Oda Nobunaga: The Great Unifier of Japan

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He was a feudal leader who emerged as the leader of the Oda clan during the late 16th century. Once he was in power, Oda Nobunaga embarked on an ambitious plan to unite the entire country under the rule of a strong, determined, and ruthless leader. This was a time when such a feat seemed almost impossible to accomplish. Japan’s authority had been completely decentralized, and although the country had an emperor and a shogun, neither wielded any real power. Instead, authority was disseminated among dozens of lords who constantly fought each other for territorial gains. The idea that one man could bring them all under his control through alliances and force seemed destined to fail from the outset, and yet it happened. Oda Nobunaga became the de facto leader of Japan by becoming the most powerful lord in the country, but he never got to actually rule it as head of a new central government because he fell victim to betrayal before this could happen. The mission then fell upon two of his most trusted allies, who took Oda Nobunaga’s plan to completion, and together they became known as the three great unifiers of Japan.

To get a better sense of Oda Nobunaga’s reign and his impact on the history of Japan, we should first look at the state of the country itself during the 16th century. Our story takes place during the shogunate era of Japan, a time period that lasted almost 700 years until the Meiji Restoration of 1868. During this age, the emperor of Japan still existed and was theoretically the head of state, but he had no real power; it was more of a ceremonial title. The de facto leader of Japan was a military dictator called a shogun, who exerted power over all the provinces of the country by appointing governors called shugo to handle day-to-day operations. Over centuries, this position evolved and was eventually replaced by daimyo, much more powerful feudal lords who had actual authority and ownership over their lands while still retaining certain obligations towards their shogun.

To make matters even more chaotic, Oda Nobunaga lived during the Sengoku period, also known as the Age of Warring States, one of the most violent and unstable periods in Japanese history. At the outset of this period, the shogun had lost most of the authority he used to have over his daimyo, triggering a civil war called the Onin War in 1467, which plunged Japan into a 150-year-long power struggle between the country’s most dominant daimyo. While this resulted in many battles, conspiracies, and civil wars, no single daimyo proved strong enough to permanently defeat his enemies and rule over a united Japan once more—until Oda Nobunaga.

Oda Nobunaga was born on June 23, 1534, somewhere in the Owari province, most likely the city of Nagoya. He was the eldest son of daimyo Oda Nobuhide and his wife, Dota Gozin. Although Nobuhide also had an older illegitimate son named Oda Nobuhiro, he was the leader of the Oda clan. Just to clarify, Japanese names start with the family name first, which in this case is Oda. Speaking of names, when he was a child, Nobunaga was actually called Kiposhi. Naming conventions of feudal Japan were quite complex for the upper classes, and they changed their names at least once during their lifetimes, sometimes up to four or five times. Boys started out with a yomyo, meaning youth name, which later changed to the imina or true name when they were teenagers as part of their passage into manhood. There was also the hereditary title, the clan name, and the pseudonym, but let’s keep it simple and stick with Oda Nobunaga since that is the name that most people are familiar with.

During his time, Japan was theoretically ruled by the Ashikaga shogunate, although this was just nominally. Even though the Ashikaga had been in power since the mid-14th century, they never really owned that much personal territory, which is not ideal for operating a military dictatorship. The Ashikaga always relied on the loyalty of their daimyo. Over the 235 years that this shogunate stayed in power, the influence and authority of the daimyo lords kept increasing, creating a situation where some clans equaled the shogunate in power, even though technically they were still subservient. Obviously, it was only a matter of time until somebody came along with ambitions of conquest to put the strength of the shogunate to the test.

The main reason it took so long for a daimyo to challenge the shogun was that they were always busy fighting among themselves. During Nobuhide’s reign, the Oda clan was mainly preoccupied with neighboring Saito and Imagawa clans. Oda Nobuhide was weaker than his opponents, mainly due to internal strife inside his own clan, and was defeated by each one in battle. Because of this, he decided to make peace with the Saito clan and its leader, Saito Dosan, by marrying Nobunaga to Dosan’s daughter, Nahime, better known as Lady No. Little is known about her and her ultimate fate is uncertain, but we do know that she and Nobunaga were never close because Lady No could not give him any children. After he became daimyo, Nobunaga lavished much more attention on one of his concubines named Kitsuno, who gave him his first son, Oda Nobutada.

We’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves; at the moment, Nobuhide was still head of the Oda clan, but he died suddenly in 1551 at the age of only 40 or 41 years old. There was already some internal fighting going on, but his death created a succession crisis. Nobuhiro, as Nobuhide’s eldest son, wanted to succeed him as head of the clan, but because he was illegitimate, not many supported his claim, and he immediately suffered a defeat against the Imagawa clan, which caused everyone to lose whatever confidence they had in him. It would have made the most sense for Nobunaga to follow his father’s footsteps, but he also lost the support of many of Nobuhide’s retainers for being spoiled and undisciplined. According to legend, he behaved very poorly at his father’s funeral, and this lack of respect made many former vassals of Nobuhide prefer that his younger son, Oda Nobuyuki, would succeed him as head of the clan. Then there was Nobuhide’s brother, Oda Nobutomo, who made a play for himself as the new clan leader.

In the outside world, the Oda clan’s newest ally, Saito Dosan, was facing a threat of his own when his son, Saito Yoshitatsu, staged a coup, assassinated his own two brothers, and waged war against his father for leadership of the Saito clan. And lastly, let’s not forget that the Oda clan was still at war with the Imagawa clan led by Imagawa Yoshimoto. As you can see, the Warring States period of Japan certainly lived up to its name; it was full of treachery, violence, and one battle after another in a constant struggle for power, and somehow Oda Nobunaga was the one who managed to reach the top.

It’s hard to say exactly what his keys to success were because he was never portrayed as some kind of military genius, and in his youth, at least, he was shown to be an undisciplined brat who didn’t even want to assume leadership of the Oda clan, let alone set himself on a path to conquer all of Japan. As part of the legend surrounding Nobunaga, it is said that an episode which had a profound effect on him occurred when his former tutor, a samurai named Hirate Masahide, committed seppuku out of shame over how his pupil acted. This was supposedly what prompted Nobunaga to straighten up and take his role seriously, but it is likely only a story. There is a dearth of contemporary sources on Oda Nobunaga, and those that exist have been greatly exaggerated, making it hard to get a sense of the real man behind the legend.

Perhaps the best description we have comes courtesy of Portuguese missionary Louis Frois, who became a close friend of the lord and even stayed at his residence for a while. Decades after Nobunaga became daimyo, he described Nobunaga as a tall man, thin, scantily bearded, with a very clear voice, much given to the practice of arms, hardy, fond of the exercise of justice and of mercy, proud, a lover of honor to the uttermost, very secretive in what he determines, extremely shrewd in the stratagems of war, little if at all subject to the reproof and counsel of his subordinates, feared and revered by all to an extreme degree, does not drink wine, is a severe master, treats all the kings and princes of Japan with scorn, and speaks to them over his shoulder as though to inferiors, and is completely obeyed by all as their absolute lord.

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In order for Nobunaga to fulfill his ambitions, he had to assume uncontested control of the Oda clan, which meant dealing with his younger brother and his uncle. First up was his uncle, Oda Nobutomo, who had taken control of Kyosu Castle in 1553 and had the support of the Shiba clan of Mutsu province. Despite this, Nobunaga had no real difficulty in this battle, and in 1555 he captured his uncle, who was forced to commit suicide. Nobunaga then relocated to Nagoya Castle, making Kyosu his new base of operations. Oda Nobuyuki proved more difficult to submit because he had more retainers on his side who still viewed him as the best candidate to take over the clan. The two sides met in battle in 1556 on the Inno Plain. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Nobunaga was victorious and afterward even forgave his brothers and his retainers, mostly due to the pleading of his mother, Dota Gozin. Even so, Nobuyuki did not stop plotting against his brother and intended to rise up against him once more when he was not expecting it. However, his retainers proved to be a bit more honorable than he gave them credit for. After being defeated, they swore their loyalty to Nobunaga and intended to keep this oath. Nobuyuki informed them of his plans, and one of them, named Shibata Katsui, told Nobunaga of his brother’s treachery. This time, the leader of the Oda clan could no longer forgive his brother, so he had Nobuyuki assassinated at Kyosu Castle in 1557.

By this point, Nobunaga was pretty firmly in control of his own clan, so it was time to expand his attention to his neighbors. His ally and father-in-law, Saito Dosan, died at the Battle of Nagara River in 1556, and his treacherous son Yoshitatsu became the new leader of the clan. Besides wanting to avenge Dosan, Nobunaga also might have had a rightful claim to his lands, as the old man allegedly named his son-in-law as his main beneficiary in his will. The new lord of Mino province, Nobunaga tried to defeat Yoshitatsu in battle several times, but the latter proved to be a worthy foe. Although successful in combat, the leader of the Saito clan was taken down by an unexpected foe: an illness that killed him in 1561 at just age 35. He was succeeded by his son, Saito Tatsuoki, who was young, inexperienced, and completely unprepared for the new role that was forced upon him. He managed to hold his own for a few years, but the Saito clan soon became irrelevant in the power struggle going on in the country. Finally, Nobunaga defeated him conclusively at the Siege of Inabayama Castle in 1567, and the Saito clan disappeared forever.

Nobunaga still had one more enemy to deal with: Imagawa Yoshimoto, who was the most powerful of all, also aided by the Matsudaira clan of Mikawa province, which was a long-standing enemy of the Oda. In 1560, Yoshimoto assembled a large army of 25,000 men to march on the capital of Kyoto, the seat of power of the shogunate. His exact intentions have never been made clear and have only been speculated by late historians. Some believe he only wanted an official sanction from the shogun to legitimize his actions against the Oda clan, while others thought Yoshimoto might have intended to bring down the shogunate itself. On the way there, he entered Owari province, which belonged to the Oda clan, and began plundering and capturing castles. Following the Siege of Maroon, the Matsudaira clan managed to seize the strongest of Nobunaga’s fortresses in the region. Obviously, the Oda clan had to respond, but Nobunaga’s forces were only a small fraction of Yoshimoto’s. He may have had around 5,000 men at his disposal, but some still had to be left behind to defend other properties in Owari. A head-on attack would have been suicide, and his advisors wanted to fall back to Kyosu Castle and prepare for a siege. Nobunaga, however, felt that such a move would only delay their downfall and that their only chance was a strong and unexpected counter-attack, which happened at the Battle of Akihizama in June 1560.

Yoshimoto and his army set up camp at the foot of Mount Okazama. On the day of the attack, his men were busy celebrating their victories with cheers and sake, while the daimyo was allegedly entertaining himself by inspecting the heads of his enemies, which he had collected. During this time, Nobunaga and around 2,000 of his men managed to sneak their way into the nearby Nakashima Fortress undetected. Allegedly, the older leader went to great lengths to make his enemies think that he was someplace else, even if it meant giving up a significant part of his already small army. He sent hundreds of soldiers to lay siege on Narumi Castle, while others were stationed near a temple with lots of flags and banners to exaggerate their numbers in case an enemy scout spotted them. Undoubtedly, he was also assisted by a large storm that hit the camp that day, making it much harder for Yoshimoto’s men to spot their enemy. When the downpour ended, Nobunaga and his men charged into the unsuspecting camp and attacked. This caused immediate mayhem and confusion, and allegedly Yoshimoto himself was so taken aback that he initially believed a drunken brawl had erupted between his men. By the time he realized what was happening, it was too late to organize any sort of defense. The soldiers of the Imagawa clan were fleeing for their lives in every direction, while Yoshimoto himself was attacked and killed by two of Nobunaga’s samurai, Natori Katsutada and Mori Oshikatsu. Oda Nobunaga returned triumphant to Kyoto Castle with his vanquished foe’s head proudly on display. This was a major shift in the balance of power. Prior to this battle, there was a real chance that Owari province would fall completely into the hands of the Imagawa clan, while the Oda clan might have disappeared forever. Now, Oda Nobunaga was one of the most powerful, most respected, and most feared warlords in the country. Many samurai and minor daimyo pledged their allegiance to Nobunaga, including his former enemies, the Matsudaira clan. They were led by Matsudaira Motoyasu, who would later change his name to Tokugawa Ieyasu and play just as important a role in Japan’s unification as Oda Nobunaga, but that’s a story for another video.

In 1568, a golden opportunity presented itself to Nobunaga. During the previous years, while the Oda daimyo was busy fighting his enemies, the shoguns had their own problems and conspiracies to deal with. When this whole thing started, the shogun of Japan was Ashikaga Yoshihide, the 13th shogun of the Ashikaga dynasty. However, in 1565, he was slain in battle by a group of daimyo who wanted to install his cousin, Ashikaga Yoshihide, as the new shogun, who would basically serve as their puppet. By this point, the shogunate was a mere shell of what it used to be, and the shogun himself was only as powerful as the daimyo willing to go to war for him. Not everyone was cool with Yoshihide as the new shogun, and among those people was Yoshiaki, the younger brother of the 13th shogun who was betrayed and killed. He wanted his revenge and also wanted to take back the shogunate. For that, he needed the support of a strong and respected daimyo, and there was no better candidate than Oda Nobunaga. The leader of the Oda