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 Biography of Oda Nobunaga
By: akusunokimasa

Pages:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

When one looks through the histories of Japan and its great leaders one man stands above all the rest, this man is Oda Nobunaga. His talents in politics, warfare, administration, and leadership surpassed all others and brought him to begin his dream of unifying Japan. Japan had lost its central government, the Ashikaga shogunate was weak and had little power over the regional daimyo and corrupt politicians abused the Emperor, decades of civil war had left the nation ravaged and distraught. This was the era into which Nobunaga was born, the son of a regional daimyo he would rise to bring his dream for unification into bloom. Yet his life would be cut tragically short by a traitorous vassal’s rebellion. Oda Nobunaga, first of the ‘Three Unifiers’ of Japan, this is his story.
Oda Nobunaga was born in 1534 the second son of Oda Nobuhide, a regional daimyo in the province of Owari. Nobunaga became the head of the Oda clan when Nobuhide died. He tricked almost all those around him by acting like an insolent, selfish, and greedy brat who often dressed in excessively vibrant clothing for many years. This was important because if at the time of his death he had shown his true nature and his brilliance his neighbors would have attacked and destroyed him before he could establish himself, like the Imagawa clan for instance. One such instant is when he tricked his father in law Saito Dosan, a powerful daimyo in Mino province on Owari’s northern border. Dosan enjoyed thinking he was smarter then those around him and often disguised himself as a commoner to watch people and find out more about them. One such instance Dosan was hiding in a peasants hut by the side of his road as Nobunaga and his entourage passed by to meat Dosan, who they thought was in the nearby temple. Seeing Nobunaga pass in his extravagant clothing and a ridiculously flamboyant saddle Dosan remarked, “Then the rumors of his incompetence are indeed true. Seeing him now I feel as if Owari itself were in my hands right now.” He then proceeded to rush to the temple where he was to ‘officially’ meet Nobunaga for the first time. When Dosan and Nobunaga had met Dosan repeatedly treated Nobunaga as his subordinate and spoke with an air of no respect. Having fooled his father-in-law but at his tethers end he replied, “Even though we have just now met for the first time it just so happens that I happened to pass a peasant by the road who looks exactly like you, maybe you have a relative nearby.” This comment embarrassed Dosan considerably and he rethought his previous assumptions of Nobunaga and treated him with more respect, yet most people still thought Nobunaga the fool and unworthy of succeeding his father Nobuhide.
Nobunaga fooled those around him like this for many years and only those people very close to him new his true nature. However, Nobunaga slowly dropped his facade as Owari became under his control and he eliminated the rival members of his clan who opposed his rule. In this time of establishing dominion over his family and Owari he acquired the great Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was greatly befriended by Nobunaga and became a most invaluable asset. By 1559 Nobunaga had united the Oda family under his sway and the people of Owari, for the most part, were now loyal citizens.
In 1560 a powerful regional aristocratic daimyo by the name of Imagawa Yoshimoto decided to rally his forces and march through Japan to take Kyoto thus he set out with an army of 25,000 from his home province of Tottomi, the Imagawa being situated to the east of the Oda. Yoshimoto didn't think anything about the "peasant samurai of Owari" or the "brat Nobunaga" and had it known that they were a force of 40,000. This large host was enough to make most daimyo readily submit and until the Imagawa reached Owari they met no resistance, and they did not expect any from Nobunaga or his forces either. At this time the young Tokugawa Ieyasu was a hostage of Yoshimoto and led the Imagawa vanguard, winning the primary victories against the Oda. Nobunaga decided to risk it all and took his entire force in Nagoya and went to attack Yoshimoto one on one. His force, traveling quickly and in secret, soon gathered men until it was about 5,000. Yoshimoto, however, taking light of his victories set up camp with only a few thousand men defending him, the camp was set up at Okehazama. Okehazama was a well-known place for Nobunaga, he had gone there since boyhood, and he knew almost everything about the area. Hearing this great news Nobunaga and his force dashed towards the Imagawa camp, and a rain began to fall. In the midst of the rain the Oda force fell on the Imagawa camp and slaughtered the Imagawa, taking Yoshimoto's head. The rest of the Imagawa invasion force, upon hearing of Yoshimoto's death, fled back to Suruga and Tottomi, they had no motivation to proceed after the death of their commander. With this victory Nobunaga rose into the national spotlight and was no longer seen as an insolent unworthy ruler.