A Heretic Rationalist who Drove the Unification of Japan

ODA Nobunaga

Aichi prefecture is also known as the town of three great warriors in Japan's history. These men are ODA Nobunaga, a revolutionist of the medieval age, TOYOTOMI Hideyoshi, who unified Japan for the first time and who succeeded Nobunaga, and TOKUGAWA Ieyasu, who formed the Shogunate in Edo (present day Tokyo) after destroying the Toyotomi family.

The latter part of the 15th century when these three lived was the Age of Provincial Wars. During this time, many warriors had ambitions to dominate the whole country and were continuously fighting each other. Nobunaga was born as a son of the lord of a small castle in Aichi prefecture and was called "Utsuke"" (a fool) as he used to make strange actions when he was a boy. However, it was the "Okehazama War" that quickly turned the nameless Nobunaga into a famous name known nationwide. In 1560, IMAGAWA Yoshimoto, the lord of Suruga (present day Shizuoka prefecture) a great neighboring country, marched with 25,000 soldiers to take Nobunaga's territory. War began.

Nobunaga, who was 26-years-old and commanding 4,000 soldiers, knew it was a hopeless battle. How could he win with so few soldiers against Imagawa's huge army? Nobunaga found the answer. Even with an army of 25,000 soldiers, Nobunaga knew they would have to pass through a valley in a thin line and that there would be fewer guards surrounding Yoshimoto. He calculated that IMAGAWA's army could be overwhelmed if he would attack at a particular spot.

Nobunaga received information that Yoshimoto was resting at the Okehazama valley and to make Imagawa army think he was going to attack from the front, he secretly sent his soldiers through a bypass to Yoshimoto's headquarters. Fortunately for Nobunaga it was raining hard. After Nobunaga's troops successfully advanced to the side of the valley, a small number of his soldiers feigned an assault on Imagawa's headquarters. When the guards rushed to fight back, fewer were left to protect Yoshimoto. Then, Nobunaga's main force made an all out attack on the headquarters and succeeded in cutting off Yoshimoto's head.

Nobunaga selected the man who informed him of Yoshimoto's location as the most distinguished soldier of this great victory. This decision was epoch-making at the time since the man who cut off the enemy commander's head was typically awarded for their most valuable conduct. He used a merit system thoroughly. While the status of a family was most important at the time, Nobunaga promoted anyone who produced good results regardless of which family he came from. The good example would be TOYOTOMI Hideyoshi who came from a poor farming family. He was extremely rational.

He was not afraid of any gods
After the Okehazama war, Nobunaga gathered all the able men and expanded his territory. He was ardent about taking in foreign cultures and treated missionaries very well. Nobunaga assumed firearms in particular would play an important role in coming wars so he snatched up guns in preparation. At that time, guns were not regarded as being very useful since it took some time to load the gunpowder.

The Nagashino war was famous in that Nobunaga used guns. The Takeda troop of Kai (present day Yamanashi prefecture) stood up in front of Oda's army which until that time, had been expanding its territory. The Takeda troop was good at mock cavalry battles and was believed to be the strongest in Japan. Both troops met at a field in Nagashino. The Takeda cavalry troop assaulted Oda's waiting troops.

As expected, Oda's troop fought back with guns. Some of Takeda's cavalry were shot to death or wounded, but the rest of the troop advanced further since they knew it would take some time for their enemy to reload and believed they could rout them at once. However, unbelievably, the second round of shots were fired from Oda's troop. Even so, Takeda troops advanced further, but still more bullets were fired. Oda troop's shot in consecutive volleys until Takeda troop's were completely defeated.

Nobunaga's secret? He handed the collected guns to his soldiers and let them line up in three rows. After the first row fired, they went behind the third row and reloaded their gunpowder. Then the second row come to the front, fired and moved behind the first row to load gunpowder. Thus the troop could fire consecutively.

Nobunaga's talent was shown not only militarily but also economically. He made his territory prosperous by abolishing unnecessary barrier stations and letting merchants and craftsmen trade freely in his town. On the other hand, he excluded all the existing powers such as noble families and temples. Furthermore, he completely destroyed his enemies and their temples by burning them down or wiping them out. These were horrible deeds. He was not afraid of any gods.

Even if his own subordinates failed to produce good results, he would treat them severely. AKECHI Mitsuhide, one of Nobunaga's able subordinates knew he lost Nobunaga's trust and felt that his life was in danger. He was ordered by Nobunaga to conquer west Honshuu (main island) and on the way he changed his route with his troops, headed for Honnoji temple where Nobunaga was staying with a few subordinates and attacked his leader who set fire to the temple and killed himself. Nobunaga was 49-years-old and his death occurred just before the unification of Japan was realized.

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