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Oda Nobunaga (織田
信長
1534-1582)
was a major
daimyo during the
Sengoku period of
Japanese history. Son of
Oda Nobuhide, a minor warlord with meager land holdings in
Owari province, Nobunaga lived a life of continuous military conquest to
eventually conquer most of Japan before his untimely death in 1582.
Militarily, Nobunaga's revolutionary thinking not only
changed the way war was fought in
Japan, but also in turn made one of the most modernized forces in the
world at that time. He developed, implemented, and expanded the use of long
pikes,
firearms,
ironclad
ships, and
castle fortifications in accordance to the expanded mass battles of the
period. Nobunaga also instituted a specialized warrior class system and
appointed his retainers and subjects to positions based on ability, not
wholly based on name, rank, or family relationship like prior historical
periods. Retainers were also given land on basis of rice output, not land
size. Nobunaga's organizational system in particular was later used and
extensively developed by his ally
Tokugawa Ieyasu in the forming of the
Tokugawa shogunate in
Edo.
Nobunaga's dominance and brilliance was not restricted
only to the battlefield for he also was a keen businessman and understood
the principles of
microeconomics and
macroeconomics. First, in order to modernize the economy from an
agricultural base to a manufacture and service base, castle towns were
developed as the center and basis of local economies. Roads were also made
within his domain between castle towns to not only facilitate
trade, but also to move armies great distances in short timespans.
International trade was also expanded beyond
China and the
Korean peninsula to
Europe while namban (barbarian) trade with the
Philippines,
Siam, and
Indonesia was also started.
Nobunaga also instituted rakuichi rakuza
policies as a way to stimulate business and the overall
economy. These policies abolished and prohibited
monopolies and opened once closed and privilaged unions, associations,
and
guilds which he saw as prohibitive to overall
commerce. He also developed
tax exemptions and established laws to regulate and ease the borrowing
of debt.
As Nobunaga conquered Sengoku period Japan and amassed a
great amount of wealth, he progressively supported the
arts for which he always had an interest, but which he later and
gradually more importantly used as a display of his power and presitige. He
built extensive gardens and castles which were themselves great works of
art.
Azuchi castle on the shores of
lake Biwa is said to be the greatest castle in the
history of Japan, covered with
gold and statues on the outside and decorated with standing screen,
sliding door, wall, and ceiling paintings made by his subject
Kano Eitoku on the inside. Nobunaga is remembered in Japan as one of the
most brutal figures of the Sengoku period. He embraced the Christianity
which had infiltrated Japan and used this as the moral basis for his
persecution of the Ikko monks. During this time, Nobunaga's subject and
tea master
Sen no Rikyu established Japanese tea ceremony which Nobunaga
popularized and used originally as a way to talk
politics and
business. The beginnings of modern
kabuki were started and later fully developed in the early
Edo period.
Biographical Timeline
Young
Nobunaga
1534 Born the second (or maybe third)
son of
Oda Nobuhide however is the first son not born to a
concubine so is heir to the Oda clan and domain.
1539? Becomes master of
Nagoya castle around the age of 5. Is separated from father and mother
who raise his younger brother
Oda Nobuyuki at Suemori castle, while Nobunaga is brought up alone by
retainer
Hirate Masahide.
1547 Nobunaga sees first, however short,
military action
1549 Marries daughter of
Saito Dosan, daimyo of Mino province (Gifu
prefecture). It is a political marriage set up by his father and Hirate
Masahide.
Unification of
Owari Province
1551 Father Nobuhide dies and Nobunaga
inherits domain. Becomes engaged in struggle with younger brother Nobuyuki
for succession of the Oda clan and with others for total control of Owari
province.
1552 Battle of Kaizu. Nobunaga defeats
the rebelling Oda Nobutomo.
1553 Retainer Hirate Masahide commits
seppuku out of shame for Nobunaga. Nobunaga meets father-in-law
Saito Dousan for the first time.
1555 Battle of Ino. Defeats younger
brother Nobuyuki and
Shibata Katsuie to become undisputed head of the Oda clan.
1556 Father-in-law Saito Dousan killed
in coup in Mino province.
1557 Nobuyuki again plans to overthrow
Nobunaga. Nobunaga informed of the plot by Shibata Katsuie and in turn
forces Nobuyuki to commit seppuku.
1558 Battle of Ukino. Defeats the Oda
Nobukata, last of the rebelling relatives in Owari province.
1559 Nobunaga goes to Kyoto to announce
his unification of Owari province to the 13th Muromachi
shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru.
First
Major Campaign
1560 Battle of Okehazama. Defeats
invading daimyo Imagawa Yoshimoto, ruler of the Mikawa (eastern
Aichi prefecture), Suruga (western
Shizuoka prefecture), and Totomi (eastern Shizuoka) provinces.
1562 Forms "Kiyosu alliance" with
Matsudaira Motoyasu (later
Tokugawa Ieyasu), new daimyo of Mikawa province.
Tenka
Fubu
1567 Nobunaga invades and conquers Mino
province. Starts to have ambitions of conquering all of Japan, calling it
Tenka Fubu, "Conquer through military force".
1568 Oda Nobunaga marches his armies
into Kyoto at the request of 14th Ashikaga
shogun
Ashikaga Yoshiaki. With
Kyoto conquered and Ashikaga Yoshiaki installed as a puppet
shogun, the
Azuchi era of Japanese history
officially begins (overlaps with
Muromachi period until 1573).
1570 Battle of Ane river (Battle of
Anegawa). Oda Nobunaga and
Tokugawa Ieyasu defeat the combined forces of daimyos Asakura Yoshikage
and Asai Nagamasa.
1573 Invades and conquers Echizen and
Wakasa provinces. Nobunaga drives last Muromachi
shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki out of Kyoto. The
Muromachi shogunate ends.
Invasion of Chugoku (Western
Honshu)
1575
Battle of Nagashino. Nobunaga and
Tokugawa Ieyasu defeat
Takeda Katsuyori. First invasion of
Tanba by general Akechi Mitsuhide.
1579 Akechi Mitsuhide invades Tanba for
the 3rd time and finally conquers it. Settsu province also invaded and
conquered. Mimasaka and Bizen provinces "given" to Nobunaga.
1580
Miki Castle falls after 2 year siege
by Nobunaga's general Hashiba Hideyoshi. Invades and conquers Tajima. Inaba
province invaded.
1581
Hashiba Hideyoshi lays siege to
Tottori castle. Inaba province conquered.
1582
Hashiba Hideyoshi invades Bicchu
province. Takeda clan falls under the forces of Nobunaga; Shinano, Kai, and
Suruga provinces conquered. Nobunaga falls in coup (Honnouji no Hen)
by retainer
Akechi Mitsuhide at
Honnou Temple,
Kyoto.
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