Oda Nobunaga

Birth

Jun 23, 1534

Oda Nobunaga (織田信長, June 23, 1534 – June 21, 1582) was a major daimyo of the Sengoku period in Japan and one of the three founders of the unified Tokugawa shogunate.

Capturing Muraki

Jan 24, 1554

The battle of Muraki castle was one of the early victories of the young Oda Nobunga in his attempt to capture the district of Owari, against the dominant Imagawa clan who had possession of the eastern parts of Owari.

Capturing Iwakura

1558

In June of 1558, Oda Nobunaga surrounded Iwakura Castle with barriers and set the castle town ablaze, placing it under a siege that lasted for two to three months. During the battle that ensued, Yamauchi Moritoyo a vassal of the Iwakura Oda, was killed. Moritoyo’s son, Katsutoyo would find himself joining Nobunaga’s forces around 1567. He would later become master of Kakegawa and Kochi Castles.

Battle of Okehazama

1560

In May or June 1560, Imagawa Yoshimoto gathered an army of 20,000 to 40,000 under the false excuse of aiding the frail Ashikaga shogunate. Oda Nobunaga led a small army to Yoshimoto's camp and the Imagawa soldiers fled in all directions, leaving the commander's tent unprotected. Imagawa Yoshimoto, not knowing what was happening, heard the noise and left the tent. After a while, it was too late when he realized that the samurai in front of him was not him. he was decapitated by one of Oda's men.

Conquering Mino and the Tenka Fubu

1567

In 1567, Nobunaga drove Saitō Tatsuoki (son of Yoshitatsu) into exile, conquered Mino, and renamed the Saitō fortress of Inabayama Castle as Gifu Castle. Around this time, Nobunaga began using the tenka fubu seal, which indicated his intention to unify Japan by force.

Taking over central Japan

1568

In 1568, Shogun Ashikaga Ashikaga Yoshiaki (足利義昭) asked Oda to help drive the Miyoshi clan out of Kyoto. Oda installed Ashikaga Yoshiaki in Kyoto as the 15th Ashikaga shogun, but used him as a puppet to maintain his hold on central Japan.

Conquering Heiankyo (Kyoto)

1568

Nobunaga finally took control of the capital Heiankyo, present day Kyoto, in 1568. In 1579, Nobunaga, who controlled all of what is now central Japan, established his new headquarters at the magnificent Azuchi Castle outside the capital, on the shores of Lake Biwa. Nobunaga was able to defeat rival warlords and expand his territorial control with his large, well-equipped army, which included the talented warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

The Ishiyama Hongan-ji War

Period: 1570 to 1580

The Ishiyama Hongan-ji War, took place during the Sengoku period from 1570 to 1580, when Lord Oda Nobunaga fought the Ikkō, a powerful faction of Shinshu Buddhist monks and peasants who opposed the rule of the Ikki. It centered on an attempt to demolish Ikki's central base, the cathedral fortress of Ishiyama Hongan-ji. When Nobunaga and his allies carried out attacks on Ikki, some of his soldiers stayed in the forest outside Hongan-ji, cutting materials for the fortress and acting as guards.

Battle of Nagashino

Jun 28, 1575

Battle of Nagashino, which took place on 28 June, 1575 in Japan’s Age of Warring States, Nagashino castle held out against the Takeda in a classic siege. The besiegers tried attacks by river, mining, and through fierce hand-to-hand assaults. Eventually a relieving army arrived and defeated the Takeda using an innovative combination of firearms and simple defenses, revolutionizing Japanese warfare. The castle was later taken by the Oda-Tokugawa forces.

Death and Legacy

Jun 21, 1582

By the spring of 1582, he had conquered central Japan and attempted to build his rule in the west. However, in June of 1582, while Nobunaga was in Kyoto, one of his vassals, Akechi Mitsuhide, revolted. Nobunaga was injured in the attack and having no time to escape, committed seppuku. Nobunaga had succeeded in bringing almost half of Japan under his control. It destroyed the old order of division of power held by the daimyo and made way for the political and economic unification of the country.