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 Biography of Oda Nobunaga
By: akusunokimasa

Pages:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

With an army of around 20,000 or so Nobunaga invaded. Saito Seiyukai, I think that’s what I said I would call him, was very worried but sent messages to the ‘Three Men of Mino’ they rebelled and joined the Oda forces. Mino fell and all that was left was the castle capital of Inabayama. Hideyoshi launched an attack around the back of Inabayama and set it on fire landing the castle into confusion. Tatsuoki, aware now that the Saito were not the clan they once were and that it was his fault, sent a message to Nobunaga pledging surrender and Nobunaga complied. He displaced Tatsuoki but gave him a residence so the Saito name would not die out, and renamed Inabayama to Gifu and made it his new capital. Thus Mino and Owari were now under Oda control.
After Nobunaga's destruction of the Saito and the renaming of Inabayama castle to Gifu castle all was peaceful in the Oda domains. However, in the capital turmoil erupted. Two ambitious politicians Matsunaga Hisahide and Miyoshi Yoshitsugu who proceeded to seize power of the capital had murdered the Emperor. The legitimate imperial successor Ashikaga Yoshiaki fled the capital and was wandering around the country looking for a daimyo to take him in and reinstate him.
At this time an envoy, Akechi Mitsuhide, arrived with an urgent message for Nobunaga. Akechi Mitsuhide a former retainer of the Saito had fled when Saito Dosan was defeated by Yoshi-tatsu, and wandered to various daimyo clans like the Mori and others and ended up as a minor retainer of the Asakura clan. He was not happy there and when the renowned Hosokawa Fujitaka, a well-known politician of the time, met him to gain his support in helping the shogun he readily joined the shogun's cause and journeyed to his former home in Gifu.
Nobunaga heard of the shogun's peril and moved by Mitsuhide’s sincerity decided he would help reinstate Yoshiaki and rallied a force to march towards Kyoto, as Yoshimoto had dreamed of so long ago. Nobunaga, greatly impressed by Mitsuhide’s talents and intelligence, employed him as a retainer who quickly rose amongst his favorites. So with an army of around 30,000 or 40,000 he marched from Gifu and quickly and easily destroyed the forces of Matsunaga Hisahide and Miyoshi Yoshitsugu around the Kyoto area. As he entered Kyoto he reinstalled Shogun Yoshiaki into power and rebuilt the emperors palace. He won great support from the people of Kyoto because of his sternness but fairness and upholding of the law. Although the shogun was now back in Kyoto it was undisputable that Nobunaga was the real power of the area.
Nobunaga, receiving the shogun’s petition, set out to bring all the daimyo under his sway and unite Japan. Of course after gaining such power and popularity Nobunaga made enemies out of many people around the nation; such as the militant priests and other daimyo who wanted to unite Japan under their own banners. As his first move as a tool of the empire Nobunaga sent envoys to the Asakura clan to gain their submission. The Asakura blatantly sent back their refusal, confident that the northern conditions could repel any army. So subsequently Nobunaga gathered his armies and set out on an invasion of the north. Relying heavily upon Akechi Mitsuhide, a former Asakura retainer, who supplied the Oda forces with invaluable maps and information. With Mitsuhide’s help the Oda force traveled quickly into Asakura territory and was about to breach the final lines of Asakura defenses when a report cam to the Oda camp that Asai Nagamasa, an ally to the Oda by marriage, had rebelled against Nobunaga because of his longer standing alliance with the Asakura clan almost cutting off Nobunaga’s retreat back to Kyoto. Nobunaga, realizing he could not keep this campaign up, led a hasty retreat back through the few pieces of land back to Kyoto still open. Nobunaga appointed the job of rear guard to Hideyoshi to keep the Asakura from following.