Oda Nobunaga: An Introduction

I recently delivered a presentation for class on the feudal Japanese warlord known as Oda Nobunaga and I'd like to tell you a bit about him.

Who was Oda Nobunaga? Well, the the most superficial explanation is to call him the "Hitler" of feudal Japan but, like everything else, the full picture is far more complicated.

From 1467 to 1573 Japan experience what was called the Sengoku, or "Warring States", period. This was a very chaotic time in which regional warlords squabbled over resources in territories in various civil wars. This time was in many ways a boon for Japan, as it forced leaps and bounds in the development of agriculture, trade, and industry. It was into this era that Oda Nobunaga was born.

The son of a regional leader, or daimyo, Oda became a daimyo himself at only age 16 with one very big dream: to unite all of Japan under his rule. His early reign saw him combat other daimyos and make alliances with others. He is famous for the Battle of Nagashino in particular, in which he and the Tokugawa clan used rifles in battle for the first significant time in Japanese history. By the end of his life his dream may have been unrealized, but he did control nearly half of Japan's 68 provinces, which is a massive chunk of the Asian archipelago.

Oda's reign saw massive military build-up and castle fortification, as well as sweeping economic reforms. He also condemned nepotism, and structured his military as a clear meritocracy. He opened trade with other Asian powers and even welcomed European traders. With these traders came Christianity; a religion that Oda accepted and encouraged, despite never himself converting

Oda encouraged Buddhism, but interestingly enough, he is infamous for mercilessly slaughtering Buddhist men, women, and children on multiple occasions, hence why I compared him to Hitler earlier. Why did he kill these people? Well, on one occasion it was because the Buddhist victims had been providing medical attention to enemy troops after a battle. I'm no expert, but I do know that that would be considered a massive war crime if it happened today.

So yes, the thing I haven't mentioned too much is the fact that Oda was a brutal tyrant. Even today, many Japanese consider him a horrible, horrible man. Want to know something funny? This evil, wicked man's direct living descendant is a nice-looking professional figure skater. Don't believe me? Check out the picture below.

Aww! He doesn't seem like the 17th direct descendant of a brutal killing machine, does he?

Anyway, to learn more about Oda Nobunaga or anything else you could want to about Japanese history and culture, let me recommend you take Japanese 231.