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 Biography of Oda Nobunaga
By: akusunokimasa

Pages:
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As word from Hideyoshi reached Nobunaga in Azuchi he was just preparing for a massive feast where he would be celebrating with Tokugawa Ieyasu. Nobunaga gave the job of food organization to Mitsuhide who, willing to overlook the obvious insult of the position, tried his best to please Nobunaga but the ingredients he was given were not fresh and rotting and the staff he was given were lazy and incompetent. Frantically worried by all this Mitsuhide desperately tried to fix the situation but when Nobunaga found out he furiously dismissed Mitsuhide and sent him home to his castle in Tamba province, north of Kyoto. This final insult was too much to bear and Mitsuhide decided he had to act. He informed members of his family of his many humiliations at Nobunaga’s hands and convinced them to join him in his plans to kill Nobunaga.
Nobunaga decided to personally join the expedition against the Mori and began to assemble his forces around his domains. He sent word for Mitsuhide to begin assembling his forces in Tamba as Nobunaga would soon be joining him. Mitsuhide sent scouts to find out the size of the forces Nobunaga would be leading himself and was overjoyed to find out that Nobunaga would be traveling with only a few pages and attendants when he rested in Kyoto.
Mitsuhide, sworn to his fate, gathered his men, who were still under the illusion they were going to aide Hideyoshi, as he ventured to Mt. Hiei, still covered in rubble, to meet with surviving priests and reach a spiritual calmness. As all this was happening Nobunaga reached Kyoto and met up with his oldest son Nobutada. Nobutada and Nobunaga relaxed in Nobunaga’s Honno temple residence. Mitsuhide joined his forces and they raced through the night, most still unaware where they were going, towards Kyoto.
A few miles from Kyoto Mitsuhide unveiled his plan to his men and told them of his many humiliations at Nobunaga’s hands and convinced them to kill Nobunaga with him. Before dawn, the Akechi forces surged into Kyoto and surrounded the Honno temple. Fires broke out all around and Akechi forces broke through the gate. Nobunaga, informed of Mitsuhide’s betrayal, fought personally before being wounded. Realizing he would not survive Nobunaga withdrew into his private quarters and set fire to the room as he committed suicide. Akechi forces also found Nobutada’s residence and killed him.
With the death of Nobunaga and his heir apparent the Oda domain was thrown into chaos as the news swept across Japan. Mitsuhide had taken control of the Kyoto region, Hideyoshi was tied down with the Mori, Shibata Katsuie was in the north, and Tokugawa Ieyasu watched on. The stage was set for a new person to rule the land and finish Nobunaga’s dreams for a unified Japan. Oda Nobunaga, born to a remote daimyo family scoured against all odds to bring peace to much of Japan and eliminate his rivals. A personal grudge led to his downfall but there is no one who will ever forget all that Nobunaga had accomplished. Born in 1534 and dying in 1582 Nobunaga’s 48 years on this earth changed a nation and symbolized an era.