Introduction
Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) was a Japanese daimyo during the latter half of the Sengoku Jidai and the head of the Oda clan. Nobunaga dedicated his lifetime to reunifying the great nation of Japan, trying to bring an end to the brutal civil war that had ravaged the land for the past few decades. However, this all came to an end in the year 1582 when he was brutally murdered by his former ally Akechi Mitshude, so close to completing the long and difficult task that he had spent so long trying to complete.
Biography
Oda Nobunaga (Kichihoshi) was born on the 23 June 1534 as the son of Oda Nobuhide, a warlord and head of the Oda Clan. Holding power over the tiny province of Owari, the small and insignificant Oda Clan faced the risk of being invaded by its much larger neighbours, the Saito, Matsudaira and Imigawa. In fact, under the rule of Nobuhide, the Oda were defeated by the Saito on multiple occasions during their attempts further expand their power. Realising that the Oda would be unable to defeat the far superior Saito, Nobuhide married Nobunaga to the head of the Saito Clan’s daughter, Nohime. Despite their new alliance with the Saito, however, this still left multiple obstacles still in the way, such as the Imagawa, who continuously proceeded to defeat the Oda without a problem. It was evident that Nobuhide was not a great leader and posed the risk of leading the Oda to defeat. Even though an overwhelming majority of the clan agreed with this statement, they expressed concern as he unexpectedly passed away in the year 1551, leaving his seventeen-year-old son, Oda Nobunaga as the head of the clan. You see, Nobunaga was disliked by the clan more so than his predecessor, as he was extremely disorganised and expressed very little interest in running the clan. In fact, this statement would become more evident at Nobuhide’s funeral, in which Nobunaga was reported to have dressed inappropriately, kicked multiple tables over, and thrown incense at the alter before storming out in a rage. This resulted in one of the Oda clan’s most loyal retainers, Hirate Masahide, committing seppuku to give Nobunaga a perspective on how important his position was. This plan evidently seemed to work, as from this point onwards, Nobunaga began dressing respectably and seemed to have taken his role far more seriously. As a result of this character development, Nobunaga began receiving support from his father-in-law Saito Dosan, as well his attendant, Akechi Mistuhide.
In the year 1559, the Oda were left in an awkward position, as they were surrounded by the significantly more powerful clan, the Imegawa, meaning that an invasion of Owari was imminent. In fact, this invasion began only one year later when the head of the Imagawa clan, Imagawa Yoshimoto, declared war on the Oda. Despite an almost guaranteed loss, the Oda agreed, and the two clans met on the battlefield of Okehazama. As Nobunaga prepared for battle, followers of the Oda clan attempted to prevent him, completely certain that Nobunaga’s army of 2,000 men would be no match against the Imagawa’s army of 25,000. Against all odds, however, the Oda were able to defeat the Imagawa with great ease, completely wiping their clan off the map. This victory was brought to the attention of Matsudaira Takeyochi, better known as Tokugawa Ieyasu, whom was incredibly impressed by Nobunaga’s achievement which, as a result, began an alliance between the two clans. Soon after, Nobunaga also came across a peasant by the name of Hiyoshimaru, or better known as Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi at first, received the job of Nobunaga’s sandal bearer, but proved to be very intelligent as he assisted Nobunaga throughout his journey of expanding the Oda clan. Through the combination of his amazing strategizing, as well as his unmatched ability to transport Nobunaga’s sandals, it was not long before he gained the title of Lord.
Now that Nobunaga worked alongside these two military geniuses, he felt that it was his duty to reunify the nation of Japan and end the brutal civil war that had ravaged the land for the past few decades, but first, he needed to march to the nation's capital, Kyoto and become a puppeteer of the shogun. As he proceeded his march further west, he ran into his first obstacle – the Saito clan. As mentioned previously, the Oda and Saito were allies, but all that had changed. Two years prior, Saito Dozan was unfortunately murdered by his son, Saito Yoshitatsu, whom subsequently took control over the clan. However, Yoshitatsu held a grudge against Nobunaga, so refused to let his clan pass through it. Fortunately for the Oda Clan, Yoshiatsu conveniently passed away of natural causes immediately after, as a result, establishing his inexperienced son as daimyo, meaning that Nobunaga's job of taking over their territory far easier. Not long after this short battle, Nobunaga took Inabayama Castle as his main headquarters, which he later named Gifu.
Meanwhile in Kyoto, the shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, began searching for a daimyo who could assist him gain autonomy from his puppeteers, when he came across Akechi Mitsuhide, who generously led him to Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga was humbled upon receiving news of this event, as it meant that from this point onwards, his job of establishing the shogun as his puppet has become far simpler. Proceeding his journey to the Imperial Capital, he ran into two more obstacles, the Azai and Rokkaku clans. Fortunately for Nobunaga, the Azai happily let his army pass through without a fight, in exchange of marrying Nobunaga’s sister, Oichi. Next Nobunaga attempted the same tactic on the Rokkaku clan, whom of which refused an alliance. The far superior Oda clan then proceeded to destroy the Rokkaku, before continuing their way west to Kyoto. Upon arriving a few months later, they then overthrew the Miyoshi and re-established the Ashikaga clan as the shogun. Unsurprisingly, however, it had turned out that Nobunaga had tricked Yoshiaki, working as his puppeteer and controlling all of his actions instead.
With his newfound power, Nobunaga began travelling the country, meeting with Portuguese traders in Kyushu, as well as teamakers in the city of Sakai. In fact, these teamakers heavily influenced his next decision of hosting a tea ceremony in Kyoto, inviting every daimyo in the country. Doing this, he was able to establish who were his allies – the ones that attended the ceremony, as well as those who were not – the ones who did not attend. Using this tactic, he was able to establish that his enemies included Asakura Yoshikage, Takeda Shingen and finally Uegugi Kenshin. Following this, he then proceeded to invade Asakura territory, beginning the Battle of Kanegasaki. At first, the invasion was going to plan until the unthinkable happened, one of the Oda Clan’s strongest allies, the Azai, joined forces with the Asakura. Nobunaga was furious at the Azai’s decision. It was not long until the Rokkaku clan too joined forces with the enemy, as well as the Ikko Ikki warrior monks soon after. This then resulted in a retreat by the Oda clan, becoming one of his most embarrassing failures. Following this event, Nobunaga's enemies began despising him more, attempting to take over his territory and defeat Nobunaga once and for all. Realising that he was massively overwhelmed, Nobunaga then began recruiting many of his own allies to assist in defending his own territory, as well as invading others. The first clan that he recruited to assist him in this difficult task, was the Tokugawa clan, who helped him to eradicate the Azai and Asakura. Following this, the two then set their sights on the Ikko Ikki warrior monks, targeting Ishiyama Honganji, a major fortress owned by the clan. This battle then went on for eleven long years, earning the title of the Sengoku Jidai’s longest battle. Nobunaga also reached out to the Portuguese Jesuit missionaries, trading weapons with them, as they both shared a hatred for Buddhists, desperately wanting to eradicate the Ikko Ikki. In the year 1571, Nobunaga then targeted Enryaku-ji, a temple atop Mount Hiei, in which he proceeded to burn the temple down, killing thousands of civillians. Takeda Shingen, a very devout follower of Buddhism, was horrified at what Nobunaga had done, referring to him as “an enemy of Buddha.” Shingen then sent his massive army after the Tokugawa clan, trying to punish Nobunaga for what he had done, before conveniently dying of unknown causes. In 1577, Nobunaga was then targeted by the significantly more powerful Uesugi Kenshin, who unfortunately defeated Nobunaga. Similarly to what had previously happened with Shingen, Kenshin died unexpectedly before he could do any major damage. In 1580, Ishiyama Honganji finally surrendered. After finally completing this feat, Nobunaga and Ieyasu then marched their armies to the east, once and for all destroying what was left of the shattered Takeda clan.
By this point, Nobunaga had conquered majority of the country, so close to completing his lifelong task of unifying the nation once and for all. There was only one obstacle left in the way from this point; the Mori clan located in Southern Honshu. Following the request of Toyotomi Hideyoshi who was fighting the Mori, Tokugawa Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga then went to assist him, also bringing over multiple allies including Akechi Mitsuhide. All daimyo involved each went their separate ways, with Nobunaga passing through Kyoto to sleep the night at Honno-ji temple. Meanwhile, Mitsuhide too passed through Kyoto, Nobunaga unaware of his decision to so. As Mitsuhide reached Honno-ji temple, he declared to his army of 20,000, “the enemy is at Honno-ji!” Mitsuhide’s army then burned down Honno-ji temple, with Nobunaga committing seppuku inside to avoid being killed by his enemy.
Cattegories:
- Daimyo
- Historical figures
Oda Nobunaga