel. Informed by Shibata Katsuie, Nobunaga faked illness and assassinated Nobuyuki in Kiyosu Castle.

By 1559, Nobunaga had eliminated all opposition within the clan as well as Owari province. He continued to use Shiba Yoshikane as an excuse to make peace with other daimyo, although it was later discovered that Yoshikane had secretly corresponded with the Kira and Imagawa clans, trying to oust Nobunaga and restore the Shiba clan's place. Nobunaga cast him out, and alliances made in the Shiba clan's name thus became void.

[edit] Battle of Okehazama

In 1560, Imagawa Yoshimoto gathered an army of 25,000 men and started his march toward Kyoto, with the excuse of aiding the frail Ashikaga shogunate. The Matsudaira clan of Mikawa was also to join Yoshimoto's forces.

In comparison, the Oda clan could rally an army of only 3,000, and the forces would also have to be split up to defend various forts at the border. Under such dire circumstances, Nobunaga was said to have performed his favorite Atsumori dance, before riding off with only a few attendants to pray in a shrine.

The Oda Generals didn't believe that they would win this impossible war. Only the night before Shibata Katsuie had tried in vain to change Oda Nobunaga's mind about a frontal combat; he kept reminding Oda of the joint army's gaping lack of manpower against the Imagawa soldiers that numbered 40,000 according to the rumors. Hayashi Sado, the remaining advisor from Oda Nobuhide's days, even argued for surrender without fighting, basing his opinion on the same math as Shibata's. Upon this, according to the clan's chronicler, Oda Nobunaga yelled:

"Imagawa has 40,000 men marching toward this place? I don't believe that. He 'only' has 25,000 soldiers. Yes, that is still too many. So, Sado, you want me to surrender. What if we do surrender? Will you get content with losing your life that way? Or what if we hold on like Katsuie wants me to? What if we stay here in this castle, lock it up, and wait until the Imagawas lose appetite and stop the siege and go home? We will be able to prolong our lives for 5 or 10 days, and what we cannot defend will still be undefendable. We are at the bottom of the pit, you know. And our fate is interesting. Of course the misery is too great, too. But this is how I see it: this is a chance in a lifetime. I can't afford to miss this. Do you really want to spend your entire lives praying for longevity? We were born in order to die! Whoever is with me, come to the battlefield tomorrow morning. Whoever is not, just stay wherever you are and watch me win it!"

Oda Nobunaga was right; Imagawa Yoshimoto deliberately leaked the highly exaggerated number of his soldiers out to scare the Oda clan, and the official chronicler of the Imagawas put it down as was usual in medieval battle records to exaggerate numbers.

Aided by a sudden thunderstorm, smugness, and fatigue, Oda Nobunaga rode fast out the castle early in the morning, to meet Imagawa's army en route.

He found