Oda Nobunaga
From THEMWiki
Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) was the first of the Three Unifiers of Japan. While he is often portrayed in modern terms as a demon or a devil, he was, perhaps, no worse than any other warlord in the Warring States Period.
He is universally regarded, for better or worse, as one of the most influential people in Japanese history.
Life of Nobunaga, Condensed, and Probably Dead Wrong
Born to a minor warlord in the tiny province of Owari, Nobunaga spent much of his early life pretending to be a complete and utter moron. In this way, he lulled much of his peers into complacency, while he secretly trained in swordsmanship, archery, and horseback riding. Before long, his complacent cousins began to fall like bowling pins, as his greater talents slowly began to manifest themselves in brilliant campaigns.
Nobunaga's rise to glory, however, began in 1560, when the 25000-man army of neighboring warlord Imagawa Yoshimoto was caught flat-footed in a drunken stupor during a thunderstorm by Nobunaga's force of 3000 at the Battle of Okehazama, and Imagawa himself had the rotten luck of losing his head (literally).
After this, Nobunaga began his quest to conquer Japan, and his seal read "Tenka Fubu" - "Cover that which under the sky with the sword." (Which, incidentally, has absolutely nothing to do with Fubu.)
For the next twenty years, Nobunaga and his trusted cadre of generals (including Hashiba Hideyoshi, aka "Monkey Boy") would play off alliances, take down rivals, and even fight off the persistent warrior-monks, all the while gaining immense wealth and power. While Nobunaga tended not to make use of ninjas, he had allied himself with avowed ninja fan Tokugawa Ieyasu after Okehazama, and he also made use of the newest technology from the West, such as the arquebus. Nobunaga was known in his day to be a bit of a showoff, wearing western plate mail into battle, and displaying European items acquired in his numerous dealings with Catholic clergy.
Despite brilliant battles such as Nagashino (where Oda pioneered the use of continuous fire for the arquebus at the expense of 10000 cavalry and footsoldiers), it was inevitable that Nobunaga would piss someone off enough to try a coup, and it was the Oda general Akechi Mitsuhide who would betray Nobunaga in 1582, surrounding him and setting the Honno Temple ablaze with Oda inside.
Not one of Oda's sons would succeed him in power -- it would be peasant-born Hideyoshi who would continue to unification of Japan.
Nobunaga in Pop Culture
Oda Nobunaga is understandably an extremely popular historical reference, but he is often portrayed as a Western-influenced demon in manga, anime, and video games.
The (as yet incomplete) list of his appearances is as follows:
Anime
Manga
Video Games
