Oda Nobunaga was born on the 23rd of June 1534 in Nagoya, Owari Province, yet history remembers him not for his birth but for the bizarre behavior that earned him the nickname The Fool of Owari. Between the ages of 13 and 18, he spent his time hunting, riding, practicing archery, and shooting arquebus, which was still a novelty in Japan at the time. He also wrestled, swam, watched sumo, and visited taverns and brothels with his friends. He showed complete disdain for formal clothing and proper social behavior of a lord, wearing sleeveless bathrobes and short trousers tied with hemp rope in public, eating melons while riding backwards on his horse, and often dancing in female clothing in taverns. This eccentricity masked a calculating mind that would eventually reshape Japan. His father, Oda Nobuhide, was the head of the powerful Oda clan and a deputy military governor. Nobunaga was given Nagoya Castle by his father at the age of 8 and lived there for 13 years until he took Kiyosu Castle at the age of 21. He had one or two older brothers, but they were illegitimate sons. As the first legitimate son, Nobunaga was intended to succeed Nobuhide as leader of the Oda clan, and so he was separated from his mother and given special education. Four karō, or chief retainers, Hayashi Hidesada, Hirate Masahide, Aoyama Nobumasa, and Naitō Shōsuke, were assigned to train and educate him for his future role. Nobunaga came to manhood and took the name Oda Saburō Nobunaga in 1546. He then led the forces of the Oda clan against rival Kira and Ohama in Mikawa for his first campaign in 1547. In 1548 or 1549, Nobuhide made peace with Saitō Dōsan, lord of Mino Province, through a political marriage between his son Nobunaga and Dōsan's daughter, Nōhime. Nobunaga took Nōhime as his lawful wife, and Dōsan became Nobunaga's father-in-law. Nobunaga also became involved in government affairs at this time, gaining valuable political experience and insight.
The Blood-Stained Path to Power
In 1551, Oda Nobuhide died unexpectedly, and it has been said that Nobunaga acted outrageously during his funeral, throwing ceremonial incense at the altar. Although Nobunaga was Nobuhide's legitimate heir, a succession crisis occurred when some of the Oda clan opposed him. Nobunaga assembled a force of 1,000 men and used them to intimidate and dissuade his enemies, thus preventing a serious disruption in the transfer of power. Sensing weakness, the daimyō Imagawa Yoshimoto sent an army under the command of Imagawa Sessai to lay siege to the castle at Anjō, where Oda Nobuhiro, Nobunaga's older brother, was living. To save his life, Nobunaga was compelled to turn over a hostage held by his clan at Honshōji temple, nine-year-old Matsudaira Takechiyo, later known as Tokugawa Ieyasu, an exchange that helped solidify an alliance between other rival clans. In early 1552, barely several months after his father's death, one of Oda's senior retainers, and his son defected to the Imagawa clan. In response, Nobunaga attacked Noritsugu, but was defeated by Noriyoshi's forces at the Battle of Akatsuka. Nobunaga retreated and left contested lands in eastern Owari under Imagawa control. In spring 1552, Nobunaga faced a new challenge when his uncle, Oda Nobutomo, attacked Nobunaga's domain with the support of Shiba Yoshimune, governor of Owari province. Nobunaga repelled the attack and burned the outskirts of his uncle's castle at Kiyosu to discourage further attempts. However, Nobutomo was spared any serious punishment. In 1553, Hirate Masahide, who had been one of Nobunaga's closest advisors and mentors, committed seppuku. It is generally believed that he did so to admonish Nobunaga, but the actual motive is unclear. Yoshimune tipped off Nobunaga that Nobutomo planned to assassinate him; Yoshimune was subsequently captured and put to death on Nobutomo's orders. Nobunaga mobilized his forces to blockade Kiyosu castle and set up a lengthy siege. In 1554, Nobunaga finally achieved victory over the Imagawa clan at the Battle of Muraki Castle, reclaiming the lands he had lost to them. After securing eastern Owari, Nobunaga then turned his attention back to the siege at Kiyosu, where he eventually defeated Nobutomo and forced him to commit seppuku. In 1556, Saitō Yoshitatsu raised an army against his father, Saitō Dōsan, who was slain in combat at the Battle of Nagara-gawa. Nobunaga set out for Oura in Mino with troops to rescue his father-in-law, but immediately withdrew upon hearing of Dōsan's death. Thereafter, Yoshitatsu usurped his father's title and became lord of Mino. The loss of the Saitō clan's support further undermined faith in Nobunaga's leadership; key retainers such as Hayashi Hidesada, Hayashi Michitomo, and Shibata Katsuie soon turned on him. They raised an army to support his brother Nobuyuki, who was highly regarded within the Oda clan. Nobunaga defeated the rebels at the Battle of Ino, but at the plea of his birth mother, Dota Gozen, pardoned them. Despite his brother Michitomo's death in battle, Hidesada pledged his loyalty to Nobunaga and resumed serving him, while Katsuie chose to remain in Nobuyuki's service. In 1557, however, Nobuyuki conspired with Oda Nobuyasu, lord of Iwakura Castle, to plot another rebellion. Shibata, disgusted by Nobuyuki's treachery and disloyalty, secretly warned Nobunaga. Nobunaga falsely claimed to have fallen ill and had Nobuyuki and his entourage assassinated when they came to visit him. It is said that either Kawajiri Hidetaka or Ikeda Tsuneoki carried out Nobuyuki's murder. In 1558, Nobunaga sent an army to successfully protect Suzuki Shigeteru, lord of Terabe Castle, during the Siege of Terabe. Shigeteru had defected to Nobunaga's side from Imagawa Yoshimoto, a daimyō from Suruga Province and one of the most powerful men in the Tōkaidō region. In July 1558, he defeated his cousin, Oda Nobukata, deputy governor of northern Owari at Battle of Ukino. By 1559, Nobunaga had captured and destroyed Iwakura Castle, eliminated all opposition within the Oda clan, and established his uncontested rule in Owari Province.
In June 1560, Imagawa Yoshimoto gathered an army of 25,000 men and marched toward the capital city of Kyoto, with the pretext of aiding the frail Ashikaga Shogunate. The Matsudaira clan also joined Yoshimoto's forces. The Imagawa forces quickly overran the border fortresses of Washizu and Matsudaira forces led by Matsudaira Motoyasu took Marune Fortress from the Oda clan. Against this, the Oda clan could rally an army of only 2,000 to 3,000 men. Some of his advisors suggested that he take refuge at Kiyosu Castle and wait out a siege by the Imagawa, but Nobunaga refused, stating that only a strong offensive policy could make up for the superior numbers of the enemy, and calmly ordered a counterattack against Yoshimoto. Nobunaga's scouts reported that Yoshimoto was resting at the narrow gorge of Dengaku-Kazama, ideal for a surprise attack, and that the Imagawa army was celebrating their victories over the Washizu and Marune fortresses. While Yoshimoto viewed victory ahead, Nobunaga's forces marched to the Atsuta Shrine, a fortified temple overlooking the Imagawa camp. Later, Nobunaga moved to, set up a decoy army there, marched rapidly behind Yoshimoto's camp, and attacked after a terrific thunderstorm. Yoshimoto was killed by two Oda samurai. With his victory in this battle, Oda Nobunaga gained greatly in prestige, and many samurai and warlords pledged fealty to him. Kinoshita Tōkichirō, who would eventually become Toyotomi Hideyoshi, probably participated in the battle, but nothing is recorded from that time. His exploits were first recorded in the Mino Campaign. Rapidly weakening in the wake of this battle, the Imagawa clan no longer exerted control over the Matsudaira clan. In 1561, an alliance was forged between Oda Nobunaga and Matsudaira Motoyasu, who would become Tokugawa Ieyasu, despite the decades-old hostility between the two clans. Nobunaga also formed an alliance with Takeda Shingen through the marriage of his daughter to Shingen's son. In 1561, Saitō Yoshitatsu, Nobunaga's brother-in-law, died suddenly of illness and was succeeded by his son, Nobunaga's nephew, Saitō Tatsuoki. Yoshitatsu murdered his father and brothers to become daimyō, and Nobunaga had attempted to avenge the murder of his father-in-law numerous times. Nobunaga's nephew Tatsuoki was young and much less effective as a ruler and military strategist than his father and grandfather. Taking advantage of this situation, Nobunaga moved his base to Komaki Castle and started his campaign in Mino Province, defeating Tatsuoki in both the Battle of Moribe and the Battle of Jushijo in June that same year. By convincing Saitō retainers to abandon their incompetent and foolish master, Nobunaga significantly weakened the Saitō clan. In 1564, Oda Nobunaga dispatched his retainer, Kinoshita Tōkichirō, to bribe many of the warlords in the Mino area to support the Oda clan. In 1566, Nobunaga charged Kinoshita with building Sunomata Castle on the bank of the Sai River opposite Saitō territory to serve as a staging point for the Oda forces and to intimidate, surprise, and demoralize the enemy. In 1567, the Mino Triumvirate, three samurai generals, Inaba Ittetsu, Andō Michitari, and Ujiie Bokuzen, who served the Saitō clan, agreed to change sides and join the forces of Oda Nobunaga. Their combined forces mounted a victorious final attack at the Siege of Inabayama Castle. After taking possession of the castle, Nobunaga changed the name of both Inabayama Castle and the surrounding town to Gifu. Nobunaga derived the term Gifu from the legendary Mount Qi in China, on which the Zhou dynasty is fabled to have started. Nobunaga revealed his ambition to conquer the whole of Japan and also started using a new personal seal that read Tenka Fubu, literally All under heaven, spreading military force, or more idiomatically, All the world by force of arms. Remains of Nobunaga's residence in Gifu can be found today in Gifu Park. Following Nobunaga's conquest of Mino Province in 1567, Nobunaga sent Takigawa Kazumasu on a campaign comprising two invasions of Ise Province in 1567 and 1568 that defeated numerous families of Ise. After Nobunaga controlled Ise, his son, Oda Nobutaka was installed as the head of the Kanbe clan. Later in 1569, head of Kitabatake clan, Kitabatake Tomonori, adopted Nobunaga's second son Oda Nobukatsu. Nobunaga also arranged for Oichi, his sister, to marry rival warlord Azai Nagamasa from Omi Province in an effort to cement an alliance. Nobunaga desired peaceful relations with the Azai clan because of their strategic position between the Oda clan's land and the capital, Kyoto. In 1568, Ashikaga Yoshiaki and Akechi Mitsuhide, as Yoshiaki's bodyguard, went to Gifu to ask Nobunaga to start a campaign toward Kyoto. Yoshiaki was the brother of the murdered 13th shogun of the Ashikaga Shogunate, Yoshiteru, who had been killed by the Miyoshi tannins. Yoshiaki wanted revenge against the killers who had already set up a puppet shogun, Ashikaga Yoshihide. Nobunaga agreed to install Yoshiaki as the new shogun and, grasping the opportunity to enter Kyoto, started his campaign. An obstacle in southern Omi Province was the Rokkaku clan, led by Rokkaku Yoshikata, who refused to recognize Yoshiaki as shogun and was ready to go to war to defend Yoshihide. In response, Nobunaga launched a rapid attack on Chōkō-ji Castle, driving the Rokkaku clan out of their castles. Later in 1570, the Rokkaku tried to retake the castle, but they were driven back by Oda forces led by Shibata Katsuie. Other forces led by Niwa Nagahide defeated the Rokkaku on the battlefield and entered Kannonji Castle, before resuming Nobunaga's march to Kyoto. The approaching Oda army influenced the Matsunaga clan to submit to the future shogun. The daimyō Matsunaga Hisahide kept his title by making this decision to ally his clan with Oda and the new shogun. On the 9th of November 1568, Nobunaga entered Kyoto, drove out the Miyoshi clan, who had supported the 14th shogun and who fled to Settsu, and installed Yoshiaki as the 15th shogun of the Ashikaga Shogunate. However, Nobunaga refused the title of shogun's deputy, or any appointment from Yoshiaki, even though Nobunaga had great respect for the Emperor Ogimachi.
The Demon King's Crusade
After installing Yoshiaki as shogun, Nobunaga forced Yoshiaki to call all daimyō to come to Kyoto and attend the court banquet. Asakura Yoshikage, head of the Asakura clan and regent of Ashikaga Yoshiaki, refused, which prompted Nobunaga to declare Asakura Yoshikage as a rebel. In early 1570, Nobunaga then raised an army and marched on the Asakura clan's domain in Echizen. Nobunaga besieged Kanagasaki Castle. This action created a conflict between Nobunaga and shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki. Yoshiaki secretly started an anti-Nobunaga alliance, conspiring with other daimyō to get rid of Nobunaga. Azai Nagamasa, to whom Nobunaga's sister Oichi was married, broke the alliance with the Oda clan to honor the Azai-Asakura alliance, which had lasted for three generations. With the help of the Rokkaku clan, Miyoshi clan, and the Ikkō-ikki, the anti-Nobunaga alliance sprang into full force, taking a heavy toll on the Oda clan. After Nobunaga found himself facing both the Asakura and Azai forces and when defeat looked certain, Nobunaga decided to retreat from Kanagasaki, which he did successfully. In July 1570, the Oda-Tokugawa allies laid siege to Yokoyama Castle and Odani Castle in Omi Province. Later, the combined Azai-Asakura force marched out to confront Nobunaga. Nobunaga advanced to the southern bank of the Anegawa River. The following morning, the 30th of July 1570, the battle began. Tokugawa Ieyasu joined his forces with Nobunaga, with the Oda and Azai clashing on the Anegawa east river while Tokugawa and Asakura grappled on the west of the river. The battle turned into a melee fought in the middle of the shallow Anegawa River. For a time, Nobunaga's forces fought the Azai upstream, while the Tokugawa warriors fought the Asakura downstream. After the Tokugawa forces finished off the Asakura, they turned and hit the Azai's right flank. The troops of the Mino Triumvirate, who had been held in reserve, then came forward and hit the Azai left flank. Soon both the Oda and Tokugawa forces defeated the combined forces of the Asakura and Azai clans. 1573 represented the end of Azai and Asakura clans, as Nobunaga successfully destroyed the Azai and Asakura clans by driving them both to the point that their clan leaders committed suicide. After destroying Ichijōdani Castle, the castle home of Asakura Yoshikage, then pursuing Yoshikage to the Rokubō-kenshō monastery, where Yoshikage killed himself, Nobunaga then finished off the Azai clan at the Siege of Odani Castle. Nobunaga faced a significant threat from the Ikkō-ikki, a resistance movement centered around the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism. The Ikkō-ikki began as a cult association for self-defense, but popular antipathy against the samurai due to the constant violence of the Sengoku period caused their numbers to swell. By the time of Nobunaga's rise to power, the Ikkō-ikki was a major organized armed force opposed to samurai rule in Japan. In August 1570, Nobunaga launched the Ishiyama Hongan-ji War against the Ikkō-ikki, while simultaneously fighting against his samurai rivals. In May 1571, Nobunaga besieged Nagashima, a series of Ikkō-ikki fortifications in Owari Province, beginning the Sieges of Nagashima. However, Nobunaga's first siege of Nagashima ended in failure, as his trusted general Shibata Katsuie was severely wounded and many of his samurai were lost before retreating. Despite this defeat, Nobunaga was inspired to launch another siege, the Siege of Mount Hiei. The Enryaku-ji temple on Mount Hiei was an issue for Nobunaga. The monastery's warrior monks of the Tendai school were aiding his opponents in the Azai-Asakura alliance and the temple was close to his base of power. In September 1571, Nobunaga preemptively attacked the Enryaku-ji temple, then besieged Mount Hiei and razed it. In the process of making their way to the Enryaku-ji temple, Nobunaga's forces destroyed and burnt all buildings, killing monks, laymen, women, and children and eliminating anyone who had previously escaped their attack. It is said that The whole mountainside was a great slaughterhouse and the sight was one of unbearable horror. In July 1573, after the successful siege of Mount Hiei, Nobunaga besieged Nagashima a second time, personally leading a sizable force with many arquebusiers. However, a rainstorm rendered his arquebuses inoperable while the Ikkō-ikki's own arquebusiers could fire from covered positions. Nobunaga himself was almost killed and forced to retreat, with the second siege being considered his greatest defeat. In 1574, Nobunaga launched a third siege of Nagashima as his general Kuki Yoshitaka began a naval blockade and bombardment of Nagashima, allowing him to capture the outer forts of Nakae and Yanagashima as well as part of the Nagashima complex. The sieges of Nagashima finally ended when Nobunaga's men completely surrounded the complex and set fire to it, killing the remaining tens of thousands of defenders and inflicting tremendous losses to the Ikkō-ikki. Simultaneously, Nobunaga had been besieging the Ikkō-ikki's main stronghold at Ishiyama Hongan-ji in present-day Osaka. Nobunaga's Siege of Ishiyama Hongan-ji began to slowly make some progress, but the Mōri clan of the Chūgoku region broke his naval blockade and started sending supplies into the strongly fortified complex by sea. As a result, in 1577, Nobunaga ordered Takigawa Kazumasu to suppress Ikko-ikki at Kii Province, Hashiba Hideyoshi to conquer the Chūgoku region from the Mori clan, before advancing upon the Mori clan in Nagato Province, Akechi Mitsuhide to pacify Tanba Province, Kuki Yoshitaka to support attack from the sea, and Nobunaga eventually blocked the Mōri's supply lines. In 1580, ten years after the siege of Ishiyama Hongan-ji began, the son of Chief Abbot Kōsa surrendered the fortress to Nobunaga after their supplies were exhausted, and they received an official request from the Emperor to do so. Nobunaga spared the lives of Ishiyama Hongan-ji's defenders but expelled them from Osaka and burnt the fortress to the ground. Although the Ikkō-ikki continued to make a last stand in Kaga Province, Nobunaga's capture of Ishiyama Hongan-ji crippled them as a major military force.
The Iron and Fire of Nagashino
One of the strongest rulers in the anti-Nobunaga alliance was Takeda Shingen, who had formerly been an ally of the Oda clan. At the apex of the anti-Nobunaga coalition, in 1572, Takeda Shingen ordered Akiyama Nobutomo, one of the Twenty-Four Generals of Shingen, to attack Iwamura castle. Nobunaga's aunt, Lady Otsuya, conspiring against the Oda clan, surrendered the castle to the Takeda, and married Nobutomo. Nobunaga was shocked by Shingen's betrayal, and his rage was immense. His letter to Uesugi Kenshin was filled with angry words, stating, Shingen knows nothing of a samurai's honor, This grudge will never cease, and I will never reconcile with Shingen, now or in the future. In the same year, Shingen decided to make a drive for Kyoto at the urging of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki, starting with invading Tokugawa territory. Nobunaga, tied down on the western front, sent lackluster aid to Tokugawa Ieyasu, who suffered defeat at the Battle of Mikatagahara in early 1573. However, after the battle, Tokugawa's forces launched night raids and convinced Takeda of an imminent counter-attack, thus saving the vulnerable Tokugawa with the bluff. This would play a pivotal role in Tokugawa's philosophy of strategic patience in his campaigns with Nobunaga. Shortly thereafter, the Takeda forces were neutralized after Shingen died in April 1573. In 1575, Takeda Katsuyori, son of Takeda Shingen, moved to Tokugawa territory, attacked Yoshida castle and later besieged Nagashino Castle. Katsuyori, angered when Okudaira Sadamasa rejoined the Tokugawa, had originally conspired with Oga Yashiro to take the Tokugawa-controlled Okazaki Castle, the capital of Mikawa Province. This plot failed. Tokugawa Ieyasu appealed to Nobunaga for help and Nobunaga personally led an army of about 30,000 men to the relief of Nagashino Castle. The combined force of 38,000 men under Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu devastated the Takeda clan at the Battle of Nagashino, the greatest defeat of the Takeda clan. Conventionally, the Battle of Nagashino was regarded as a historic defeat in which Takeda Katsuyori ordered his cavalry to charge recklessly into a horse guard fence where arquebusiers were waiting for them, losing many Takeda officers and soldiers. Moreover, it has been said that Nobunaga developed a new battle strategy called three-stage shooting, in which arquebusiers were arranged in several rows with the front row firing a volley, and then making way for the second row to fire. Once the second row had fired and made way for the third row, the first row had reloaded and were ready to fire again. This way the Oda could keep a relatively steady rate of musket fire. However, this was a theory developed by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff based on Oze Hoan's Shinchō Ki and Tōyama Nobuharu's Sōken Ki, which are war chronicles. Later, as research based on documents, letters, and Ota Gyūichi's Shinchō Kōki progressed, many errors were pointed out. It is now believed that it was mainly the logistics in Nobunaga's hands that determined the winner. The end of the Takeda clan came in 1582 when Oda Nobutada and Tokugawa Ieyasu forces conquered Shinano and Kai Province. Takeda Katsuyori was defeated at the Battle of Tenmokuzan and then committed suicide. In early 1573, Yoshiaki initiated a siege against Nobunaga under the directive of the monk Kennyo. Takeda Shingen and Asakura Yoshikage tried to subdue Yoshiaki. Azai Nagamasa, Matsunaga Hisahide, Sanninshu Miyoshi, Miyoshi Yoshitsugu, and others also participated in the siege against Nobunaga. Although the siege initially cornered Nobunaga's forces, it failed, as it was interrupted by the death of Takeda Shingen. In mid 1573, when Yoshiaki began a revolt in Kyoto, he requested the help of the Matsunaga clan and allied with them. Yoshiaki and the Matsunaga clan gathered an army in Makishima castle in April and again in July which is when the revolt started. This angered Nobunaga, who invaded Kyoto. However, when Matsunaga Hisahide saw the hope for success was not achieved he returned to Nobunaga to fight the Miyoshi. Nobunaga's entry into Kyoto presented him with a situation very different from that from which he had come. Nobunaga reportedly set fire to Kyoto, which forced Yoshiaki to retreat. He focused on Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who had openly declared hostility more than once, despite the Imperial Court's intervention. Nobunaga was able to defeat Yoshiaki's forces, and the power of the Ashikaga was effectively destroyed on the 27th of August 1573, when Nobunaga drove Yoshiaki out of Kyoto and sent him into exile. Yoshiaki became a Buddhist monk, shaving his head and taking the name Sho-san, which he later changed to Rei-o In, bringing the Ashikaga Shogunate to an end. After the Ashikaga Shogunate came to end, the authority of the Imperial Court of Emperor Ogimachi also began to weaken. This trend reversed after Oda Nobunaga entered Kyoto in a show of allegiance that indicated that the Emperor had the Oda clan's support. In 1574, Nobunaga was appointed to a rank of Lower Third Rank of the Imperial Court and made a Court Advisor. Court appointments would continue to be lavished on a nearly annual basis, possibly in hope of placating him. Nobunaga acquired many official titles, including Major Counselor, General of the Right of the Imperial Army, and Minister of the Right in 1576. Construction of Azuchi Castle was built from 1576 to 1579 on Mount Azuchi on the eastern shore of Lake Biwa in Omi Province. Nobunaga intentionally built Azuchi Castle close enough to Kyoto that he could watch over and guard the approaches to the capital. Azuchi Castle's location was also strategically advantageous in managing the communications and transportation routes between Nobunaga's greatest foes, Uesugi to the north, the Takeda in the east, and the Mōri to the west. The castle and its nearby town were depicted on the so-called Azuchi Screens, which Oda Nobunaga gave to Pope Gregory XIII, who displayed them in the Vatican collections. The fundamental policy of the Mōri clan was to avoid conflict with Nobunaga and in the early 1570s, even when issues arose, they continued a cautious diplomacy to prevent any decisive confrontations. However, when Terumoto placed Ashikaga Yoshiaki under his protection, war between the two families became inevitable. The Mōri were drawn into the Ishiyama Hongan-ji War, Nobunaga's siege of a religious stronghold in Settsu, which he had begun in 1570, beginning with the Battle of Kizugawaguchi in 1576. In 1576, First Battle of Kizugawaguchi Nobunaga's admiral, Kuki Yoshitaka, had cut the Honganji's sea-lanes and sat in blockade off the coast. Terumoto ordered his fleet, commanded by Murakami Takeyoshi, to make for the waters off Settsu and, once there, the navy inflicted an embarrassing defeat on Kuki and opened the Honganji's supply lines. Later in 1578, at Second Battle of Kizugawaguchi, Kûki Yoshitaka defeated Takeyoshi and drove the Mōri away. Nobunaga also send Hashiba Hideyoshi to conquer the Chūgoku region from the Mori clan. A further attempt by the Mōri to break the blockade the following year was turned back, and in 1580 the Honganji surrendered. The conflict between Oda and Uesugi was precipitated by Uesugi intervention in the domain of the Hatakeyama clan in Noto Province, an Oda client state. This event provoked the Uesugi incursion, a coup d'état led by the pro-Oda general Chō Tsugutsura, who killed Hatakeyama Yoshinori, the lord of Noto and replaced him with Hatakeyama Yoshitaka as a puppet ruler. In response, Uesugi Kenshin, the head of the Uesugi clan, mobilized an army and led it into Noto against Tsugutsura. Consequently, Nobunaga sent an army led by Shibata Katsuie and some of his most experienced generals to attack Kenshin. They clashed at the Battle of Tedorigawa in Kaga Province in 1577. In November 1577, the Battle of Tedorigawa took place near the Tedori River in Kaga Province. Kenshin tricked Nobunaga's forces into launching a frontal attack across the Tedorigawa and defeated him. Having suffered the loss of 1,000 men, the Oda forces withdrew south. The result was a decisive Uesugi victory, and Nobunaga considered ceding the northern provinces to Kenshin, but Kenshin's sudden death in early 1578 caused a succession crisis that ended the Uesugi's movement to the south. Later in 1578, after the death of Uesugi Kenshin, Nobunaga send Shibata Katsuie, Maeda Toshiie and Sasa Narimasa to conquer Hokuriku region from Uesugi. The Tenshō Iga War was two invasions of Iga province by the Oda clan during the Sengoku period. The province was conquered by Oda Nobunaga in 1581 after an unsuccessful attempt in 1579 by his son Oda Nobukatsu. The name of the war is derived from the era name Tenshō, the era during which it occurred. Other names for the campaign include or. Oda Nobunaga himself toured the conquered province in early November 1581, and then withdrew his troops, placing control in Nobukatsu's hands. By the 1580s, Nobunaga was the most powerful lord in Japan, controlling 20 provinces in central Japan: Owari, Mino, Omi, Iga, Ise, Yamato, Yamashiro, Kawachi, Wakasa, Settsu, Echizen, Hida, Kaga, Noto, Tango, Tanba, Harima, Inaba, Tajima, and Hōki.
The Final Tea Ceremony
By 1582, Nobunaga was at the height of his power and, as the most powerful warlord, the de facto leader of Japan. Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu finally occupied Shinano and Kai Provinces, defeated the Takeda at the Battle of Tenmokuzan, destroying the clan and resulting in Takeda Katsuyori fleeing from the battle before committing suicide with his wife while being pursued by Oda forces. By this point, Nobunaga was preparing to launch invasions into Etchu Province, Shikoku and Mōri clan domain. Nobunaga's former sandal-bearer, Hashiba Hideyoshi, invaded Bitchū Province and laid siege to Takamatsu Castle. The castle was vital to the Mōri clan, and losing it would have left Mōri's home domain vulnerable. More reinforcements led by Mōri Terumoto arrived to relieve the siege, prompting Hideyoshi to ask in turn for reinforcements from Nobunaga. Nobunaga immediately ordered his leading generals and also Akechi Mitsuhide to prepare their armies, with the overall expedition to be led by Nobunaga. Nobunaga left Azuchi Castle for Honnō-ji, a temple in Kyoto he frequented when visiting the city, where he was to hold a tea ceremony. Hence, Nobunaga only had 30 pages with him, while his son Oda Nobutada had brought 2,000 of his cavalrymen. Mitsuhide, aware that Nobunaga was nearby and unprotected for his tea ceremony, saw an opportunity to act. At that time, Mitsuhide is said to have announced to his troops that The enemy awaits at Honnō-ji! But this is a later creation. In reality, Mitsuhide kept the target of the attack secret from his troops so that information would not leak out. On the 21st of June 1582, before dawn, the Akechi army surrounded the Honnō-ji temple with Nobunaga present, while another unit of Akechi troops was sent to Myōkaku-ji. Although Nobunaga and his servants resisted the unexpected intrusion, they were soon overwhelmed. Nobunaga also fought back for a while before retreating, and after letting the court ladies escape, he committed in one of the inner rooms. After capturing Honnō-ji, Mitsuhide attacked Nobutada at Nijō, the eldest son and heir of Nobunaga, who also died by suicide. Mitsuhide searched for Nobunaga's body but could not find it. As a result, he was unable to prove Nobunaga's death, thus neither providing justification for his rebellion nor gaining support from those who doubted Nobunaga's death. The goal of national unification and a return to the comparative political stability of the earlier Muromachi period was widely shared by the multitude of autonomous daimyō during the Sengoku period. Oda Nobunaga was the first for whom this goal seemed attainable. He controlled most of Honshu shortly before his death in the Honnō-ji Incident of 1582. After the incident, Mitsuhide declared to the world that he would rule over Nobunaga's territory, but was soon defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The loss of his position and power so quickly gave rise to the idiom. Later, Hideyoshi succeeded in regaining Oda's territory and wrested control of it from the Oda clan, further expanding his dominion greatly. And when he was appointed to the highest rank of kuge, Kanpaku, despite being a common-born samurai, and in 1590, eight years after the incident, he achieved the unification of Japan. The nature of the succession of power through the three daimyō is reflected in a well-known Japanese idiom: The changing character of power through Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu is reflected in another well-known idiom: All three were born within eight years of each other, started their careers as samurai, and finished them as statesmen. Nobunaga inherited his father's domain at the age of 17, and quickly gained control of Owari Province through. Hideyoshi started his career in Nobunaga's army as an but quickly rose up through the ranks as a samurai. Ieyasu initially fought against Nobunaga as the heir of a rival daimyō, but later expanded his own inheritance through a profitable alliance with Nobunaga. In 1579, Nobunaga's resignation from his posts as Udaijin and Ukonoe no daisho baffled the Imperial Court. This was because Nobunaga, who was on the verge of unifying the country, did not hold an official position that could shake the authority of the Imperial Court. Therefore, in May 1582, the Imperial Court sent a message to Nobunaga, offering him a government position of his choice among Sei-i Taishōgun, Kanpaku and Dajō-daijin. However, Nobunaga did not give a clear reply and the Honnoji Incident took place, so it remains unclear what kind of government scheme Nobunaga had in mind. In 1582, Nobunaga was posthumously promoted and given the title of Dajō-daijin and the court rank of. More than 300 years later, in 1917, he was further promoted and given the rank of. In the addendum to Luís Fróis's 1582 Annals of Japan, it is stated that Nobunaga intended to conquer China. According to Fróis, Nobunaga intended to organise a large fleet after the unification of Japan and to have his sons divide and rule the territory. However, there is no such statement in Japanese sources, and many researchers doubt its authenticity. According to Luís Fróis's History of Japan, Nobunaga attempted to deify himself in his later years by building Sōken-ji in part of Azuchi Castle and installing a stone called Bonsan as a deity to replace him. Frois, a Christian, attributes this to Nobunaga's arrogance which drove him to the madness of wanting to be worshipped on earth, and the Honnō-ji Incident was his punishment. Many researchers doubt the authenticity of Frois's description, as there is no mention of this in the Japanese sources. However, the existence of Bonsan itself is mentioned in Shinchō Kōki. As for the reason for his self-deification, it is thought that it was to give legitimacy to those with Oda family blood to rule the country, with a view to establishing a hereditary shogunate after the unification of the country. Later, after their deaths, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu directed themselves to be worshipped as deities, with Hideyoshi being deified as Toyokuni daimyōjin and Ieyasu as Tōshō Daigongen. In Japan, there have been no small number of persons who have become gods since ancient times. However, they were deified by others after they died as human beings, whereas these three are unique in that they willingly tried to become gods before they died. The Imperial Court and the Ashikaga Shogunate Nobunaga led a large army to Kyoto in honour of Ashikaga Shogun Yoshiaki and re-established the Muromachi Shogunate, under which he extended his power into the Kinai region. The conventional theory is that Nobunaga aimed from the outset to overthrow the Muromachi shogunate and clan system and, with Yoshiaki at the top, to seize real power himself, that is to establish a puppet government. In recent years, however, a theory has emerged that Nobunaga and Yoshiaki were good partners and that the final breakdown was due to Yoshiaki's betrayal of Nobunaga, and that Nobunaga did not originally intend to overthrow the Muromachi shogunate. As for the Imperial Court, it was conventionally believed that Nobunaga tried to put pressure on the Imperial Court and destroy the existing order. In recent years, however, it has begun to be thought that Nobunaga may have consistently valued the Emperor and the Imperial Court. For the emperors and court nobles, who had lost their territories to the samurais and were forced to live in poverty without access to financial resources, Nobunaga was a reliable daimyō who made huge donations, and for Nobunaga, his links with the imperial court helped to improve the Oda clan's image. After conquering Owari and Mino, Nobunaga used the seal of to promote his vision with a view to unifying the country. Tenkafubu means spreading military power throughout the world, and it is the idea of ruling the country peacefully, in other words, ending the Warring States period and restoring peace and order. Starting with the matchlock gun, Nobunaga paved the way for unifying the country through a chain of innovations, from the development of military technology and new weapons, to the international supply chain for importing raw materials for ammunition, to the development of domestic distribution networks, to the way the territory was governed. Those innovations were supported by the financial resources obtained through his economic plans. Oda Nobunaga is known for his implementation of a series of innovative policies, such as the abolition of the barrier posts within his domain, thus allowing the freer passage of goods, and promotion of, an economic policy that aimed to revitalize commerce by allowing people to do business anywhere in the castle town, whereas previously they could only do business in designated areas. Rakuza attacked the privileges of the guilds and monopoly trade associations called Za, favoring free business. At that time, samurai families controlled the farmlands and farmers, while temples, shrines, and court nobles controlled the commerce and distribution industry by controlling the Ichi and Za. Nobunaga knew that his grandfather and father had gained wealth from the water transportation of Ise Bay by taking control of Tsushima and Atsuta ports. He himself also promoted the commercialization of his territory by increasing the circulation of goods and money through the above policies. Nobunaga's promotion of raku-ichi raku-za was intended to deprive temples, shrines and court nobles of their privileges and allow the warrior class to dominate the territory in all areas. In addition, the funds required to obtain the soldiers, guns, and other items that supported the unification of the country were obtained through this. Nobunaga also ordered the construction and improvement of roads and bridges of the Kinai region. He built bridges across inlets and rivers, chiseled out rocks to make steep roads more gradual, widened roads to three and a half meters, and planted pine trees and willows on both sides of them. Nobunaga developed not only land transportation, but also maritime transportation, including the waterways of Lake Biwa and the sea routes of Ise Bay and the Seto Inland Sea. These measures enabled not only the free passage of people but also the free transportation of goods, thus facilitating distribution. The development of logistics brought benefits not only economically but also militarily, allowing soldiers and munitions to be delivered to the battlefield quickly and reliably. In general, Nobunaga thought in terms of unifying factors, in the words of George Sansom. The Sengoku Daimyō of the time did not change their strongholds, and had to return to their home after each battle, making it difficult for the Takeda, Uesugi, and other clans far from Kyoto to go to Kyoto. However, Nobunaga continued to move his stronghold as his territory expanded in order to control Kyoto, which was essential for unifying the country. He moved from one base to another, from Shobata, Kiyosu, Komakiyama, Gifu, and Azuchi, and his castle in Osaka, the diplomatic and economic center of East Asia, was under construction shortly before his death. He always based his seats of power in the nodes of regional distribution and ensured the maintenance of public peace in the area, thereby promoting the development of the local economy and the concentration of capital in the cities. Backed by his enormous economic power, Nobunaga overwhelmed his opponents by building stone-wall castles such as Komakiyama Castle and Azuchi Castle, which consumed more labor and financial resources than conventional castles, and by constructing economic cities connected to them. Nobunaga thus politically extended his power throughout the country through civil engineering projects such as the construction of castles. Toyotomi Hideyoshi followed suit and built Ishigakiyama Castle and Osaka Castle. Nobunaga implemented financial reforms that introduced a new monetary system. In 1569, the Oda Nobunaga Eiroku 12 Law was enacted, which is regarded by some as the beginning of early modern monetary policy in Japan. It was an epoch-making attempt to increase the volume of money in circulation and prevent the inflow of bad money at the same time. A fixed exchange rate system was introduced, and coins, which had been mixed in disorderly fashion, were clearly defined as standard coins and deteriorated coins. The Oda Clan's guarantee gave value to coins that were considered degraded coins in other regions, revived many coins that had been excluded from trade, and stabilized commercial transactions. At the same time, by differentiating the value of coins according to their exchange rate, the government prevented an excessive influx of deteriorated coins. Nobunaga also used gold and silver as currency to trade in high-value commodities. Nobunaga himself played a role in expanding the circulation of gold and silver by using gold and silver for purchases in. One of the attainments of Nobunaga's government, which aimed to unify the country, was the, which began in earnest in 1580, starting with the Kinai region. It was an administrative measure that required the daimyō under his command to submit their harvest in the form of kokudaka figures. This was succeeded by Toyotomi Hideyoshi's. When asked by the Emperor and the Muromachi Shogun to assume the post of Vice Shogun, and offered the post of kanrei, which was effectively the highest rank in samurai society, Nobunaga declined and instead requested permission to rule directly over three of Japan's largest distribution centers, Sakai, Kusatsu and Otsu. What Nobunaga sought from the merchants of Sakai was their enormous wealth, as well as their expertise in the Nanban trade and their own trade routes to obtain raw materials for guns and gunpowder. Nobunaga took Imai Sōkyū, an upstart merchant from Sakai, under his control. Imai established Japan's first comprehensive military industry and supported Nobunaga's unification of Japan by mass-producing guns and securing an exclusive trading route for the import of potassium nitrate, a raw material for gunpowder that was not produced in Japan. Tsuda Sōgyū, a key figure in Sakai's self-governing organization, also severed ties with Hongan-ji and submitted to Nobunaga. Nobunaga demanded a large amount of war funds from Sakai. Sakai merchants initially refused, but were persuaded by Sōkyū and Sōgyū to accept it. Thus, Nobunaga obtained Sakai without fighting. Imai Sōkyū, Tsuda Sōgyū, and Sen Sōeki, later Sen no Rikyu, were appointed as Nobunaga's tea masters and secured their positions as political merchants. Nobunaga made personnel decisions based on ability and results, not titles. Until then, the family culture of warlords had been one of respecting family lineage and passing down positions from generation to generation, but Nobunaga made a major shift to a personnel system based on merit. It is known that Hashiba Hideyoshi came from a poor peasant background in Owari, while Akechi Mitsuhide came from a samurai background in Mino, but had spent a long time as a poor ronin. These two men caught up with and eventually overtook Nobunaga's old vassals, including Shibata Katsuie, Niwa Nagahide, Sakuma Nobumori, and others. Among the Oda vassals, Mitsuhide was the first to become the lord of one province and one castle, and the second was Hideyoshi. This was unthinkable for other Sengoku Daimyō. Militarily, Nobunaga changed the way war was fought in Japan. An unprecedented military revolution was taking place in Japan at the time. Through a military revolution using the new technology of matchlock guns, he ended the Sengoku period of decentralization and moved Japan into the early modern era of centralization. Nobunaga was the first of the other sengoku daimyo to own and use a large number of firearms from an early date. He changed the perception that matchlock guns, commonly known as, were unsuitable for actual combat due to their short range and inability to fire continuously, to the perception that they were invincible weapons by deploying in large numbers firing them all at once. Local historiography Kunitomo Teppoki states that Nobunaga had already recognized the potential of guns in 1549, six years after they were introduced to Japan, and put Hashimoto Ippa in charge of gun production, and that 500 guns were completed in 1550. Shinchō Kōki also mentions that he learnt marksmanship from Hashimoto Ippa around 1550. Four years later, in 1554, he fielded guns for the first time at the Battle of Muraki Castle, where Nobunaga replaced his guns one after the other and fired them himself, taking the fort in a single day. The Battle of Nagashino in 1575 is famous for the continuous firing of guns, but Nobunaga had already carried it out 21 years earlier. Documents left behind in Sakai, which was under the direct control of Nobunaga, describing the manufacture of guns reveal that Japan had already become the world's leading gun power, with mass production based on a division of labor for each part. Radiological analysis also revealed that Japanese-made guns using the Japanese sword forging technique were more stable in strength and more powerful because they contained fewer impurities. Although a mass production system for guns had been established, there was still no daimyō capable of providing a stable supply of ammunition. Nobunaga was the first to make this possible by establishing an international supply chain to import raw materials for ammunition from China and Southeast Asia through Portuguese merchants, which he facilitated by putting international port cities such as Sakai under his direct control and protecting the Jesuits. Later, during the Tokugawa period, Japan exported large quantities of no longer needed firearms to the Netherlands, along with swords and other weapons. Nobunaga had the previously disparate spear lengths aligned to 3 ken or 3 and a half ken. The spear lengths used in the Sengoku period were generally 2 ken. However, when Nobunaga was a teenager, he saw his comrades beating each other with spears in a mock battle and had his army replace their own spears with longer ones, as short spears were useless. The way spears were used in those days was for miscellaneous soldiers under Ashigaru with long spears to form a line and advance, swinging their spears down from above as if they were striking rather than stabbing. This alone was powerful enough, and if the long spearmen formed a with their spearheads facing forward, they could sufficiently counter cavalry units, so the effect was enormous. Nobunaga introduced civil engineering not only in the political field but also in the military field by turning the battlefield into a large-scale civil engineering project. This was clearly beyond the scope of preparations for a favorable outcome of the war. He invaded enemy territory in force, mobilizing construction workers, carpenters, blacksmiths, founders, miners, and others to construct roads and build tsunagi-jiro. In attacking castles, he adopted the tsukejiro strategy of building numerous fortifications around enemy castles and narrowing the siege while moving. Toyotomi Hideyoshi took charge of the works as a field supervisor under Nobunaga and later took over his methods. Nobunaga is thought to have favored gambling tactics such as surprise attacks because of the Battle of Okehazama, but in reality, he preferred to use overwhelming military power to overpower his opponents. Nobunaga tried to create a standing army by implementing the separation of soldiers and farmers. Samurais at that time were half-farmers and half-soldiers who spent most of their time as farmers, and only fought at the behest of their lords, who were also the owners of the farmland, in times of war. Therefore, they could not fight much during the busy farming season from summer to autumn. Nobunaga, on the other hand, attempted to separate soldiers from farmers, although not as thoroughly as Toyotomi Hideyoshi later did. Each time Nobunaga moved his base of operations, he promoted the concentration of his vassals under his castles. As a result, the separation of troops and agriculture was promoted, allowing for planned group training and the formation of army units of different types, such as firearms units and cavalry units. Daimyo's bodyguards and messengers were called, and Nobunaga divided them into two groups. One group had a red Horo on their backs, so they were called, and the other had a black Horo on their backs, so they were called. The leader of Akahoro-shū was Maeda Toshiie and the leader of Kurohoro-shū was Sassa Narimasa. Nobunaga placed great importance on intelligence warfare. After the Battle of Okehazama, he most highly valued Yanada Masatsuna, who reported every movement of the Imagawa forces that day, rather than the samurais who actually defeated Yoshimoto. Nobunaga adopted a system of area armies, which enabled him to react in multiple regions simultaneously, and operated it in a large scale. Oda Nobunaga's sphere of influence and the departments of each area armies. Chugoku Front: Hashiba Hideyoshi Kinai Front: Akechi Mitsuhide Shikoku Front: Niwa Nagahide Hokuriku Front: Shibata Katsuie Kanto Front: Takigawa Kazumasu Furthermore, he took a tough attitude towards roadside bandits who stood in the way of trade. As a result, after Nobunaga united Owari, security improved to the extent that merchants could take naps on the roadside. These actions enabled Nobunaga to gain the support of the people and move towards unifying the country. Strict military discipline was inherited by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, who recognized it as an important factor in gaining public support. Nobunaga is said to have used six armored ships in the Second Battle of Kizugawaguchi in 1578. Nobunaga, who suffered a heavy blow at the First Battle of the Kizugawaguchi from a hōraku-hiya of the Murakami Suigun, the core of the Mori Suigun, ordered Kuki Yoshitaka to build iron-armored ships to repel the Mori Suigun attempting to bring provisions and other supplies to the Osaka Hongan-ji. They are thought to have been large wooden ships, Atakebune, covered with iron plates, with cannons on the front and arrows and guns on the sides, with two or three tiers of turrets on the upper deck. However, as no actual ships have survived and historical documents are inadequately described, there are many theories about the appearance and structure of iron-armored ships. Some believe that they were not actually iron-armored ships, but simply European-style black ships, or that they may not have been completely covered with iron plates, but only important parts were covered with iron. It is also said that iron-armored ships were intended to intimidate rather than attack, and could not move much themselves, and were more fortress-like ships floating on the sea. In Tamon'in Eishun's Tamon'in Diary, there are passages which state that the ship was a ship of iron and prepared to prevent guns from going through, and this is the only historical document that provides evidence that the ship was armored with iron plates. Some argue that since Tamon'in Diary is a primary historical source, its account should be trusted, but it is only hearsay and was not witnessed by Eishun himself. On the other hand, the Jesuit missionary Organtino, who actually observed the ships, wrote in his report that it resembled a Portuguese ship and was surprised that such a ship had been built in Japan. If they were similar to the Portuguese ships of the time, it is assumed that they would have been very different from Atakebune, a keelless riverboat. The ships were also said to be equipped with three cannons and numerous elaborate and large long guns. Shinchō Kōki mentions that big guns were powerful in naval battles, but does not say whether they were actually iron-armored. Nobunaga initiated a period in Japanese art history known as Fushimi, or the Azuchi-Momoyama period, in reference to the area south of Kyoto. He built extensive gardens and castles which were themselves great works of art. Azuchi Castle included a seven-story Tenshukaku, which included a treasury filled with gold and precious objects. Works of art included paintings on movable screens, sliding doors, and walls by Kanō Eitoku. Nobunaga promoted the tea ceremony. Not only that, he is said to have built trust with his subordinates by successfully using the system for political use of the tea ceremony, which Toyotomi Hideyoshi later named. He actively promoted the value of the tea ceremony in samurai society, giving it a value equal to the fiefdom and rank he received from his lord. He transformed the values of the samurai through the following three actions. Collecting: He collected and monopolized famous tea utensils. In other words, Presentation: He presented his own specialty tea utensils that he had acquired at a tea ceremony. Bestowal: He gave specialty tea utensils to vassals who had made meritorious achievements. Nobunaga held tea ceremonies with limited participants and showed his authority by displaying his tea utensils, making it known that the tea ceremony was a samurai ritual. He forbade his vassals to hold tea ceremonies, but allowed those who made special achievements to hold tea ceremonies by giving them tea utensils. The vassals then began to take pleasure in Nobunaga's bestowal of specialties and to feel great honor in being allowed to hold tea ceremonies. Thus, among the warriors, the specialty tea utensils and the holding of tea ceremonies became of special value, and they began to covet tea utensils more than the territory given to them by their lord. Nobunaga was famous for his great love of sumo, and frequently held sumo tournaments at Jōraku-ji in Azuchi between 1570 and 1581, the year before his death. In the beginning, the tournament attracted braggarts from all over Omi Province, but gradually it began to draw from Kyoto and other regions. The largest tournament was held in 1578 at Mount Azuchi, with 1,500 participants. The main reason for organizing the tournament was, of course, that Nobunaga was a great lover of sumo. But there was also the practical advantage of selecting young men of good physique and martial prowess, and the aim was to demonstrate Nobunaga's authority by putting on a big show, while at the same time relieving popular discontent by providing entertainment. Regarding the relationship between Nobunaga and sumo, there is a theory that the Yumitorishiki and the format in which sumo wrestlers are divided into East and West and judged by a gyōji were born out of the sumo tournament organized by Nobunaga. Shaving the sakayaki became a fashionable hairstyle that townspeople began to imitate, and became established in the Edo period. It is said that this has made the use of razor blades commonplace for the general public. Nobunaga did not actively believe in any particular god or Buddha himself; according to Jesuit scholar Luís Fróis he told people there was no afterlife but he did not deny that he was an adherent of Hokke-shū, and it was common for him to pray for victory and to visit temples and shrines. He never denied or suppressed the beliefs of others for any reason, and was even willing to help and shelter them if they asked for help. Nobunaga rather respected them as long as they did not associate with the various daimyōs or meddle in politics like fixers, but rather devoted themselves to their main task as religious people. In fact, for temples and shrines that do not go beyond their main religious duties, he made donations, paid for repairs to facilities, and relieved them of their territories. It is sometimes said that Nobunaga hated Buddhism because of his wars with Hongan-ji, his suppression of Ikkō-ikki, his fire attack against Mt. Hiei and his attacks on Mt. Kōya, but this appears to be a misconception. It is true that he showed no mercy, even to monks, but this was not because he hated Buddhism. There is a saying that if you kill a monk, you will be cursed for seven generations, but unlike most daimyōs of the time, Nobunaga simply did not have such a taboo. Nobunaga only fought Buddhist forces as thoroughly as he had fought other Sengoku Daimyōs, and while it is true that he killed thousands of monks and tens of thousands of believers, he never forbade their faith itself. Nobunaga would forgive them if they complied with his advice to surrender, but if they did not, he would send a large army to massacre them and try to suppress them through fear. Nobunaga attempted to isolate the Osaka Hongan-ji by exterminating the Ikkō-ikki in various parts of the country. Nobunaga's massacre is generally criticized, but there is also the view that Nobunaga had no choice but to massacre them as a result of Hongan-ji Temple's request for thorough resistance from its followers. In the case of Mount Hiei and Mount Koya, they were attacked because they had joined the daimyōs who were hostile to Nobunaga.