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battle conch. In his first great battle, when he was 21 years
old, Oda Nobunaga only commanded two or three thousands of people,
but at the height of his power he got tens of thousands of soldiers.
But that was not his first battle, period; Oda Nobunaga
went to war for the first time when he was only 7 years old.
Click
here to see what happened early morning that day.
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Real
armors Oda Nobunaga and his men used to don in battle. His best
Generals were Toyotomi Hideyoshi (who would be
his successor), Shibata Katsuie (who married
his sister), Niwa Nagahide, Takigawa
Kazumasu, and Akechi Mitsuhide -- the
latter rebelled and caused Oda's death at 49 (click
here for story and pictures of Akechi Mitsuhide). Having Lord
Tokugawa Ieyasu of Mikawa as his ally, Oda conquered
territories formerly belonging to the clans of Saito, Imagawa,
Miyoshi, Matsunaga, Asakura, Asai, Sasaki, Takeda, and the lands
of the warrior-monks of Hiei (click here for
stories and pictures of those warlords that Oda defeated).
Toyotomi completed the conquest by winning the realms of the Mori
clan and more of others'. After Toyotomi's death (a natural death,
this) in late 1600's, Tokugawa took over control of all Japan
and his own clan was in power until mid-1800's -- that's the firm
reign of the Tokugawa Shoguns. Click here
fpr story and pictures of the Tokugawas. |
Oda Nobunaga
was a fine rider
and excellent archer.
These are what he shot with.
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A
true horse-loving man's legacy: Oda's saddles are made of the
best of leather and richly gilded. Oda Nobunaga's horses got immortalized,
too, in real history of Japan; there was his first mount and favorite
Uzuki, then Tsukinowake. When
Uzuki got old, he wanted Nowake that belonged
to Hirate Gorozaemon, a soldier under his command, but the owner
didn't want to part with the much-prized horse. Oda didn't force
him to yield the horse -- he merely got mad and never talked to
Gorozaemon again -- while Gorozaemon's indignation was just as
great and he didn't come to Oda's court anymore after the incident.
Gorozaemon's father, Hirate Masahide, one of Oda's oldest advisors,
committed seppuku (samurai suicide of honor) as a way
to warn his own son about serving Oda as best as he could in any
way, and a warning to Oda not to abuse the power he had. Oda took
the warning to heart, Hirate Masahide's death.
Click
here for story and pictures of the 'weird' Oda Nobunaga that drove
Hirate to suicide -- Oda was called 'Lord Fool' those days.
Today
you can see Oda Nobunaga's horse being immortalized this way at
the Ota village, Tsurugi, where the very first
man that went around by the name 'Oda' -- Chikazane
-- took refuge from the Minamoto 'clan-cleansing' that surely
threatened his life as a Taira.
Click
here to see the village today.
Or
click here for story and pictures of Oda
Nobunaga's ancestors.
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